Reduction of LP use since installing wood furnace

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JRHAWK9

JRHAWK9

Minister of Fire
Jan 8, 2014
2,081
Wisconsin Dells, WI
We used to average about 1,300 gallons of LP a year, with a max of 1,500, sampled over a 6 year span keeping the house at 68°. We have an LP furnace, water heater and clothes drier. Since installation of our wood furnace, the last few years we've been using right around 135 gallons a year all the while keeping the house 70°+ in winter (most of the time it's 72°-74°). The majority of the LP used now is by the water heater (in summer, seeing the Kuuma preheats our DHW in winter) and the drier. We've actually reduced our LP usage by more than I thought we would.

oh, and I am burning less wood that I thought I would be as well! :-)
 
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What is that for you $1,800 a year in savings. ROI must be over and are in the profit now.
 
yeah, for the furnace yes, but I also paid a professional company to install a brand new 33'(?) Excel/ICC chimney, and that was not cheap! lol

If LP prices would just go UP, the ROI would be starting earlier ;-) Last winter they were $0.99/gal and now they are $1.30/gal. Where are the $3-$4 gallon prices?
 
Congrats to you. I can relate as I have experienced very similar results here after going with the boiler. Something to consider in the future concerning your water heater. Go electric. With the well insulated units, there is just about zero heat loss while idle. Not like a propane unit which leaks heat right up the chimney 24/7. The propane unit here was quite aged but was not leaking. I made the pre-emptive move and swapped it out last week for a short electric unit. Received some bonus shelving space above. Was using ten gallons of propane per month, we will see how cooking and clothes dryer fairs now.
 
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We cycle our furnace about 4 to 6 times over the season. Other than that, we have a 5 burner lp stove and a LP dryer. For our family of 5 we use around 125 gallons a year. 2 years ago we paid around .90 a gallon, this year when we filled, it was 1.24 a gallon.
 
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BoiledOver said:
Congrats to you. I can relate as I have experienced very similar results here after going with the boiler. Something to consider in the future concerning your water heater. Go electric. With the well insulated units, there is just about zero heat loss while idle. Not like a propane unit which leaks heat right up the chimney 24/7. The propane unit here was quite aged but was not leaking. I made the pre-emptive move and swapped it out last week for a short electric unit. Received some bonus shelving space above. Was using ten gallons of propane per month, we will see how cooking and clothes dryer fairs now.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I could go electric for DHW. I do know what you are referring to though. I remember looking at the tag on our water heater and thinking it's rated to use around 250 gallons of LP a year, IIRC. I do remember thinking, after seeing that rating (whatever it was), that we may be using close to a full tank of LP every year between our water heater and clothes drier. I'm also assuming the water heater reading was based upon a family of four. There are only two of us. I do know the majority of our LP is going to heat our water. If we did switch to an electric, our LP use would greatly decrease, but our electric bill would increase, probably costing us more in the long run due to the prices of electric being what they are now compared to LP. I also believe the recovery time for gas is better than electric.

According to my minute counter on my LP furnace, the LP furnace uses between 5-10 gallons of LP a heating season.
 
My place had 2 propane furnaces and a propane water heater all with standing pilots. - First order was to convert to intermittent pilots and get rid of the propane water heater (not convertible to intermittent pilot) Most people don't realize each standing pilot can use between 5-8 gallons of propane a month - adds up fast. For the water heater I went to a heat pump water heater and only use the heat pump mode - never have run it out of hot water with just the two of us. We didn't really notice an increase in electric with the HPWH but I'm sure it's there. So far I wouldn't go back to gas or standard electric for heating water.
 
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I went with the HPWH also, But I have a family of 5. Spring and fall had to put in hybrid because we would have 5 showers in a row about 2 straight hours of hot H2O. My electric bill went down.
 
We have a standing pilot with a millivolt thermostat (set to "on" at 45F) on our LP wall heater. The function of this heater is to provide last resort backup heat to keep the house from freeze-up in the winter when we may be away for a week or two and a power outage or malfunction occurs that results in loss of our electric baseboard backup heat. Is there an alternative to a standing pilot in this situation? Although the occurrence of an event that would trigger the LP heater is quite unlikely, the damage resulting from a freeze-up could be very large.
 
You don't leave the pilot run when you are home do you?
If so, then I'd just turn it off except when you go away...very minimal LP usage that way...
 
I have turned it off in the past, and then after a couple of years when we were leaving, the pilot failed to light and the heater was inoperable. Gas service company had to come and replace the pilot burner and some other parts. The company guy said that failing to leave it on results in corrosion, the heat from the pilot light keeps the parts corrosion free. Is this a story line or true? The heater needs to be available dependably.
 
I think they have a DC igniter that can run off a battery. I am not sure though, i have never seen one. But I seem to remember a coworker talking about running into one on a service call.
 
Is this on the ground floor? I wouldn't think it would corrode much in your living space. That said, it would probably be a good idea to run it a couple times per winter to keep things operational. We have a few standing pilots at work, I have them off all summer with no problems...they do run all winter though.
 
STIHLY DAN said:
I think they have a DC igniter that can run off a battery. I am not sure though, i have never seen one. But I seem to remember a coworker talking about running into one on a service call.
Click to expand...
They must be out there...here's a heater with a T-stat and a battery ignitor
(broken link removed to http://www.mrheater.com/20-000-btu-vent-free-radiant-propane-heater-1695.html)
 
brenndatomu said:
They must be out there...here's a heater with a T-stat and a battery ignitor
(broken link removed to http://www.mrheater.com/20-000-btu-vent-free-radiant-propane-heater-1695.html)
Click to expand...

Can't get things like that up here - or at least I haven't found them yet. Wish you could. Have part of a building in the woods that we'd like to keep above freezing for a month a winter.
 
maple1 said:
Can't get things like that up here - or at least I haven't found them yet. Wish you could. Have part of a building in the woods that we'd like to keep above freezing for a month a winter.
Click to expand...

What about wall mounted monitor heaters. Sip fuel, great output, runs if the power goes out and vented.
 
maple1 said:
Have a link?
Click to expand...

Had to call a few friends who run them. One is off the grid on an island so this provides heat when/if the power systems fail. This space can not be cold. Before the ice was safe they ran a helicopter out to inspect the space.

On the grid guy thinks he is using an Empire. It still fires but without the blower in a power failure.

The island guy just had installed an Empire R-65. Installed on the island for under $2K. It is confirmed it puts out heat with no power.
 
brenndatomu said:
They must be out there...here's a heater with a T-stat and a battery ignitor
(broken link removed to http://www.mrheater.com/20-000-btu-vent-free-radiant-propane-heater-1695.html)
Click to expand...
Not sure about that a it suggests power of the sun. But on the right track.
 
STIHLY DAN said:
Not sure about that a it suggests power of the sun. But on the right track.
Click to expand...
I think they mean the heater itself...radiant heater n all...
 
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