I am buying a fairly large home, it is propane heat, I have never had propane---?

Question

How expensive is it? Is it efficient? What overall feedback can you give me? How often does it need to be refilled? Thanks

Answer 1

A few things to know: The propane industry is not government regulated, that means that you will find a wide range of price per gallon charges as well as a wide range of delivery programs offered by suppliers in your area.

Not all propane suppliers are the same, so you need to understand what you want and need in a propane company. There are large nationwide companies as well as small independent local suppliers.

If a tank is at the home now it is most likely owned by a propane supplier, find out who the supplier is and give them a call to let them know you will be buying the home. They should welcome you as a new customer and fill you in with their sales pitch. That’s all fine and good, but you should educate yourself a bit before you call.

Questions to ask: Does the supplier have service technicians that work on gas appliances in the home? Some suppliers offer full service including appliance repair, and some suppliers only offer propane delivery and nothing more.

In either case above, inquire about what type of training the employees have, (CETP) is the propane industry standard training program and it is considered the minimum training standard in most states. If you ask about (CETP) and they blow you off, look for a different supplier.

Ask about pricing programs. Things such as monthly budget programs, and fixed rate programs, as well as Pre-buy programs.

Ask about all associated fees; things like Hazardous material fees, truck fuel fees, or delivery fees. Also ask about fees to guarantee pricing. Sometimes an attractive price per gallon will be far off set by all kinds of fees.

What ever you do, don’t go with the first company you talk to. Take the phone book and go right down the list with the information above in hand.

Another sales tactic is to offer new customers a good deal for the first delivery or for the first year. After this the price will go way up, so always inquire about what price will do down the road. A good question to ask after getting a price quote is “What are your current customers paying per gallon, the ones that are not new customers?”

As with every business there are good ones and there are also bad ones. In general you will find the best company will not always have the lowest price rather their price will be in the middle of the road.

Several points about the propane industry as well are. Suppliers what your business and are they are willing to do quite a bit to get it. They will also try to scare you into not leaving them. They may talk about large fees to remove there equipment or permit fees to install new equipment. These things all very across the nation, but in general the new supplier wants your business so bad that they are willing to eat most if not all of the fees associated with changing companies. People often think it is a big deal to change companies, when in reality it’s not. It is usually done in less than 2 hours.

Sounds like quite a bit, but in reality once you have a general understanding of how the industry works it’s really not that hard to stay an informed consumer, and protect your interest. If you have any specific questions feel free to email me.

Answer 2

We have propane, but it is for heat only - stove, current dryer, and hot water heaters are all electric. We live in a fairly well insulated home, about 2000 sq ft, and have a 500 gal tank. Cost varies depending on where you live. I bought some 2 weeks ago, and got the minimium fill, which was around $250 (it's $1.68 / gal and a 150 gal min. order) It gets cheaper if you get the tank filled - about .10 cents / gal. Make sure you find out who owns the tank - if you own it you can buy propane from whomever you want, but if it belongs to a propane co, you have to buy from them. We have used about 500 gal this year, but we have had a lot of cold weather, with snow and ice. (N.E. Oklahoma)
Word of caution - if you hook up a gas stove or dryer, make sure the jets are changed out to propane jets.
Also, propane dryers will, in time, turn your whites yellow, so buy a product called "Blueing" , if you have a propane dryer.
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I too live out side the natural gas service area, so I use propane. Propane cost about 25 to 30 % more in Upstate SC. I use heat pumps as my primary heat source and propane as the secondary source.The total cost is about 50 % less than the oil heat I had. I really like the comfort, and love the cost.

Answer 4

Propane is equivalent to natural gas or "city gas" except you have to have a tank on your property to hold the gas. A delivery truck will come and fill up the tank, with some companies having a routine delivery schedule where they will come and check to see the level of gas in your tank and fill it or not fill it depending on whether it's needed. I have a 500 underground tank that I use to heat my swimming pool in summer, fuel my gas range and 1 fireplace. I think it costs about $2.40 a gallon (not really a gallon). I love it. I wish I had a gas furnace. It depends on whether you use the gas for heating, cooling, cooking, clothes drying, hot water, fire places, pool heating, gas grill. The pool heater gobbles the gas, but I don't know about the other stuff. It hardly takes any gas for cooking, grilling and the 1 fireplace I use for ambiance not really for heating. I'd say it's not as expensive or more expensive than electric--at least on the east cost--our electric is crazy. I hope this helped. Call the local propane company--they'll be glad to fill you in.

Answer 5

I have propane heat in my Florida room only. It cost around $4.00 per gal. minimum last time I talked to the propane man (a few weeks ago). A lot of people in my neighborhood use it as a back up in case the electricity goes off.

If you are buying a home that only heats with propane it will probably cost you a fortune to heat the house. Is that the only heating that the house has?
I think that I would reconsider.

Answer 6

Hello :)

Not sure where you are from, and if the price differs, but the only thing that I can tell you is that Propane cost more than Natural Gas.... ;) And if the home that you are living in has air leaks, then beware, cause your tank will empty faster than you would think.

But to fill a tank cost anything over 500+ ... Back in my day when I had one for a trailer that I used to rent it was 400+ to fill it half way. My aunt has a tank, she said (keep things private) it was WAY more than 500 to fill it half way these days...

Good Luck!

Answer 7

to am from the mid west. We use propane to heat the house and our water. It's no different but is a cleaner burn. Now I do recommend filling your tank in the summer months, it is cheaper. We can but 1000 gallons in July for a discounted rate. Then every time they fill our tank they just send me a note letting us know how many gallons we have left. It saves us about 20% a year. It is a little rough but hearing people complain about 400.00 heating bills and mine averages about 75.00 it's worth it!
Good Luck!

Answer 8

Propane is a little more expensive than natural gas to heat a home, it is cheaper than electric, and propane companies don't tend to overload you with heating service maint programs and don't send you gobs of junk mail.

Answer 9

I had a 1600 foot home, the heat was very warm, I had it filled in the winter about every 2-3 months and about every 4-6 months in the summer. It was about $2.50 a gallon in my area (midwest) and I had a 500 gallon tank.

Answer 10

very efficient but. after the home in inspected have an HVAC service company inspect the furnace paying close attention to maintenance records and any flaws in/on the heat exchanger. make sure for safety you have C/O detectors in every bed room and main hall area close to the return grill for furnace.