Now they're rationing LP keep those stoves going!

All this propane talk is scaring me for summer time! That's when the pool needs to be brought out of hibernation, and with the temps were having it will be august before that ground is warm enough to take the heater. May need to consider investing in a heat pump.

hermancm said:

15 amps at 120 has a 1800 watt capacity and I've run a heater on high no problems yet. But I Googled it and they say that 1500 should be the limit on a 15 circuit. And don't use a extension cord.

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It takes one lose connection at a max draw to cause a problem. Bad connections don't cause a breaker to trip unless they are shorting out. Just because the breaker is not tripping does not mean all is ok.

I got some propane last week, $1.79, called yesterday to check the price, $6.30. Have heard of just under $7.00 in parts of WI. Talk is the price may reach $10 gallon. State of Emergency declared in WI. Most are only delivering 100 gallons, some will do 300 gallons. I burn corn, I am lucky.

Vizsla said:

Wow, no compassion for those who might not be able to afford a back up plan, especially when none of this was forecast.

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What does compassion have to do with a backup plan. A reasonable plan may be to purchase a few $15 electric heaters, a used wood stove,ect. I just think it is ultimately each homeowners responsibility not someone else,s to ensure they have heat in a life threatening cold snap. I would certainly help as many of my neighbors as i could in such a situation,wether they prepared or not but i cannot be their backup plan,they have to do it. IMHO

Seasoned Oak said:

What does compassion have to do with a backup plan. A reasonable plan may be to purchase a few $15 electric heaters, a used wood stove,ect. I just think it is ultimately each homeowners responsibility not someone else,s to ensure they have heat in a life threatening cold snap. I would certainly help as many of my neighbors as i could in such a situation,wether they prepared or not but i cannot be their backup plan,they have to do it. IMHO

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Agreed 100%, but price gouging and rigging should be criminal and it has nothing to do with a back up plan.
Some home owners are elderly, infirm and some may be single provider raising a family....they have other issues to worry about, such as food on the table, medical bills etc....and worse not all neighbors are caring like yourself,(like it they used to be). In said cases I can forgive the lack of a back up plan and these are the people that get hurt by the energy cartels.Not making excuses for any hogs or leaches here and most people should have a back up.

Scott

moey said:

It takes one lose connection at a max draw to cause a problem. Bad connections don't cause a breaker to trip unless they are shorting out. Just because the breaker is not tripping does not mean all is ok.

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Yep....I have twice had started to notice light flickers at normal house loads. One time the breaker was actually smoking and the second you could just hear it arching. Breakers never tripped but I was close, very close to having a fire in that box.

Moral if the story is lights flickering need investigating.

BrotherBart said:

Off to the Inglenook. Not much about boiler or furnaces here.

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Quick on the draw huh? Saw it coming...

Fuel feeds boilers and furnaces though..but I humbly exit stage left.

Scott

Yea, big energy companies dont have a very good public relations,sort of like big AG and others. I know its one reason i got away from NG. Although its cheap out of the ground its not cheap after the local gas company get through adding all sorts of charges and fees on. Just about any excuse to raise prices. In this case i would not be surprised if there is actually a very real shortage of propane in places as this frigid weather is spread over such a wide swath of the country and wont let up. Dont know that that is justification for the price though. My solid fuel boiler has been running 24/7 for 2 months. If i burned oil or Propane gas my heat bill would be $600- $800 for 1 month instead of about that for the whole winter.

skfire said:

Agreed 100%, but price gouging and rigging should be criminal and it has nothing to do with a back up plan.
Some home owners are elderly, infirm and some may be single provider raising a family....they have other issues to worry about, such as food on the table, medical bills etc....and worse not all neighbors are caring like yourself,(like it they used to be). In said cases I can forgive the lack of a back up plan and these are the people that get hurt by the energy cartels.Not making excuses for any hogs or leaches here and most people should have a back up.

Scott

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two very good sides here.

1- always have a back up plan. Most of us here have that...the public? The percentages go down bad.

2- energy crunch may end up looking like Gouging. I live in the trucking world, when it gets into winter, times are pushed. Shortages? Yes, It's time to make money, but life becomes short with family and friends. But, it's time to roll and get the job done.

fuel dealers? energy crunches/delivery problems/etc and then add on winter? yes it's time to make money.

