LP Gas usage rating? GPH?

Patchogue Phil_2

How is a gas burner rated as far as usage of fuel?



I know an oil burner is rated in gallons per hour,  derived via oil nozzle size and pump pressure.



Attached is a pic of a circa 1970 Hydrotherm gas boiler burning propane.  Plate says 100K input,  Gas(?) Output 80K,  Net rating  of 69K.



With propane having 91,547 BTU's/gallon (at 60*F),  is this burner using a little over a gallon of LP gas per hour?

icesailor

Gas Ratings:

Theoretically, yes. It should be using over 91,000 BTU per hour. If the stars are all aligned, Mercury is in retrograde with Venus, and  the Sun is in the Seventh House, it will be using over 1 gallon per hour if the boiler is using its rated 100,000 BTU gross input per hour.

Patchogue Phil_2

Thanks

I figured it won't be an exact usage with in the field variables.



This is my Mom's boiler.  This thing uses a buttload of propane. Basically it is a big cast iron pot of water with a oven broiler flame bar!  LOL!



She won't replace it,  probably figures she won't live long enough to see a ROI. No Nat Gas in neighborhood.  Also has a standalone LP water heater,  probably 15 yrs old. 



Ugh.

icesailor

Payback:

Where I used to live, LP is well over $7.00 per gallon. Qualifying LP gas boilers aren't all that expensive and will pay back faster than one might realize. Oil is far less in cost per gallon.and a bigger ROI/payback.

Being the cheap Scotts/German that I am, I'd be looking for one of those farily new oil boilers (with a tankless) that everyone is giving away so they can get bent over on Nat Gas, throw in an oil tank, switch the gas water heater to the tankless, and screw the LP. Until the Nat. Gas companies get their sheets together, LP is going to be their drug of choice to get more money for their overselling of their product.

If you have siblings, tell them to grow their alligator hands. So their hands can reach their pockets and get at their wallets. Treat the old gal to some comfort in her later years.

Patchogue Phil_2

delivery this month

$4.39/gallon for 151 gallons of LPG.

Last year it was less than $3.40/gallon. 

icesailor

Competition:

Must be more competition on The Island of Long that in rural Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Or maybe its the professional courtesy that rats give each other. "Rats and Lawyers don't eat their own".

Patchogue Phil_2

Too much

Mom must be paying too much ....







Source: NYSERDA,"New York Home Propane Price Monitoring Program"



(last updated 03/25/2014)













Note: Full service residential customers credit price, typically these



accounts use annually 1,100 or more gallons of propane.













Dealers are surveyed weekly from September through March; April



through August, the survey is conducted twice a month.













Latest Surveyed Propane Prices









03/24/2014

Cents Per Gallon





New York Statewide

362.7





Long Island Region

390.6





Middle Hudson Region

355.6





Capital District Region

391.6





North Country Region

399.6





Central Region

350.8





Western Region

331.2

rick in Alaska

lp cost

Last price that I heard of around here was $6.25 and going up.

A customer of mine had me replace his Hydrotherm with a Viessman modcon that he supplied and he said is heat bill went down dramatically. He was very pleased with the changeout and the new fuel bills. Roi might be better than you thought.

We now are in the process of getting natural gas here, so a lot of propane tanks are going away, along with a lot of fuel tanks. Keeping me very busy!

Rick

Patchogue Phil_2

ROI

Mom is 78 and doesn't want to spend the money.  Doesn't think it will be worth it for the time (she thinks) she has left.

icesailor

I know what you mean:

Phil,

I know what she means.

I still have ALL my teeth except for one in front with a implant that I had 6 years ago. Now, at my age, and in Florida, every dentist looks into my mouth and thinks they see the inside of my wallet or bank account. I have a back upper tooth that I had to have removed. Everyone wants to put in an implant. That can take over three years in upper, back teeth. They get really distressed when I tell them NO, because I won't live long enough to pay for it and I don't want to stick my wife with a bill if I am dead.