Propane, heating oil ...choices?

kpc_44

91,800 btu for a gal. of LP... 139,000 for a gallon of #2.. figure in the price per gallon.

Xter

Propane, heating oil ...choices?

So, buying an early 70's contemporary with a early 70's oil boiler. I am going to be adding propane[no gas in street] to the house for the stove and dryer. Is there any way that a mod con boiler is going to be cheaper to run on propane than an oil anything?

The house is all baseboard, but I will be adding a few zones of radiant for the baths and perhaps downstairs bedrooms at some point.

Current oil use I am told is 1200 gallons per year

Insulation is the first project, obviously, but I need to start noodling on the boiler

I currently have a buderus and like it, but if oil does what it did last year again, it might be wise to spend extra on the heating system.

Ideas?

Would a munchkin be cheaper to run than a good oil boiler?

System 2000? Seems like one could do as well with the proper controls on any good boiler, with out the, umm, interesting marketing

Anyone ever tried the Monitor FCX?

Thanks

Ed

Jamie Hall

not sure where you are located, but...

around here (southern New England) natural gas is about the same as oil and propane is anywhere from two to three times as much, per BTU. My boiler (steam), which is pretty typical, runs on oil at about 84% efficiency; even a top of the line mod-con won't run enough higher to ever recover the cost of the propane!

Chris S

LP vs oil

We paid 2.39 all lasts year for LP,when oil jumped way up. I heated a house under construction through th ewinter with a mod con at that price. The year before was a similar situation. In both cases the customers did not want oil, and cost was not a factor.
It has been at least 10 years though that this was the case. Even a 86% eff CI oil boiler will beat LP 90% of the time.
I'm not really sure how the LP supplier kept the price that low all year.

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Xter

re

Yes that math is simple, just making sure that the modulating component does not account for enough to make a difference

paul zeszotarski

prropane

i would go with propaine

Unknown

propane is a domestic

product. Most of it comes from natural gas. The trick to buying propane is to buy your own propane tank and get one large enough 800 or 1000 gal so you can call around to get your best price. So make sure when you call for prices you inform them that you own the tank and how much you need. Other advantages are multible uses dryer, stove, fireplace, generator, heat. And best of all your money is not supporting terrorist worldwide.
TONY

GW

fuel

is anyone here smart enough to compare the o2 values of the flue gas? We all know modern gas appliances run high 02, where as oil will run high c02. That's why I have a hard time handing over my brain to these "hard to believe" super-high efficiency numbers.

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Mark Custis

LPG

Propane is "liquified petrolium gas", the stuff they use to burn off at the Standard Oil refinery in the Cleveland Plant. Some guy in Columbus Ohio invented propane canisters and filled them with LPG. Think refrigerants. Propane would be a good on if you could make the system leak free.