Got Gas?

[brekin67]

Our family found a home we would like to purchase.

We are not happy that the home uses propane gas instead of natural gas.

What is the cost to convert home from propane gas to natural gas?

Thank you.

 

[3boymthr]

Just a thought, did you check to see if natural gas is available in that neighborhood? Around here when people don't want oil and have propane it's because natural gas is not an option.

 

[clh2]

I was going to say the same thing as 3boymther. Generally - if natural gas is available - people will switch to it.

Now - while I have no idea of the cost to convert - you'll have to get natural gas lines installed in your house. And - whatever runs on the natural gas - i.e. furnace and water heater...those appliances will need to be replaced - as they are "fuel" specific. Is it safe to assume that this house has an electric dryer and electric stove? I personally prefer gas to electric, so I would also have the house plumbed for thos appliances to be gas too. (Although, they do not need to be replaced right away.)

Hope this helps!

 

[S. C.]

You might also want to look into getting geo-thermal.

 

[brekin67]

I assumed natural gas was available. I guess I need to check that tomorrow.

 

[quentina]

Our last house had propane, new one is natural gas. I will say that the propane was cheaper.

 

[brekin67]

Our last house had propane, new one is natural gas. I will say that the propane was cheaper.

Glad you said that. We are reading online and it looked consistent that natural gas was cheaper.

 

[Bell30012]

Actually the conversion is pretty simple. I have a mobile home that was on propane but is now on natural gas. All the pipes used for the propane work just as well for natural gas. The furnace and stove needed a small piece changed at the back to make the conversion. If you look at any stove in a new appliance store you will usually see the changeover kit. The furnace just had to have something changed in it.

Actually my gas company made the changes for me at no charge. When the mobile home was placed on the property propane was the only option now we have natural gas as a choice I see less of the tanks in people's yards.

 

[quentina]

Glad you said that. We are reading online and it looked consistent that natural gas was cheaper.

I should add, this was in 1995 to 2001. We have been in the new house since then, the market may have changed!

 

[jenseib]

Is there a tank on property? Is in a rural area....my guess is that it is the oNLY option. I live in the country on a farm, grew up on a farm as well. There is NO natural gas even available out here. The cost is about the same.

I had bought a brand new mobile home in 2000 and put it on a rural property. It was made to take natuaral gas, and the company I bought the home from just basically had to add a peice to the line where it connected and all was good.
We have since bought a 2 story modular home (it was the model) and it came with all the appliances, etc. There was no need to change any of the appliances, they just hooked the "house" up to propane with the appropriate hardware.

One word of advice. If you have to get your tank filled, shop around to different companies for the best deal. Also many offer prepaid type deals in the summer for winter months, or some kind of lock in price. WE locked ours in this summer, and if we didn't we would be paying over $1 more per gallon right now.

 

[sharbear]

When our house was built they did not have natural gas to our subdivision but it was added later and a gas line was built up to our house but the previous owners still had propane. They had a geothermal which they had a lot of problems with and it was torn out and replaced with a propane furnace. (We were very sad about that)

As soon as we used one tank of propane we switched. I think it cost around $1200. Everything was able to be converted except for the hot water heater and our gas fireplace logs. We did not replace the fireplace logs but for converting all of the appliances and installing the hot water heater it was $1200. The gas company hooked up the gas line for free but the propane company charged us $300 to haul away their tank.

Our bills are much cheaper with natural gas and we don't have to think about our propane tank levels. If you can convert I really recommend it.

 

[jenseib]

They charged you to haul away your tank? WowW! We have had tanks switched out at our rental unit and our home a couple of different times and never once had been charged.....BUT Ithink the compnay owns the tank, maybe yours wasn't owned by the company?