I live in Florida, do I want gas?

[mpire]

I live in Central Florida. Its hot here, we had two days last year that killed my 3 baby palm trees, I'm sad.

There is a flag for a gas line at the end of my driveway. Its roughly 500 feet from the future garage.

I can borrow a trenching machine from work, so if I could in theory drop in a line for the cost of the tubing, hookup, and county inspections it might be worth it.

Do I want gas? I can only think of needing it for a hot tub that I don't own and absolutely can't afford on my shoestring budget but in 10 years maybe.

I'll never use it for heating, but it could be cool for the BBQ grill and Meatapalooza Mondays.

Worth getting it setup before they ban natural gas?

What do you think?

 

[mike93lx]

Hot tubs heat on electric, not gas.

With induction cooking, gas in the kitchen has little appeal for me, so it comes down to space and water heating. In a hot climate, heat pumps should do both well

 

[77thor]

"Ban natural gas" --- Are you kidding??
I have to wonder what nut-job have you been listening to.

 

[Notgrownup]

My Rinnai and range is all I use gas for . I wish I had ran it for my grill . Maybe a future project for my outdoor kitchen. I use a big tank . I might also use it for a Generac.

 

[Hephaestus29]

It's always good to have more than one heat source. What if it drops to 25 degrees for a week and the electricity is out from an ice storm?

With in infrared/gas heater you can always heat your house.
Don't buy blue flame heaters, get an infrared.

 

[PCustoms]

It's always good to have more than one heat source. What if it drops to 25 degrees for a week and the electricity is out from an ice storm?

That's be a pretty ****** week in Florida.



I wouldn't bother with it for a garage in Florida. No way.

 

[mike93lx]

What if it drops to 25 degrees for a week and the electricity is out from an ice storm?

Run a generator.

 

[Mike65]

Unfortunately, where we live there is no natural gas lines, we are either electric or propane. Our tankless water heater, stove, game room fireplace & heat pump all run on propane.

 

[gtae07]

We didn't have gas in Savannah and I didn't miss it except when it was in the 20s for a few days after an ice and snow storm (which was a once-in-several-decades event) and the capacitor in the heat pump went out. We got by with heater fans until the roads were clear enough to go get the cap, but it wasn't fun.

Our (new to us) house has gas. It needed a new HVAC unit upstairs so we replaced the gas furnace and AC with a dual fuel heat pump. I got a natural gas grill and hooked it up, but replaced the gas stove with induction. But I wouldn't bother running gas if we didn't already have it. Honestly I'd rather have solar and a powerwall but electricity here is so cheap the payback is like 40 years.

Eventually I will get a generator hookup put in so we can run the heat in a power outage because winter weather is a little more likely up here.

 

[karoc]

I install sewer line to my garage over 40 yrs ago. I never installed toilet, but I could if I wanted to. Just out cost of material plus my labor. New owners will be installing toilet
Point being it’s better to have it than to want it. Go for it, get it in ground stub up connection with valve and plug

 

[Hephaestus29]

With an infrared heater you don't need electricity, they have a battery powered ignitor, it flares up, gets hot and heats.

 

[zendriver]

It's always good to have more than one heat source. What if it drops to 25 degrees for a week and the electricity is out from an ice storm?

Maybe a wood stove?

 

[driftpin]

We had to pay for an extension of the gas line, which was at the end of the block here in Miami. Another neighbor next to us split the cost. We run a Rinnai H2O heater and the Wolf range on gas, but we run a pool heater on electric. During Nov-April we can use the pool now where w/o the heat, we didn't use it, too-cold. My Yankee blood has thinned-out.

From the kitchen feed, we did extend the line to the backyard if we wanted to get a gas grille operating on NG.

 

[finn]

Florida?
Don’t bother
We have it in Az, but we also have a gas stove and a gas outlet for the bbq.

If I was building new, I would opt for a heat pump and induction cooktop, assuming reasonable electric rates.

Sure is nice for the outside grill, though.

Michigan ? I’d kill for natural gas to get away from expensive propane. I cringe to think what next winter’s prebuy of 1200 gallons of propane will be.

 

[MovingAlong]

I live in Central Florida.

Do I want gas? I can only think of needing it for a hot tub ...

What do you think?

I have enjoyed having gas for: gas fireplaces (light on heat but heavy on ambiance), unlimited/instant hot water heater, quick & toasty dry clothes, but most of all for cooking. Do you want it? Hard to tell...

What if it drops to 25 degrees for a week and the electricity is out from an ice storm?

Not your typical problem in Central Florida, but your point is correct. Still need a small generator to run the blower and operate the electronics..

 

[DrinkMan]

We have all electric at our coastal south GA home and wish we had a gas line for an emergency generator and a gas cook-top. But we do fine without it. At our primary home, we have gas furnace on downstairs unit, gas water heaters, and gas cook-top. Upstairs is heat pump. I'd be ok with replacing the downstairs unit with a heat pump instead of gas but like the gas water heater and gas cook-top.

If there was a gas line to tie into for our coastal home - I'd go for it just for the cook top and eventual water heater replacement. And then put in an emergency generator (hurricane season - we have had outages of up to 5 days).

 

[Bert_]

You don't even know what you might use it for. You will have to pay to put it in and then you will have a meter charge every month. No way

 

[Higgy1300]

i would get it if it was available to me. gas normally works when the power is out.

 

[Shiftless]

You don't even know what you might use it for. You will have to pay to put it in and then you will have a meter charge every month. No way

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is great advice.

 

[micromind]

Around here, gas water heat is substantially less $$$ than electric.

