Propane Gas Heat
 

We are looking at a new development where the homes are heated with Propane
Gas. Houses are about 2100sq feet. Any problems with this kind of heating.

Thank you.

Jim

James Repetski wrote:
We are looking at a new development where the homes are heated with
Propane Gas. Houses are about 2100sq feet. Any problems with this
kind of heating.
Thank you.

Jim

There are two factors I can think of that you should be aware of.

1. Propane is heavier than air. Unlike natural gas that is lighter and
tends to dissipate quickly; propane tends to pool in the basement and can be
more dangerous. You want to be sure to have a detector in use and be extra
careful. I don't want to say it is un-safe, but the differences can make it
less safe if you are not aware of them.

2. Price! Compare price on a per thermal bases to figure out any cost
of operation issues.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

James Repetski wrote:

We are looking at a new development where the homes are heated with Propane
Gas. Houses are about 2100sq feet. Any problems with this kind of heating.

$$$$ (You better have lots of them...).

Of course, depending on where you are, natural gas may not be that
much cheaper, but better check carefully on what local relative costs
are and relative usages as that may give some clues as to looking
forward.

I wouldn't turn the house down on that basis alone, but I'd not select
it as my first choice in most locations. While it's common here in
gas-producing country where there isn't NG distribution and we used it
for tractor fuel in the 60s-80s, I just don't like having the tank as
part of a residential setting unless it's the only practical choice.

Of course, if we didn't have a major pipeline running through the
pasture close enough to the house to have a tap, we'd be on LP, too...
:)

"James Repetski" wrote in message
...
We are looking at a new development where the homes are heated with
Propane Gas. Houses are about 2100sq feet. Any problems with this kind
of heating.

Thank you.

Jim

No problems with it, except if you have a 90%+ furnace, don't let the tank
run out. Propane at low pressure can sot up a furnace pretty bad. It can
completely plug up a secondary heat exchanger.

Price wise it varies with what is popular and available. In our area usage
prices seem to run electric, oil, propane the natural gas as far as cost. In
some areas you can get pretty cheap electric rates for heat so sometimes
electric is the way to go.
Greg

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:57:30 GMT, "James Repetski"
wrote:

We are looking at a new development where the homes are heated with Propane
Gas. Houses are about 2100sq feet. Any problems with this kind of heating.

Thank you.

Jim

Expensive!

I'd have a heat pump as primary and propane as secondary backup.

I'm assuming that natural gas is not available.

JimL wrote:

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:57:30 GMT, "James Repetski"
wrote:

....
I'd have a heat pump as primary and propane as secondary backup.
....

The efficiency of that choice will depend heavily on the location and
type/quality of the heat pump. If OP's in a really fridgid location, an
air-exchange heat pump may well run on the backup heat most of the
time. A ground exchange system might solve that but would be more
expensive initially...