Hello Posters........
I'm trying to get a overall picture of what the costs are to heat a house
with natural gas vs oil (even propane costs). I've always heated (including
hot water) with oil. I understand the amount of heat delivered by oil vs
gas and elecric is more, but with natural gas prices actually down and oil
simply sykrocketing and never going to go down, does it make more sense to
buy a pre-existing home that is heated by natural gas hot water baseboard
and not oil? Obviously the variables of how much fuel is used depends on a
myriad of conditions. So I'm trying to get a comparison of what equal
conditions might cost for one vs the other. I'm in the extreme western part
of mid-upstate NY. I don't know what an equal amount of heat generation for
the different fuels cost. Right now my oil supplier wants $2.99 a gallon
for a futures price on oil and $2.40 per gallon on propane through May of
2007; Idon't know what NYState E&Gas charges for natural gas. I''d
appreciate any input and any specific examples from posters who may have
switched from one to the other. Thanks in advance for the usual fine input
here. John

John F. wrote:
Hello Posters........
I'm trying to get a overall picture of what the costs are to heat a
house with natural gas vs oil (even propane costs). I've always
heated (including hot water) with oil. I understand the amount of
heat delivered by oil vs gas and elecric is more,

I assume you mean units of heat per cost unit?

but with natural
gas prices actually down and oil simply sykrocketing and never going
to go down, does it make more sense to buy a pre-existing home that
is heated by natural gas hot water baseboard and not oil?

It depends on where you are and what efficiencies you are getting with
each source. It is a simple math questions once you get the numbers.

Obviously
the variables of how much fuel is used depends on a myriad of
conditions. So I'm trying to get a comparison of what equal
conditions might cost for one vs the other. I'm in the extreme
western part of mid-upstate NY. I don't know what an equal amount of
heat generation for the different fuels cost. Right now my oil
supplier wants $2.99 a gallon for a futures price on oil and $2.40
per gallon on propane through May of 2007; Idon't know what NYState
E&Gas charges for natural gas. I''d appreciate any input and any
specific examples from posters who may have switched from one to the
other. Thanks in advance for the usual fine input here. John

You need more numbers including the efficiencies of the heating units.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"John F." wrote in message
I understand the amount of heat delivered by oil vs
gas and elecric is more, but with natural gas prices actually down and
oil
simply sykrocketing and never going to go down, does it make more sense
to
buy a pre-existing home that is heated by natural gas hot water baseboard
and not oil?

Thee are a couple of web sites that allow you to compare cost by just
plugging in some cost numbers. I don't have it on this computer, but Google
will. Gas tends to follow oil prices so don't get too excited by any
differences. In the past, gas was always cheaper, but not so much now.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message:

Thee are a couple of web sites that allow you to compare cost by just
plugging in some cost numbers. I don't have it on this computer, but
Google
will. Gas tends to follow oil prices so don't get too excited by any
differences. In the past, gas was always cheaper, but not so much now.

Consequently, the prices of the two energy sources will never be so far
apart, as to justify a home heating convesion for that reason alone.

If you have other reasons, then it's your call.

RichK

To help answer my own questions and for those who may be intereted a gallon
of propane delivers 92,000 BTU's vs fuel oil which delivers 130,000 BTU per
gallon or 41% more heat. No luck yet on finding out the number BTUs
delivered by natural gas.

"John F." wrote in message
...
Hello Posters........
I'm trying to get a overall picture of what the costs are to heat a house
with natural gas vs oil (even propane costs). I've always heated
(including hot water) with oil. I understand the amount of heat
delivered by oil vs gas and elecric is more, but with natural gas prices
actually down and oil simply sykrocketing and never going to go down,
does it make more sense to buy a pre-existing home that is heated by
natural gas hot water baseboard and not oil? Obviously the variables of
how much fuel is used depends on a myriad of conditions. So I'm trying to
get a comparison of what equal conditions might cost for one vs the other.
I'm in the extreme western part of mid-upstate NY. I don't know what an
equal amount of heat generation for the different fuels cost. Right now
my oil supplier wants $2.99 a gallon for a futures price on oil and $2.40
per gallon on propane through May of 2007; Idon't know what NYState E&Gas
charges for natural gas. I''d appreciate any input and any specific
examples from posters who may have switched from one to the other. Thanks
in advance for the usual fine input here. John

On Sun, 21 May 2006 15:02:02 -0400, "John F."
wrote:
To help answer my own questions and for those who may be intereted a gallon
of propane delivers 92,000 BTU's vs fuel oil which delivers 130,000 BTU per
gallon or 41% more heat. No luck yet on finding out the number BTUs
delivered by natural gas.

