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    Propane or Electric Central Heat?

    Wife and I are building a house and I am going back and forth on this question. House will be around 2000sqft with either 10 or 12 foot ceilings in open living room area (have not finalized that yet) and 9ft in bedrooms and hallways. The stove top I already determined I want to be propane, so I am almost thinking just get central heat propane also. what are yalls opinions on what to do for central heat? People with electric heat do you see bills higher in winter? Propane users how many times do you have to fill it up a year? Any info is appreciated. (if we go propane with central heat I can get a good price on 320g tank

    #2
    Propane has 100,000 BTU per gallon, you need to know the BTU rating on the unit you want but it is probably around 199,000 BTU. Knowing this you will burn about 2 gal. propane per hour depending on the efficiency of your unit. On a well insulated hour the unit will probably run 10% of the time (just an estimate depending on the temp. outside) so about 2.5 hours per day at 2 gallons an hour at about $2 per gallon. So that is $10.00 per day to heat your house, these figures are an estimate you need to know the BTU of the unit you are wanting and do the math. BUT propane heat is so much better and not as dry as electric.

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      #3
      We have propane. Furnace and water heater. In the summer time it’s awesome doesn’t burn much, in the winter and it gets cold I hate life.

      I wish the furnace was electric.

      I’m plumbed for a propane cooktop just haven’t switched it out yet.


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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        #4
        Originally posted by Mayhem View Post
        We have propane. Furnace and water heater. In the summer time it’s awesome doesn’t burn much, in the winter and it gets cold I hate life.

        I wish the furnace was electric.

        I’m plumbed for a propane cooktop just haven’t switched it out yet.


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
        do you have a fire place? (we are going to have a wood burning fire place)
        how big is your house?
        how many times do you fill up during winter roughly?

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          #5
          Propane. Always go propane. My parents have a 500 gallon tank, it get's filled up right before winter, and is usually good for the year. They said it's usually every 11 months this past winter when we were up there. They live in Wisconsin, and keep the heat at 68 during the day, and 58 while sleeping. Roughly 3,000 SF on three stories.

          The other thing with propane, I don't know if it's the same here in Texas, but back home a person can buy propane in the spring/summer when it's cheap, then have it delivered right before winter hits. That way you don't get stuck paying the fall/winter time price.

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            #6
            Originally posted by forced-2-work View Post
            do you have a fire place? (we are going to have a wood burning fire place)

            how big is your house?

            how many times do you fill up during winter roughly?


            Wood burning fire place and hardly ever use it. It’s a PITA.

            2000sqft

            I’ll fill up in Feb and it will last till August. After that it’s a crap shoot. It got cold at one point a year or ago and burned 200 gallons in a month.


            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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              #7
              Originally posted by Mayhem View Post
              We have propane. Furnace and water heater. In the summer time it’s awesome doesn’t burn much, in the winter and it gets cold I hate life.

              I wish the furnace was electric.

              I’m plumbed for a propane cooktop just haven’t switched it out yet.


              Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
              This.

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                #8
                We have a fireplace. We had propane central heating put in the house 30 years ago when we built it. We just use a couple of the electric radiator space heaters now, and our fireplace. Haven't used the propane central heat for over 20 years. Propane proved to be expensive.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by softpoint View Post
                  We have a fireplace. We had propane central heating put in the house 30 years ago when we built it. We just use a couple of the electric radiator space heaters now, and our fireplace. Haven't used the propane central heat for over 20 years. Propane proved to be expensive.
                  this is where I am torn...... I can get propane for 2.25 a gallon. not bad if i am not burning 200 gallons a month, but life will suck if I do burn that much....... oh decisions

                  although using space heaters in winter could also help cut down on propane cost and wont be horrible on electric either.......why can't I just be rich!?

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                    #10
                    We have electric with a heap pump and backup strips and hate it. Dry and our electric bills double from November through February in west Texas.

                    Even had a whole new unit put in because we thought something was wrong with ours. No change. Our house is 1400sqft and it seems to run a lot for keeping the house at 71 degrees in West Texas.

                    My folks have propane in the hill country and they go through about 175 gallons a year for cooking, hot water and heat, granted their place is only about 700 SQ ft and it’s jus the two of them.

                    We will absolutely put propane in our next house! Get a big tank and it never goes bad! I’m also **** about having a generator that runs on propane and plenty on hand in case the power goes out/ SHTF... so there’s that


                    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                      #11
                      If the house is still being plumbed have a line put into the living room and bathroom, you can install infrared wall heaters also, they are very economical and use very little gas for as big of an are as they heat.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by mrc View Post
                        If the house is still being plumbed have a line put into the living room and bathroom, you can install infrared wall heaters also, they are very economical and use very little gas for as big of an are as they heat.
                        we have not even broken ground yet. still in the finalizing stages. this is why I am trying to line all my ducks up in a row before we break ground

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                          #13
                          Propane for sure.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Mayhem View Post
                            We have propane. Furnace and water heater. In the summer time it’s awesome doesn’t burn much, in the winter and it gets cold I hate life.

                            I wish the furnace was electric.

                            I’m plumbed for a propane cooktop just haven’t switched it out yet.


                            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


                            This. The cold months get expensive QUICK.


                            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                              #15
                              Propane or Electric Central Heat?

                              We went heat pump with electric auxiliary heat.

                              In most of Texas a heat pump will serve any need, especially in a new construction house. I can’t say that I’ve ever noticed it switch to auxiliary heat.

                              As to propane consumption, we have (2) 50 gallon propane water heaters, propane cooktop (6 burners plus griddle) spa heater, and a log lighter for our outdoor fireplace. We did our initial 250 gallon fill in June of 2019 and I’ve had to refill twice so far. I can’t imagine how much more would be used if we had propane heat.

                              Also any gas powered heat creates humidity. If you are planning to foam the house, I’d talk to your HVAC guy about that to see if it may be an issue.


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