Got my first propane bill

[albaran]

I finished my 24 x 29 garage addition with a 65K Hot Dawg propane heater just before the cold season set in. It is atttached to the original 24 x 20 garage with a large six foot openeing between them. I keep the thermostat at 50 except for the times that I am working out there. The winter here in New England has been on the mild side so far.
My first bill says I used 70 gallons (at $2.75 per gallon) at the end of January. I estimate that I would use about 150 to 200 gallons a season. This also powers the stand-by generator test for 20 minutes a week.
Does this sound average or high to you?

 

[hydramatic]

Run you gen set a min of 2-3 hrs to get condensation out of the oil..I buy my propane in the summer when the price is down..I pay upfront..got a credit for 750 gal..

 

[albaran]

I am more concerned with the amount of gallons I am using. Is 70 gallons for half a season sound right?

 

[mcmopar]

If you are heating both spaces, that is 1272 sq. ft. Then 70 gal is very reasonable! What do you have for insulation? Is the heater only in the new addition and the heat transfers to the 24X24? I ask because I also am going to heat a 20X32 existing structure that I have and am thinking of a 60K hot dawg on propane. Just starting to think of insulation right now. I think your propane usage is very reasonable!

 

[albaran]

The new space (where the heater is hanging with the blower aimed at the opening to the old section)is very well insulated (9' ceilings) and the old space is insulated in two of the walls but not an outside and door wall (12' ceilings). The heat does carryover to the old section resonably well. I have a temperature gauge in the old section that stays within a few degrees of the temperature setting.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

Run you gen set a min of 2-3 hrs to get condensation out of the oil..I buy my propane in the summer when the price is down..I pay upfront..got a credit for 750 gal..

Yup! On both.

 

[Trey T]

I can tell you 2.75/gal is 1 dollar cheaper than Houston, Texas.

 

[nehog]

I wish I could do half a season for 70 gallons. I wish I could get gas at 2.75 a gallon too... (I'm paying 3.89 right now)

I go through about 70 gallons a month. (Ok, bigger shop, almost 2K sq ft!) BTW, big difference when I dropped my temp down to 40 from 50. It takes about the same amount of time to get warm from 40 as from 50 too...

 

[toyotadriver]

Wonder why propane is so much higher in some places. It's $2 per gallon where I live.

 

[38Chevy454]

I filled my house propane early Jan and paid $2.25/gal when paid at time of delivery here in NM. House is 2000 sq ft and I go through about 700 gal/year total. If you have your propane on a regular fill where they top off your tank, it is more expensive than if you are on a call to fill basis. I have mu house on call to fill.

My detached garage I run off a 100 lb tank and only use it when I am out there and need some extra, so no real reference for your usage.

 

[oldwino]

Paid $3.94 gallon here in December and wish I could get half a year out of that

 

[tomroblee]

Propane has about 92,000 btu per gallon. With a 65,000 btu (input?) heater, you should have about 100 hours running time on 70 gallon.

That doesn't seem out of line for half a season.

 

[tdkkart]

You've used approx 6.4million btus so far, my 30x40x12 pole building has used 7.6million btus so far this year, or about 16% more.

Per my bill, the average daily temp last month was 29*F.

 

[clearspan]

Paid $1.99 2nd or 3rd week of december, I can't imagine 3.94. Some other area distributors were .10 cents cheaper, but I have to buy from the company I lease the tank from. If it got up to or over $4 I would have to get a wood boiler.

 

[24hours]

I can tell you 2.75/gal is 1 dollar cheaper than Houston, Texas.

And a Lot cheaper than Reno NV too.

 

[D.J.]

So when did you first have it filled?

 

[OccupantRJ]

$2.83 here last week, but a coworker an hour away was $2.49

 

[zchrisz]

propane is outrageous along with gas prices, granted i have a small single car garage here in CT also. i was originally going to go with propane, but i did not want the cost. it has not even been cold here but a few days... i run a dayton g73 and the month of december added 40 to my bill that's keeping it 40-45 when i'm not out there.

 

[jimchris]

I just called my dealer and propane is 1.75 paid in 10 days or 1.85 paid in 30 days when bill comes out. Location is western IL.

 

[dirttracker18]

I can tell you 2.75/gal is 1 dollar cheaper than Houston, Texas.

And a Lot cheaper than Reno NV too.

Seriously?!?!?!


You need propane heat in Texas and Reno NV?!?!?

You are kidding me right?

Ok I looked at Reno and I guess you need some heat, not much though

Texas though?

Ok looked there too, I guess we in the north have some kind of dream world vision of your winters in those places. I would say cool, but not cold

Still way less propane than us.

For my 1000 sq/ft house we used about 600 to 1000 gallons per year!!

We just filled up and were happy to pay $2.76 a gallon. That seemed a bargin to us.

 

[CARS]

250 gallons every 45 days (approx. keep fill) @ 1.88 gallon + tax

About 6 months a year of heating season (of some sort). 2000 sq. ft shop. Non-mod/con boiler. 1300 sq. ft of in-floor, 700 sq. ft rads and exchanger.

So about 1000 gallons, with tax and tank rental, about $2000.00 a year on average.

Last year was worse, this year has been great!! 40's in January

 

[superduty59]

Run you gen set a min of 2-3 hrs to get condensation out of the oil

Agreed, but I am a generator technician and most generators that have an exerciser function only run for 15-20 min once a week. You could run it manually or when there is an extended outage that would make up for it.

 

[JimVonBaden]

Seriously?!?!?!


You need propane heat in Texas and Reno NV?!?!?

You are kidding me right?

Ok I looked at Reno and I guess you need some heat, not much though

Texas though?

Ok looked there too, I guess we in the north have some kind of dream world vision of your winters in those places. I would say cool, but not cold

Still way less propane than us.

