Oil vs. Propane heating...

[Maybelle]

Anybody have any information on this?

We are looking at bidding on a newly constructed house. The house is set to come with a propane burner for heating, but there is availability to pay more for an oil fired furnace. We have had natural gas in the past, which was expensive, and is not available in the area we are looking in, but we have had oil in the house we are currently in. Never dealt with propane. With the cost of both being very high, and the fact that oil is a much dirtier fuel to use, I am wondering if it is better just to go with the propane?

Any information on the pros and cons would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[MIGrandma]

We have had both.

In our old house it was heated by oil. The kicker was that the furnace was in a small room on the second floor so the oil had to travel "up" the pipe to get to the furnace and if it got really, really cold it would "gel" and the heat would go out. We lived there 5 years.

We've been in our current house since June 1980 so it's been 31 years now, and this house is heated by propane. Never have had any problems with it. We have a 500 gallon tank in the side yard and it is pumped to the furnace in the basement of the house.

Our camper uses propane for the furnace, water heater and stove/oven.

 

[melmar136]

Anybody have any information on this?

We are looking at bidding on a newly constructed house. The house is set to come with a propane burner for heating, but there is availability to pay more for an oil fired furnace. We have had natural gas in the past, which was expensive, and is not available in the area we are looking in, but we have had oil in the house we are currently in. Never dealt with propane. With the cost of both being very high, and the fact that oil is a much dirtier fuel to use, I am wondering if it is better just to go with the propane?

Any information on the pros and cons would be helpful.

Thanks!

I can tell you that the cost of propane is high as well. I have propane at my townhouse, and due to space, only have 1 tank outside. (I think it is 150 gallons) I use it for heat, hot water, and cooking. During the winter, the propane company comes every 2 weeks to fill as much as is needed. This past winter, that was around $300 every 2 weeks!
I have never had the chance to "lock in" on a rate as some of my friends have with oil.
Also, there seem to be many more oil companies to choose from, offering a better chance for etting a better price with all of the competition.
My propane tank is from the company I get the propane from. If I want to switch companies, they need to switch out tanks, charging for that usually, as well as getting a town permit to do it.
Personally, I'd like to go with oil. But, try to call around to see comapnies/rate in your area...

 

[FredinFL]

I miss my oil heat. I hate having the gas in the house.

 

[MIGrandma]

I can tell you that the cost of propane is high as well. I have propane at my townhouse, and due to space, only have 1 tank outside. (I think it is 150 gallons) I use it for heat, hot water, and cooking. During the winter, the propane company comes every 2 weeks to fill as much as is needed. This past winter, that was around $300 every 2 weeks!
I have never had the chance to "lock in" on a rate as some of my friends have with oil.
Also, there seem to be many more oil companies to choose from, offering a better chance for etting a better price with all of the competition.
My propane tank is from the company I get the propane from. If I want to switch companies, they need to switch out tanks, charging for that usually, as well as getting a town permit to do it.
Personally, I'd like to go with oil. But, try to call around to see comapnies/rate in your area...

$300 every two weeks? How big is your townhouse?

We live in an old (100+ years) two story farmhouse which has a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, office, two bathrooms, bedroom and 24x24' family room downstairs, upstairs are three large bedrooms, and a third bathroom. It gets pretty cold here in Michigan and we only spent $1200 total this past winter heating the house. I don't think that's bad at all.

I think oil is a "dirty" heat, where propane is more "clean."

 

[tvguy]

Okay, I'm a stupid Californian, why not electric? I know my wife's Grandfather lived in Illinois and had propane, and looked at switching to to Natural Gas or Oil, ended up going electric. His bill dropped, just a bit, but he never again had to worry about price fluctuations.

 

[scrapquitler]

Okay, I'm a stupid Californian, why not electric? I know my wife's Grandfather lived in Illinois and had propane, and looked at switching to to Natural Gas or Oil, ended up going electric. His bill dropped, just a bit, but he never again had to worry about price fluctuations.

I live in New England, and electric is the MOST expensive way to heat your house.

 

[MIGrandma]

Okay, I'm a stupid Californian, why not electric? I know my wife's Grandfather lived in Illinois and had propane, and looked at switching to to Natural Gas or Oil, ended up going electric. His bill dropped, just a bit, but he never again had to worry about price fluctuations.

We have supplemental heat in our family room, which is electric and if we use it too much we do notice a jump in our electric bill. I can't imagine trying to heat the whole house that way.

 

[tvguy]

We have supplemental heat in our family room, which is electric and if we use it too much we do notice a jump in our electric bill. I can't imagine trying to heat the whole house that way.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your photo....of the General ELECTRIC Carousel of Progress !!

Yeah, electricity in my area is cheaper, we have a publically owned electric company, and rates are far more stable than natural gas. I live in an all electric subdivision, however during one period where natural gas prices some of my neighbors paid to have a natural gas line pulled in. They were upset at $300 a month heating bills in the winter. They switched out their heaters and water heaters to natural gas, bills dropped to $250 a month for the rest of the winter....but the next winter natural gas prices spiked and their heating bills jumped to $400 a month, while mine stayed at $300. Oh well, regional differences.

 

[melmar136]

$300 every two weeks? How big is your townhouse?

We live in an old (100+ years) two story farmhouse which has a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, office, two bathrooms, bedroom and 24x24' family room downstairs, upstairs are three large bedrooms, and a third bathroom. It gets pretty cold here in Michigan and we only spent $1200 total this past winter heating the house. I don't think that's bad at all.

I think oil is a "dirty" heat, where propane is more "clean."

the townhouse is only 1500 sq feet! And I keep the heat at about 65! So, I'm not really sure why it is so expensive, other than the fact that propane was over $3.65 a gallon! I wish I spent only 1200 for the winter! I even had an energy assessment done to see what was up. Possibly need new windows, but they are not too bad?

 

[MIGrandma]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your photo....of the General ELECTRIC Carousel of Progress !!

the townhouse is only 1500 sq feet! And I keep the heat at about 65! So, I'm not really sure why it is so expensive, other than the fact that propane was over $3.65 a gallon! I wish I spent only 1200 for the winter! I even had an energy assessment done to see what was up. Possibly need new windows, but they are not too bad?

Oh my, I know we never paid anywhere near that much per gallon! I would say around $2 was the highest, maybe $2.20. DH did cover many of our windows with those plastic window kits so I know that helped a lot too.

 

[720L]

Our old house had an oil furnace and it is dirty. You get a little black soot sometimes near the registers. It stinks when they fill your tank. I also think it's a "drier" heat....meaning my skin seemed to be a lot drier than in this house when the furnace was running. We had a humidifier in the old house but when it got really cold (Michigan) it was DRY in the house.