 

[Jackfre]

Run the numbers on gas cost vs elec. You can count on both increasing. In todays world and especially in FL I’d install a good size solar system and HP’s. If you can run the gas line you can also install a solar system. Just have someone out to do the terminations. You can grid tie at first and add a battery later if you choose. Regardless of what the confused say, solar works and it pays. I don’t find it that inconvenient to buy 20# cylinders for the Blackstone

 

[ChevyEFI]

What if your power is out, and you need to grille dinner?

In all seriousness, I could do without lugging propane bottles, and a gas dryer could be nice, and so could a pool heater. But probably not in this house.

 

[mike93lx]

What if your power is out, and you need to grille dinner?

In all seriousness, I could do without lugging propane bottles, and a gas dryer could be nice, and so could a pool heater. But probably not in this house.

Living in Phoenix and not heating the pool with a heat pump blows my mind

 

[Professor Fate]

I live in Central Florida. Its hot here, we had two days last year that killed my 3 baby palm trees, I'm sad.

There is a flag for a gas line at the end of my driveway. Its roughly 500 feet from the future garage.

I can borrow a trenching machine from work, so if I could in theory drop in a line for the cost of the tubing, hookup, and county inspections it might be worth it.

Do I want gas? I can only think of needing it for a hot tub that I don't own and absolutely can't afford on my shoestring budget but in 10 years maybe.

I'll never use it for heating, but it could be cool for the BBQ grill and Meatapalooza Mondays.

Worth getting it setup before they ban natural gas?

What do you think?

First of all, you will not be able to run the gas line from the main to the meter yourself. The Gas company or authorized sub contractor will have to do that. Secondly, they will not set a meter unless you have a plumbed use for gas installed and inspected.

Thirdly, this is the free state of Florida and banning natural gas is not in the lexicon for the foreseeable future.

I install gas in all my new construction when it is available including, on demand water heaters (electric ones don't work well), heaters, stoves and vented gas fireplaces (I will not install the non-vented type). I'll run the line for a grill if requested also.

 

[SILVERPLATE]

New palm trees need lots of water. Lived in south Florida 25 years.

 

[RonnieC]

Central Florida here- we had two back-to-back overnights this Winter below freezing. Lots of dead vegetation. Our electric heat pumps were more than enough to keep the house warm.
We have an underground propane tank for the gas stove, tankless water heaters and bbq. When we built three years ago we would have had to extend the natural gas line down the street at our expense.

 

[67King]

There's a saying you read a lot over in the tool section: Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

One thing I will say is that a gas water heater will save you a ton of money over a resistor element one. Now, conversely, if you have a heat pump water heater, those things are super, super efficient. Gas ranges are a whole lot better, too. However, in our new house, there is no gas service, and also I set it up to convert everything to solar, so the heat is from heat pumps, the water heat is from a pair of heat pump water heaters, and the cooktop is induction.

But if you can bring gas to the house, no reason not to, even if you don't use it right away.

 

[crewchief888]

i bought a new house in '86 in winter park (nw of orlando) it had nat gas heat, stove, dryer & hot water heater and was told there was also a gas line routed to the fireplace that was never connected.
back in the 60's when my dad had a new garage built he ran out a gas line to the garage as well as electric

 

[PCustoms]

@mpire is the house done, and you are purely referring to the shop build here?

 

[tarmy]

Having lived in West Palm Beach for a few years…when the storms hit…you need two things. Water and heat/cooking. Yes you should get gas…

 

[mike93lx]

Since you have to trench anyway, what's the advantage of doing it now instead of when you actually need it?

"just in case" can be a very expensive add on to a project

 

[finn]

Living in Phoenix and not heating the pool with a heat pump blows my mind

Most I know in Tucson use solar heaters, I think, and shut the pool down for eight or ten weeks in what passes for winter there.

We opted for no pool, one of the few houses that doesn’t have one in the neighborhood, since we’re seasonal residents.

The friends across the street don’t use theirs much, if at all in the heat of summer because the water gets too hot to be refreshing anymore.

They escape to Santa Fe for a month or six weeks, where it’s cooler.

 

[Lassen Forge]

My random thoughts...

I have a couple gas forges, and my cooktop runs off gas, because, well, my professional cooking like was over gas, and I can control it way better than invisible electrons....

For me, gas is a no brainer, but my situation is always different than others, so Your Mileage May Vary and you do YOU, not me.

 

[mike93lx]

The friends across the street don’t use theirs much, if at all in the heat of summer because the water gets too hot to be refreshing anymore.

Solar makes a lot of sense.

My heat pump is also a chiller. We don't need it as the pool is heavily shaded, but I'd consider it a necessity in AZ

 

[mpire]

Hot tubs heat on electric, not gas.

Then why do all my friends have these giant propane tanks for their spa heaters?

 

[mike93lx]

Then why do all my friends have these giant propane tanks for their spa heaters?

Probably because I am wrong

Never seen a nat gas/propane spa, always electric

 

[PCustoms]

Never seen a nat gas/propane spa, always electric

But what happens when the grid collapses and you need a soak?

Maybe this year I'll finally put my old stove to use:

 

[bmwrd0]

My wife is a pretty serious cook, and she will not live in a house without a gas range. It might boost your resale value as people do look for that when home shopping.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Central Florida isn’t the hurricane capital of Florida by any means, it’s probably the least effected by hurricanes, but having gas definitely makes power outages more comfortable.

Now that’s assuming you have appliances that run on gas, doesn’t do you much good if you still need a whole house generator. Well I guess you could have the generator run on lp.

 

[rsparks64]

Natural Gas is cheap here. Both of our hot water heaters are gas. Our stove is gas and prefer it that way. In my opinion it is the best way to cook. Our dryer is also gas- it is efficient.