Heaing cost comparison numbers

[jvitez]

I've been using several 1500W electric heaters, propane radiant and torpedo heaters, and a round kerosene heater over the past couple of weeks in the garage. After buying 2 5-gallon jugs of kerosene for $24.99 each (plus 12% sales taxes......) I thought "How much does it cost for the same amount of heat output for each of these heat sources?" So, out comes the calculator.

My costs: kerosene $27.99 for 5 US gallons
propane $13.40 for a 20 lb tank fill at a commercial propane dealer
electricity 7.6 cents/kWH

Physical properties: 20 lb propane tank is 17.8 litres of liquid propane
1 litre of propane is 24,200 btu
1 litre of kerosene is 35,700 btu
3.413 btu/watt
each heater type is 100% efficient as each is unvented

Final numbers, cost for 10,000 btu of delivered heat:

propane: 31.1 cents
electricity: 22.3 cents
kerosene: 83.0 cents

I thought kerosene would be a bit more than electricity, but not almost 3 times as much. Math is your friend!

Thought I'd share, as I've seen many questions asking about cost comparisons.

 

[deter]

I had a few kerosene heaters that I was trying to sell... I found out that you can't even give these things away

 

[jvitez]

Very few people use kerosene heaters here since our electricity is relatively inexpensive. If there's no electricity available like in construction projects, the vast majority will use propane temporary heat. Rarely will I see fuel oil fired fan forced ducted heaters.

I bought a round kerosene heater at Menards more as an insurance policy to have some emergency heat for the house if the power goes out. I thought I'd use it in the garage just to see, and I must admit I really like the quiet gentle heat. It has very little odor too. I have a radiant propane heater which is quite quiet, but also a propane torpedo heater which moves the heat around well but is way too noisy. I often wear earplugs if I'm close to the torpedo heater.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

When you get a 20# cylinder refilled, your mostly paying for labor, not for the propane.

If you want to use it for anything other than temporary heat, you'd want to get a larger tank. That would cut the cost. I think it's roughly $1.90 per gallon around here. If you figure roughly 95,000 BTU's per gallon, that drops that number to

$.20 per 10,000 BTU's

Of course that's US dollars...so it would need to be adjusted for currency unless they are still about equal.

PHil

 

[Highbeam]

Lots of opportunities to make mistakes with the math as you've shown it. Try using an actual fuel cost calculator to compare the fuels. You'll need to know the actual cost per unit such as $ per gallon of propane and not $ per "fill" which could be anything depending on the mood of the filler that day.

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/fuel_cost_comparison_calculator/

Is one calculator that doesn't include kerosene but fuel oil isn't that much different. You will find, as I did, that electric is often cheaper than propane.

 

[rlitman]

This all depends on where you are.
On Long Island, where electricity is sky high, I buy kerosene at the pump (for a fraction of the cost of buying it in jugs), and the cost of a fill in a 20# propane is astronomical (and I don't feel like dealing with larger propane tanks), my costs per 10kBTU come out to:

propane: 76.6 cents
electricity: 61.5 cents
kerosene: 35.5 cents

I don't have my natural gas bill handy, but the last time I worked it out, it was just about half the cost of electricity, so I would figure on 32 cents.

I heat my house with natural gas, but I don't have gas in my detached garage. I use a Monitor sealed combustion direct vent kerosene heater. There is zero smell, and 93% efficiency.

 

[Gary S]

Portable fuels like propane and kerosene are seldom cheaper than electricity, and never as clean.
Unless you have natural gas already piped in place, electric is the best. It is safer and easier to install, and cost, while much higher than natural gas, is often cheaper than propane in small portable containers or kerosene.

Your math proves it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Buying prepackaged jugs of Kerosene is a complete rip off. Buying it at the pump is way cheaper but still not as cheap as buying fuel oil which is basically the same as dyed kerosene. We just had the tank filled with 150 gallons, $3.70/gal, pay within the first 10 days, you get a discount.

When they fill a 20 lb LP tank, they are topping it off around here, a set price. Whether it needs 5 or 13 lbs the cost is the same. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. A refill is about 15 dollars while a tank exchange is $20.


What some heating math works for some doesn't always work for others.

 

[Highbeam]

Seriously, they don't sell propane by the gallon in your area? That is rotten. Our propane is about 2.10 per gallon whether I need 1 or 4 to fill my 20lb tank, as it should be. You don't fill your car with gasoline by the "tank" do you.

I was able to locate kerosene at a pump and cost was only slightly lower than by the pail which is very high, about 35$ here at our home depot. Kerosene is equivalent to #1 diesel and #2 diesel is fuel oil. Some engines can run on either but most heaters are specific about using one or the other.

Tough to beat electricity for ease of install, maintenance, safety, and price control.

 

[jvitez]

No one sells kerosene at the pump here, simply not used enough.

Propane is only sold in portable tanks by the pound, not by volume. Only large fixed tanks are described by volume. Propane costs 46.2 cents/litre here. Dealers charge X to fill a 20 lb tank and 2x to fill a 40 lb tank, etc. Tank exchanges are about $22.

Fuel oil is 99.9 cents/ litre.

The Canuck buck is about at par with the greenback right now.

I'll use up the kerosene this winter in the garage because I've already bought it and I like the quiet heat, but I'm also glad I have multiple plug-in electric heaters. My eventual plan is NG fired unit heaters, but I've got quite a bit of work to do before I get there, so portable heating is it for now.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I agree with the OP's conclusions.

As far as HighBeam's point about safety? Any energy source has it's hazards. Electricity is actually pretty dangerous if you think about all of the house fires attributed to "electrical" as a cause and the numbers of people who die due to accidental electrocution each year.

Also, there is the reliability factor (or lack thereof) of power.

Other than that, it's pretty great.

Phil

p.s. I did a little research to back up my thoughts above. In the 12 years leading up to 1992, worker deaths due to electrocution in the U.S. alone were over 5000 killed (over the whole period or about 420 deaths per year). Consumer Product data from 2008 showed 52 people in the U.S. were killed by their electrical appliances. There are an average of 28000 electrical fires each year in the U.S. just in residential category with 360 killed/year, 1000 injured/year and just under $1 Billion in property damage/year.