How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hot water only?
 

Because I am paying $270 every 65 days (about 130 a month) and it
annoys me, since there is no meter or any way I can see to check the
company other than to just trust them.

Thanks!

Dean

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hot water only?
 

"dean" wrote in message
ups.com...
Because I am paying $270 every 65 days (about 130 a month) and it
annoys me, since there is no meter or any way I can see to check the
company other than to just trust them.

That seems very high. The truck delivering has a meter and they are checked
by the state. I guess anything can be tampered with but most are legit.
Have you checked for leaks? Does the line run underground at any point?
Are you using warm wash and cold rinses on laundry?

As for checking, you do know the volume of the tank. You can figure about
how empty it should be based on how much the driver fills each time. Before
the next delivery, see if you can find the level before it is filled. With
a small grill tank, you can sometimes see the moisture on the tank
indicating the liquid level. You have to be using gas for that to occur. I
don't know how well that will work on a larger tank though.

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hot water only?
 

On Feb 12, 8:34 pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:

As for checking, you do know the volume of the tank. You can figure about
how empty it should be based on how much the driver fills each time. Before
the next delivery, see if you can find the level before it is filled. With
a small grill tank, you can sometimes see the moisture on the tank
indicating the liquid level. You have to be using gas for that to occur. I
don't know how well that will work on a larger tank though.

Many tanks have a guage on them. Most show % of tank volume, but mine
shows actual gallons in the tank. Not real accurate, but a reasonably
fair indicator. There are also stick-on strips available that give a
rough estimate based on temp as Edwin stated.

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hot water only?
 

On 12 Feb 2007 13:56:55 -0800, "dean" wrote:

Because I am paying $270 every 65 days (about 130 a month) and it
annoys me, since there is no meter or any way I can see to check the
company other than to just trust them.

It sounds like your usage is extremely high.

I pay much less than that for water/stove/dryer & a space heater which
uses more than all three 4-5 months of the year. The last few years
I've paid about $1000 - while the price has gone up to about $2.50
/gal.
[it's $2.70 now- but this 'year' isn't done yet]

So - first convert your $ to gallons. Then call a repairman to
check for leaks and malfunctions with your heater. Tell him how many
gallons you're using a month and I'll bet he runs out to your house.

You either have a serious leak or are due for a new heater. If I
were you, I'd be happy to spend $1000 now- the payback will be less
than a year.


Jim

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hotwa...
 

If you are using that much propane for water heating and nothing else in
the house uses propane, you would probably be better off switching to an
electric water heater. I was using somewhere around a gallon/day for
mine (1 person), and when I switched to electric, I barely noticed any
increase on the electric bill. Larry

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hotwa...
 

"lp13-30" wrote in message
...
If you are using that much propane for water heating and nothing else in
the house uses propane, you would probably be better off switching to an
electric water heater. I was using somewhere around a gallon/day for
mine (1 person), and when I switched to electric, I barely noticed any
increase on the electric bill. Larry

You must have cheap electric. Where I live the same amount of energy from
electric will cost 35% more than propane. Oil is considerably less that
either so I'd look at that option first.
For 100,000 Btu of heat here in CT, the cost is as follows
Electric 4.75
Propane 3.33
Oil 1.86

I don't know the cost of natural gas right now.

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hotwa...
 

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:

-snip-
For 100,000 Btu of heat here in CT, the cost is as follows
Electric 4.75
Propane 3.33
Oil 1.86

I don't know the cost of natural gas right now.

I hadn't compared them in many years, so I looked up the BTU values
and came up with this in NY - near Albany/Schenectady;

Heating Oil Contains 138,690 BTU's per gallon.
Propane has 91,500 BTU's per gallon.
Electricity has 3,413 BTU's per kilowatt hour (kwh).
to adjust to 100K Btu's use price x [multiplier]
Oil = .721
Propane = 1.092
Elec = 29.300
so - disregarding efficiencies & using last bill as guide;
Oil = 2.13
Propane = 3.12
elec = 4.35

Propane is still a bargain over electricity here, too.

Jim

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hotwa...
 

Hi Edwin,

When comparing the cost performance of gas and electric water heaters,
we need to consider two things: one, the cost of the fuel and,
secondly, the respective operating efficiencies of these tank units.

The EF or "energy factor" rating of a conventional gas water heater
falls in the range of 0.50 to 0.65 (the upper end representative of a
high efficiency power vent model); that means between one-third to
one-half of the propane consumed is effectively lost up the stack or
through the tank walls. By comparison, an electric water heater might
have an EF of between 0.85 and 0.95 (no stack related losses and, in
this case, 100 per cent conversion efficiency).

For propane, if we take 1 and divide by 0.575 (our mid point in
efficiency), our fuel multiplier works out to be 1.74 and in the case
of electric, 1 divided by 0.90 gives us a multiplier of 1.11.

With these adjustments, our propane costs per 100,000 BTUs (net) would
be $5.79 and for electric, it comes to $5.27. Reasonably close, but
with electric holding the advantage.

Cheers,
Paul

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:24:40 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"lp13-30" wrote in message
...
If you are using that much propane for water heating and nothing else in
the house uses propane, you would probably be better off switching to an
electric water heater. I was using somewhere around a gallon/day for
mine (1 person), and when I switched to electric, I barely noticed any
increase on the electric bill. Larry

You must have cheap electric. Where I live the same amount of energy from
electric will cost 35% more than propane. Oil is considerably less that
either so I'd look at that option first.
For 100,000 Btu of heat here in CT, the cost is as follows
Electric 4.75
Propane 3.33
Oil 1.86

I don't know the cost of natural gas right now.

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hot water only?
 

Seems pretty high if it's only for hot water.
My family is the same, 2 adults, 2 kids.
500 gallon propane tank that supplies:
furnace
water heater
range top
gas dryer
house is almost 3500 sqf.
I use the average method and pay a consistent
monthly rate of $106. I do get a break on cost
though since it's considered an "Ag" rate.
Check for leaks. They just filled me the other day
and the propane guy was telling me about another
customer down the way that had a bad leak that
went undetected, poor guy lost 1000 gallons of
propane before they found it.


--Ben


On 12 Feb 2007 13:56:55 -0800, "dean" wrote:

Because I am paying $270 every 65 days (about 130 a month) and it
annoys me, since there is no meter or any way I can see to check the
company other than to just trust them.

Thanks!

Dean

How much propane should a 2 adult 2 kiddy family use for hot water only?
 

On 12 Feb 2007 13:56:55 -0800, "dean" wrote:

Because I am paying $270 every 65 days (about 130 a month) and it
annoys me, since there is no meter or any way I can see to check the
company other than to just trust them.



How much are they charging per gallon. I contracted at 1.549 but we
use propane for a lot more. You can expect to pay out the butt for
such small usage as you indicate.