Propane man came yesterday (finally)

[Flatbedford]

I've been comparing my propane usage from last year with the smoke dragon and this, my first year with the Fireview. I've been waiting about 6 weeks since the last delivery. Last winter, they were coming very two or three weeks! Yesterday it took only 105 gallons since January 21 to put my total consumption 238 gallons under last year! That's nearly $1000 saved. It looks like I'm going to burn about 4 cords of free wood. I guess if I bought wood, I would only break even. It does take quite a few BTUs to heat my drafty old house. Assuming the free wood keeps coming, the new stove will more than pay for itself in 2 winters. I am happy with that.

 

[Slow1]

Sounds good to me. Two year payback is more than good really - not many things you can do that will pay for themselves that fast I'd say.

 

[lukem]

total consumption 238 gallons under last year! That's nearly $1000 saved.

Yikes. Propane is expensive in your area. I'm only paying 1.89 a gallon.

This is my first year in the house and my first year burning so I don't know what I'm saving. All I know is I've used about 10 gallons of propane in the past 2 weeks...and I heat DHW with it. Prev owners burned 2000 gals/year. :clinches chest:

 

[Flatbedford]

It was $4.15/gal. It was around $3 in the fall and has slowly worked it's way up. These guys are thieves.

 

[ChillyGator]

$3.60 for the last 50 gal I had delivered in early February.

I burned 450 gallons last year keeping the house at 66* max (read COLD)....most area people have at least double to triple the normal bill for Jan & Feb. I have bought 250 gallons for this heating season and have used approximately 175 gallons. I figure I would have bought at least 800 gallons if burning only the furnace. I have burned almost 2 cords this season (processed all myself $0 less gas & oil for chainsaw and transportation). That is a pretty good return on a couple weekends worth of work.

 

[SolarAndWood]

It was $4.15/gal. It was around $3 in the fall and has slowly worked it's way up. These guys are thieves.

Heard that. I picked some up the other night and the pick up price was almost 4 bucks a gallon.

 

[rdust]

Great savings for just swapping the stove out!

I plan to do a comparison to last year once I finally call them to come out and top of my tank. My pre-buy lasts till the end of March so I have a little time still. I thought I had it bad with the pane prices. My pre-buy prices was 1.49 this year, I bought 800 gallons not knowing how much the stove would save. I should have plenty to roll over into next season.

 

[Smokey Bear]

Do any of your propane suppliers offer a "lock-in" rate over the summer? We've done it the last 4 years it worked out well 3 of the 4

 

[tiber]

I think I've told this story before - stop me if you've heard this one. Our neighbors for whatever weird reason play energy-roulette. They started out with an oil system like everyone else in the country and at some point someone installed an old fireplace insert. They decided they didn't like that so they ripped it out and installed a propane system. Then they converted that to CNG.

Each time they do it, it's because someone said "OH THIS FUEL SOURCE OVER HERE IS CHEAP!" In a few years, it's about as expensive (per BTU) as oil.

I'm firmly convinced wood is the answer because I can go out my back yard and find it. If I happened to live on top of an oil well, I might think oil is the answer.

 

[Bobbin]

Our home's primary heat is forced hot water provided by an oil fired boiler that is now nearly 20 yrs. old. We use the Fireview as secondary heat to keep our second floor "apartment" cozy. But what a money saver!

My BIL (next door) has a smaller house and we mistakenly received his oil bill for 6 weeks. It was $100 more than our's was! And our bill included filling the tank in the garage that feeds the furnace that provides heat for my workroom when the Classic isn't burning. He relied on his (propane) gas fired "fireplace" when the power was out for 3 days.

Heating with wood is labor intensive. And it requires forethought. But state of the art woodstoves can really take the sting out of fuel bills. I'm not surprised by the savings you've realized, Steve. We figured it took no more than 4 yrs. for the Fireview we purchased in '91 to pay for itself. And it's pleasing to the eye!

 

[Uper]

We can lock in a rate in the fall with our company. Last fall it was $1.69/gal. They make us purchase 400 gallons/year or they will charge a $250 rental fee on the tank. This year we installed a Regency I1200 fireplace insert and have been burning it every possible moment. We spent around $2600.00 on propane last year (water, heat, and kitchen stove=propane). This year we have had it filled once and have used around 150 gallons since January. I will be struggling to use 400 gallons. I'm thinking of trying to purchase my own tank. With the tax break for the stove and pipe and propane savings, we estimate that we will pay for our insert in 2 years. The wood around us is free to cut, so we have only gas and time involved. Well-worth it for me as I love putting up the wood. Feels like cellulose gold!