1 cu-ft of natural gas equals approximately 1,000 BTUs... It can vary
though... Some NG providers bill on the decatherm instead of strictly
by volume since this takes into account the higher or lower energy
content of their gas throughout the year...

According to:
http://searcy.dina.org/business/utilities/natgas.html

You would pay $4.65 per month just for the privilege of being able to
buy gas from the company, even if you didn't buy any... For the first
30,000 cu-ft, you would pay $4.821 per 1,000 cu-ft, up to 30,000
cu-ft, at which time, the price would drop to $3.952 per 1,000 cu-ft
for all gas used over 30,000 cu-ft...

So, to get your real costs, you are going to have to determine how
many BTUs you currently use per month...

You already know the number of gallons of oil that you currently use
per month, right?

Right! Thanks G


"Grumman-581" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 May 2006 15:02:02 -0400, "John F."
wrote:
To help answer my own questions and for those who may be intereted a
gallon
of propane delivers 92,000 BTU's vs fuel oil which delivers 130,000 BTU
per
gallon or 41% more heat. No luck yet on finding out the number BTUs
delivered by natural gas.

1 cu-ft of natural gas equals approximately 1,000 BTUs... It can vary
though... Some NG providers bill on the decatherm instead of strictly
by volume since this takes into account the higher or lower energy
content of their gas throughout the year...

According to:
http://searcy.dina.org/business/utilities/natgas.html

You would pay $4.65 per month just for the privilege of being able to
buy gas from the company, even if you didn't buy any... For the first
30,000 cu-ft, you would pay $4.821 per 1,000 cu-ft, up to 30,000
cu-ft, at which time, the price would drop to $3.952 per 1,000 cu-ft
for all gas used over 30,000 cu-ft...

So, to get your real costs, you are going to have to determine how
many BTUs you currently use per month...

You already know the number of gallons of oil that you currently use
per month, right?

"John F." wrote in message
...
To help answer my own questions and for those who may be intereted a
gallon of propane delivers 92,000 BTU's vs fuel oil which delivers 130,000
BTU per gallon or 41% more heat. No luck yet on finding out the number
BTUs delivered by natural gas.

Wikipedia mentions that the calorific value of natural gas is between 35,000
and 40,000 kilojoules per cubic metre, depending on the source (38,000 for
the USA). That heat would be at available only 100% efficiency!

Another site mentions a US value of 1.03 million BTUs per 1000 cu. feet.

Actually, I thought fuel oil was about 144Kbut/gal, but it may vary --
different grades of oil etc. I have never understood why heating oil
almost always costs more than Diesel with 40+ cents/gal road tax on it.
I realize they have to deliver it, rather than you going to a station
and filling a vehicle, but even still it seems like a large markup. One
advantage of oil over propane is that if you run out or get dangerously
low, you can go get some Diesel and dump it in the tank. Where I used to
work we had pickups running on propane, so I never worried too much
about running out at home. Since then, I switched the water heater to
electric, and put in dual fuel heat pumps. Besides the cooktop (ovens
are electric) the only propane used now is for the furnaces that fire up
only when the HPs go into defrost. Of course ths is south Tx, so not too
relevant for the OP. Larry

"lp13-30" wrote in message
I have never understood why heating oil
almost always costs more than Diesel with 40+ cents/gal road tax on it.

Not where I live in New England. Diesel is running about $3, fuel oil is
$2.42 last Friday.

I've known people to pump out the fuel oil to put in their cars and trucks.

John listed below are some resources for you to review:

http://www.aga.org/Template.cfm?sect...ut_Natural_Gas
Most (84 percent) of the natural gas consumed in the United States is
produced in the U.S. Canada provides much of the rest (13 percent),
with 3 percent imported as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

http://www.naturalgas.org/overview/resources.asp
Info on Gas reserves.

http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/
Current prices

You get more BTU's from oil but the transport costs are higher. If you
live near a Natural Gas pipeline(which you do) then NG will be cheaper
to get to your door.

http://www.iroquois.com/new-Internet...s/irq-map.html

The next question is what is the long term price out look for NG vs
Oil? The vast majority of your NG comes from the US and Can. More and
more of our heating oil comes from outside of the US. So, then we have
to bet on how Venezuela is going to feel about us in the future?

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/p...re/heatbro.htm

I think while we will see some short term spikes in Natural Gas prices
because of demand from electric generation. In the long term the price
should be more stable than buying Oil from Venezuela or Nigeria.

A more important question is what is going to heat your new house? No
matter which way you go(gas vs oil) make sure that you have a well
sealed house and a decently efficient boiler.

http://www.houseneeds.com/shop/Heati...ercostsexp.asp