Switch from Propane to Natural Gas

skives19

We just found out the natural gas is being run down the road that connects to our road. The gas company is offering to run it to our house for approximately $3,600 lump sum or $45 a month for 10 years. The calculator on the gas company website says we will save $868 a year based on the amount of propane we used in 2022 and the amount we are paying this year. 

What do you guys think is it worth it to switch?

Mad Dog_2

Grab it while its hot...What State are u in?  NYS very foolishly has BANNED all new natural gas installations....I know some good  contractors on Long Island who's entire fambly business is based around oil to gas conversions!!  Scary!   Do it now and atkeast you'll be grandfathered in. Mad Dog 🐕 

kcopp

I am actually surprised they are charging you to switch.
if its used for heating that run to the home w/o charge.
Into the house is another question...
If everyone on the street switches they may do that for free.
May help to ask your neighbors

Derheatmeister

Do you own or rent your Tank ?
Above ground or buried tank ?
Are you on a Autofill ?
Due to a empty tank i just had a no heat service call which was supplied by large propane company in our area ..
They told my customer that "expedited " it would be 24 hours to 48 hours !
Personally...Due to multiple reasons including saving $$$ i would do the switch
I would go for the lump sum hookup and have my professional heating company do the conversion with a printout of the Combustion test !

Hot_water_fan

Just to double check the gas company: 

$/MMbtu output for gas:
$/therm x 10 / efficiency 
$/gallon x 1000/91.5 / efficiency for propane.

How many gallons per year did you use? 

I’d check the monthly gas fees, beyond the hookup fee, that could quickly erase the savings.

hot_rod

Negotiate that price. When they ran NG to the town near me the more people you could get involved the lower the connection price they offered. How far off the road are you, hows the digging around there

vhauk

natural gas service is nice. Can’t wait to convert our boiler to natural gas. I’ve had butane and propane and natural gas and natural gas wins hands down 

EBEBRATT-Ed

@skives19

Just a note of caution. I am all in on the conversion from propane to natural. But, the piping inside the house to any propane fired appliance will have to be increased in size:

The orifices and maybe gas regulators will need to be changed.

The equipment will need adjusting and combustion testing

What if you have older equipment and the conversion parts to convert to natural are no longer available?



Make sure to discuss all of this with the gas company so you can figure the real cost.


Hopefully you can get this done easily without too many bumps in the road

ch4man

yep, many water heater manufactures don't allow conversions

ChrisJ

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

@skives19 Just a note of caution. I am all in on the conversion from propane to natural. But, the piping inside the house to any propane fired appliance will have to be increased in size: The orifices and maybe gas regulators will need to be changed. The equipment will need adjusting and combustion testing What if you have older equipment and the conversion parts to convert to natural are no longer available? Make sure to discuss all of this with the gas company so you can figure the real cost. Hopefully you can get this done easily without too many bumps in the road

Sometimes..
But you can also often do a 2 psi system with regulators in appropriate locations if some piping is too difficult or expensive to change.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@ChrisJ

Maybe in some locations. In MA. 12"wc inside any building is not allowed without special permission. We used to have to go to the state board in Boston with a drawing stamped by a PE and wait months for approval. Now, I think the drawing can go to the local inspector which speeds things up. But, that is only for commercial as far as I know they never allow more than 12" wc in a house.

Especially after the massive explosion in easter MA a few years back.

ChrisJ

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

@ChrisJ Maybe in some locations. In MA. 12"wc inside any building is not allowed without special permission. We used to have to go to the state board in Boston with a drawing stamped by a PE and wait months for approval. Now, I think the drawing can go to the local inspector which speeds things up. But, that is only for commercial as far as I know they never allow more than 12" wc in a house. Especially after the massive explosion in easter MA a few years back.

Yeah it's still kind of ironic the state with all of the rules had / has all of the big problems.

In NJ you can get 2 psi as long as you have enough pressure in the road.  It seems like a lot of areas now are running 50 psi in the road 

ethicalpaul

I would jump on that opportunity in a heartbeat.

And if it turns out you do have to change out your water heater (if it is currently Propane) then strongly consider a heat pump water heater like the Rheem for even more savings (and possible $$ incentives)

Derheatmeister

ethicalpaul said:

I would jump on that opportunity in a heartbeat.

And if it turns out you do have to change out your water heater (if it is currently Propane) then strongly consider a heat pump water heater like the Rheem for even more savings (and possible $$ incentives)

Or a indirect fired waterheater as we call them out west (Sidearm on the east coast)...Less moving parts close to the same efficiencies as the Boiler

Zman

The devil is in the details on this one. You need to get a clear idea of all the charges that will be on your gas bill. We had a private gas company come in and install lines in local rural areas and when you added up all the fee, it was more expensive than propane. They charged exorbitant fees to cover the cost of the new infrastructure with no sunset.

WMno57

One of the reasons I bought my rural home is that it had NG service. Most rural homes around here are propane.
It probably makes sense to switch, but as they say, the devil is in the details. Tell us more about your home and your plans.

1. Old poorly insulated large home, or small well insulated new home?
   
2. How long do you plan to stay there?
   
3. Current hot water usage large or small?
   
4. What general part of the country are you in?
   
5. What other appliances do you have that currently use propane?
   
6. What NG appliances would you consider buying if you had NG?
   
7. Do you have power outages? Is a NG standby genset in your future?
   

Too many variables to make a recommendation, without you giving us more information. It may make sense for you to go all electric, or maybe you should get NG. Just depends.