But it sounds like the upper midwest is in a bad spot for propane. Not good.

hermancm said:

The prices should have dropped by then. Not to last summers price but I'd think under $2.25/gal

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How did you come up with $2.25/gal?

It's one thing to raise prices but quite another to remove a vital product from the market with little warning at the peak of need.

Just watched our local news and for the first time since this started they mentioned a major propane line down for repairs and the propane that was used for drying crops.

The crop drying I knew about but it's the first I have heard about a supply line being down

cold down the line if models are correct

hermancm said:

The forecast lows for the next three night are -24, -28 and -18. and my neighbors are going to Cancun today. what they see in that place escapes me...? lol!

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Cancun used to be the starting point to access the "Gringo Trail" maybe this is still true, but it's been awhile. Get the cheapest package with the minimal hotel stay. If watching drunk schoolteachers from Indiana pee on the sawdust floor at Senior Frogs isn't your thing, boat over to Isla Mujares then bus south to Playa Del Carmen and Tulum, then on toChetumal and on to Belize and Guatemala, visit Tikal, take a bus through the Peten jungle to El Naranho, Dugout canoe down the Rio Usmacinta, To the Lacandon, go to Palenque. don't miss Agua Azul, on up the mountains to San Cristobal de las Casas, back down to Campeche, Merida, Progresso, the Yellow City, Dzitnup Cenote, well worth a side trip to Ushmal and the singing caves of Loltun, to Chitzen Itza and the beautiful city of Valladolid. Then back to Cancun and home.

RE: backup- we are lucky to have our wood stove at the Cottage. At the Old House, there wasn't room. The rooms were too small to meet clearances. Now that it's a rental, I'm glad because I wouldn't trust tenants with one anyway. Running 1500 watt heaters for a little while might be ok, but trying to keep an old house warm with them would be tough. Plus it depends on if you've updated your electric (both the Cottage and Old House have new service, but originally, the Old House had K&T and the Cottage...well..a mix of several eras). If somehow NG and electric were out to the Old House, there'd be no backup. Kero maybe, but they've got dogs. Or a portable LP heater, if they could get LP. Now if it was just electric, they'd have to figure out how to heat food on the stovetop of the DV NG stoves, but they'd be warm. We lost power for a bit a couple years back in an ice storm and we were fine (we still lived at the Old House). Not even bored, we were out sawing up trees for peeps (ah, all the lost BTUs-since this was pre-Cottage/pre-woodstove).

We take care of a house for some folks, and we were just talking about what an issue it would be if they lost power (forced air heat). Guess we'd have to hope we had enough LP in the tank we've got for our grill and bring our torpedo heater over there.

Around Thanksgiving our neighbors here at the Cottage lost their boiler and they weren't home (he left as scheduled and she was already gone-before he left he called a repair man to check into the "funny noises" which turned out to be the thing running full out with no restriction on temp). They couldn't come back home, the repair guy could manually turn it on and off but he wasn't staying all night and into thanksgiving. We offered to run their wood stove, but they asked that we use their 1500 watt heaters instead. We were over there every few hours (including overnight) checking those dang things to be sure the cords weren't hot, breakers weren't tripped, etc. FOUR of them running. I wouldn't do it in my house if I had a stove!!

eclecticcottage said:

We were over there every few hours (including overnight) checking those dang things to be sure the cords weren't hot, breakers weren't tripped, etc. FOUR of them running. I wouldn't do it in my house if I had a stove!!

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i would have been tempted to buy a cheap thermostat and put it on a power line somewhere

razerface said:

i would have been tempted to buy a cheap thermostat and put it on a power line somewhere

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They had ones with thermostats built in, I just don't trust them. they asked us to use them, but I don't want their house to burn down!

eclecticcottage said:

They had ones with thermostats built in, I just don't trust them. they asked us to use them, but I don't want their house to burn down!

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They are trouble. I use them when rehabbing, but only on low. On high they tend to overheat the outlet and the plug. Many outlets cant take a 1500 watt draw for endless hours.