For my 1000 sq/ft house we used about 600 to 1000 gallons per year!!

We just filled up and were happy to pay $2.76 a gallon. That seemed a bargin to us.

It all depends. Parts of Texas get damn cold in winter, as does Reno. The upper half of the US easily gets below freezing for at least a couple months a year. Even in DC we usually have temps below freezing for most of January and February (not so far this year).

Jim

 

[sr4440]

Seriously?!?!?!


You need propane heat in Texas and Reno NV?!?!?

You are kidding me right?

Ok I looked at Reno and I guess you need some heat, not much though

Texas though?

Ok looked there too, I guess we in the north have some kind of dream world vision of your winters in those places. I would say cool, but not cold

Still way less propane than us.

For my 1000 sq/ft house we used about 600 to 1000 gallons per year!!

We just filled up and were happy to pay $2.76 a gallon. That seemed a bargin to us.

How do you think the pool is heated during the winter?

Joe

 

[MO-Iron]

I don't have the exact numbers with me, but I was really pleased with the amount of fuel I saved by dropping the temp down to 45 degrees. First year I used propane, I tried to keep the shop 55 and used 900 gallons. The next year I used around(working off memory) 500 gallons for the 45 degree. My shop is 45 X 50 with no windows and two well sealed overhead doors. The winter temps here in southwest Missouri I'm sure are alot warmer than what many of you have to contend with.

MO-Iron

 

[ishiboo]

Agreed, but I am a generator technician and most generators that have an exerciser function only run for 15-20 min once a week. You could run it manually or when there is an extended outage that would make up for it.

Also, transfer your load over for the 2-3 hours to load the generator and you'll maximize it's lifespan and performance. Little good comes of running an engine for 10 minutes at a time with no load, other than to know that it still starts

 

[dirttracker18]

How do you think the pool is heated during the winter?

Joe

See, that's about what I figured

 

[noble.brig]

Hello

Since I re-did the attic with insulation and went from R7 in the Attic floor to R53 I only used 300 gallons of oil for the winter season.
Now that is running the living room and kitchen at 66 degrees during the day with the bedrooms set to 55 during the day and vica versa at night!

So 300 x $3.50 per gallon is $1050.00

Last summer I got 3 tons of premium wood pellets Logic-e for $750.00 ($250.00) per ton.

So that is a nice savings of $300.00 dollars and now we heat the bedrooms, living room, Kitchen and the basement to 70+ degrees!!

 

[mrobins297aaa]

this year looks like 1250 gallons of propane @ $2.00 gallon = $2500 and 5 tons of wood pellets @ $200 ton= $1000 so about $3500 total.

propane is expensive I try to pre-buy in the summer and I also own my own 1000 gallon tank.

 

[NitroPress]

I dunno where you're getting propane for $2.00... I haven't seen anything close to that price, in large or small quantities, for years. $3-4.00 is the working range I've seen in the last few years.

 

[Lambo nut]

I dunno where you're getting propane for $2.00... I haven't seen anything close to that price, in large or small quantities, for years. $3-4.00 is the working range I've seen in the last few years.

That happens to be the exact price here in Central MO. ($2.00 per gallon). 5 cents off per gallon if you pay the bill within 10 days.

The amount of propane some people are using surprises me. I kept my shop heated at 50 degrees last winter then turned it up to 65 when I was in there (which I admit was not much last year maybe 5 to 10 hours a week) and only used exactly half of a 250 gallon tank. That is 125 gallons to keep approx 1100 sq feet with 9 foot ceilings and a bump up to 13ft in the middle for a lift, heated in central MO. R13 in the walls, R19 in the ceiling.

Barely used over 500 gallons total in a seperate tank to keep the house at 72 degrees. 1500 sq ft upstairs and 1500 downstairs for 3000 sq ft total heated area. Pretty cheap at $2.00 a gallon. This year so far will be even less due to the very mild winter we have had.

Kevin

 

[jeff5295]

Wow, they just topped off our tank a few days ago for $1.70. We've had pretty mild winter, so the demand is low, but I don't think we've ever paid much more than $2. We've had it as low as $1.50 in the last 3 years we've lived here.

 

[Flatland Dave]

Topped off my tank for $1.80 a couple weeks ago. I know my FIL pays a lot more than that in the mts of NC.

 

[Mike in Ohio]

I am locked in at 2.39 for this year and next. Just had my third fillup last week so I should be at about 900-950 gallons so far this year. 2700 square foot 2 story.

 

[NitroPress]

Looks like you guys in the midwest have really cheap propane. Fills here (only for the cooktop and, infrequently,the generator) run $3.00+ to nearly $4.00.

 

[NASTYZEN]

I'm on my third fill.....about $700 each time 2 big 500lbs. tanks
$0.70 per liter this time.
Front shop 20 x 40. main floor with an upstairs =1600sq ft
back shop 20 x 30 three floors =1800sq. ft.
I keep them at 15 deg. C whatever that is in F. I keep an army winter coat on.
It's cool at first, but gets plenty warm once I get working.

 

[bd8134]

$3.96 from Eastern propane for ~80 gallon tank which is rented for $100 a year.

 

[RRmech]

I have a 250 gallon in-ground tank.
Propane has been around $2.50 a gallon around here.

Steve

 

[cderalow]

I dunno where you're getting propane for $2.00... I haven't seen anything close to that price, in large or small quantities, for years. $3-4.00 is the working range I've seen in the last few years.

being in 'the hills' vs being down by 'the shore' can make a huge difference in cost.

especially in connecticut.

 

[rasit]

Just ordered today at $1.99/gal. (300 gal. minimum price) and own my own tank so I can shop around. Location, SE Pennsylvania.