Thinking on switching from electric to natural gas ..

R

rbh

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+1-Propane cost is not regulated, so unless it is for a back up plan in case the power goes out and you are looking for a cooking/heat source stay with electric.

How far away is the closest NG line?
 
J

JaCrispy

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My house is all natural gas and I have a wood burning fireplace. That helped tremendously during Sandy being able to cook, heat the house and take hot showers.

To the OP, when you get your new propane appliance you need to make sure you have propane orifices installed. Propane and natural gas use different orifices.
 
C

Cap'nHandy

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Propane is cheep enough after the initial outlay to cook with - and if you want to absolutely positively want to be scr***d by bad weather and power outages, just stay 100% electric. :) Propane will keep you cooking, heating water, and may keep you from suffering frozen pipes in the winter - unlike electric outage that lasts long enough to where the next big wrorry is what happens when the power comes back on and everything heats up and starts to thaw.. POW! water water everywhere. Now you cant heat water anyway, cause the pipes don't hold it anymore.. If your anywhere other than the city or burbs, 'lectric, propane, wood, and some common sense and moderate prep will get you through some rough spots. We lives in Missouri a while, and the ice storms had some people without power for weeks in the winter. All it takes is 2 days and your frozen. Otherwise, you bettter hope to find a relative, friend or hotel that you can stay in till the plumber can finally get around to you. ( Everyone else will have similar problems, ponder on it a bit. )
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

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How does having propane help you in a power outage with heating assuming you have forced air heat?
 
MH Hawker

MH Hawker

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I have NG forced air and a NG wall unit that is non powered so in the winter when the power goes out i still have heat.
 
hungupthespikes

hungupthespikes

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Open up the oven door, or run the burners, that will give you a warm kitchen. Candles will take care of light and a little heat in the bathroom/s. Then you can stay in the house and run the water where you can and shutoff/drain the pipes you can't run.
Not the best but better than going out in a blizzard for a couple of days and coming home to bad pipes... etc.....

The son's home in Florida has a propane stove top. Everything else is electric. If a hurricane/storm hits he can cook and the 80gal electric water heater is mounted in the attic. That gives you non potable water in the kitchen and baths for cleaning and sewer.

huts
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

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hungupthespikes said:
Open up the oven door, or run the burners, that will give you a warm kitchen.
Click to expand...
It will also kill you. You never ever heat a room with an oven. Many people die every year from CO poisoning doing this.
 
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hungupthespikes

hungupthespikes

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I stand corrected bruce, your right, not a good thing. Using the burners for heat is a no no too.
 
midcarolina

midcarolina

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Using a properly operating gas stove for emergency heating is NO more dangerous than using a vent free gas fireplace or a vent free gas heater....................

The dangers and precautions are the same...........

ensure enough fresh air entering the structure to exchange the air one time an hour

As cheap as they are now day;s there are ZERO excuses for not having a co2 monitor in the structure.

Never allow a vent free heater to operate unattended or when sleeping..............
 
bigdee

bigdee

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midcarolina said:
Using a properly operating gas stove for emergency heating is NO more dangerous than using a vent free gas fireplace or a vent free gas heater....................

The dangers and precautions are the same...........

ensure enough fresh air entering the structure to exchange the air one time an hour

As cheap as they are now day;s there are ZERO excuses for not having a co2 monitor in the structure.

Never allow a vent free heater to operate unattended or when sleeping..............
Click to expand...

As long as burners are adjusted correctly with all blue flame co2 is not a danger. The danger is oxygen depletion in a tight house. Allow a little air in and all is good. I heat with two 40k unvented space heaters without issue....except for increased humidity.
 
sphelps

sphelps

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I live in Florida so heating the house is really not an issue . The heat pump usually knocks the chill out with out the heat strips ever turning on . I built a well insulated structure . ICF concrete foam blocks with closed cell foam insulation sprayed on the underside of the roof deck . All the windows are the gas filled low E type . I had to bring in outside air because of it being so air tight . I guess if the power went out in the winter just cooking with gas would be good enough with an extra blanket or jacket .
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

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As far as unvented gas space heaters go, I an very surprised they haven't been banned everywhere. There are some states that do ban them. Besides the amount of water they produce that can cause mold, they are dangerous if they get the slightest burner air restriction. In a HVAC system, if you have the same issue, the exhaust gas gets expelled out the vent.

Same thing applies for these unvented gas fireplaces that are being sold. No way I would ever put one of those in my house either.
 
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