Ugh. It's "that" day for me.

[Steve NW WI]

The propain man just left. 380 gallons later, the tank is full, and the checkbook will be $600 lighter. Without digging, I'm not sure when I last got it filled, just that there's nothing in the file from this year, so that's pretty much at least a year's use.

I have gas hot water and kitchen stove as well, so it's not really that bad, but it's still right up there on days I hate right with tax day. The gas furnace is usually only running if it's below 0 for a significant time, or if I get lazy when it's just a bit cool in the house and I tap the thermostat up for a little bit.

Just my little rant for the day.

 

[us2bnuts]

nothing like a bill for propane to inspire a person to go cut some wood.

 

[Somesawguy]

We've been using the furnace a bit since it hasn't been that cold. I'm not looking forward to that bill either.

 

[FatJay]

Less than $2 a gallon... wow.

I just filled my oil tank up a few weeks ago. Checkbook is $1000 lighter. Oil fired hot water only, I heat with wood for a reason. Otherwise it's $400/mo to heat iwth oil.

 

[beerman6]

:biggrin: little 125 gallon tank is at 40% after 2 years.

 

[Iska3]

Thanks for the posting Steve, I’m going to print that out and past it to my OWB to remind me why I’m out there filling the darn thing when it’s -18 below.

The last time we filled our tank was back in 2008 and it’s still at 29%. Oh! That's right.. The valve is turned off. I picked up a 100# LP tank for the kitchen stove and fill that once a year. Heat and HW comes from the OWB all year. You know all that punky stuff that everyone leaves behind… A few chunks of that heats my water for most of the summer. Our LP Guy hates me.. This forum has saved me enough to buy a new saw and then some.

 

[saxman]

Propane was cheap this summer in Southern Illinois, I topped off at $1.09/gal, if I had been two weeks earlier it was .99/gal, I own my own 500 gallon tank so I shop around from various vendors. This will last me 2 years at least as I only cook with gas besides the furnace that doesn't get used much

Steve

 

[Joe Homeowner]

Right about PRO-PAIN Steve. The pricing iis like the Mafia: " take it or leave it"
We also are in that "not using enough" propane pricing bracket--< 200 gallons/year put us in the top $$$ category. Some pushing and top-down demanding did get us pricing more in line with larger users; it was a fat PITA that took hours and weeks.
In fact we have no central furnace, a thru-the-wall space heater for those times away for a day or more to barely keep the pipes from freezing does the job.
Propane is also, as others, only for cooking, occasional dryer use, and a great on-demand Rinnai water heater ( no real $$$ saved since we now take longer showers:msp_unsure: ).

Your pricing at ~ $2.00 is cheap; ours is now at $2.79/g.

P.S. You never told AS where you got that patriotic bra in your avatar . :msp_wink:

 

[zogger]

sort of that day for me too.

I had to start pulling from my main fall stack for this year. I wasn't satisified with how dry my remaining ugly pile is.

I was hoping to make it to gobbler day, oh well, started six weeks early burning this year and only a week and change from feast and nap day.

 

[Encore]

We went through that 3 years ago. filled ours and paid over $700. Really pissed me off.

At the time we weren't burning wood full time. I ran the furnace until I had enough wood piled up that was seasoned and then shut off the valve to the propane. We still have about 65% left in the tank and I don't intend on touching it.

HW and heat now all come from the OWB.

The propane company owns the tank but they haven't had to fill it in so long they have forgotten about us.

 

[flyboy553]

They came and took the tank that I had been mowing around. Nice to have it gone! I fill a 100 pounder about 3 times a year for hot water.

Ted

 

[srb08]

Filled our propane tank a couple of months ago. Took 480 gallons but had not been filled in two years. I think I paid around $1.65 a gallon. Have been burning wood to supplement the gas furnace, hot water and cook top are gas as well. We only burn when someone is home, about 15 hours a day during the week and all weekend. Went from an average of 800 gallons a year to around 300. Burning wood has saved us a bunch of money and beside the fact that I enjoy it, is good exercise. There is something calming and theraputic about being in the woods cutting and splitting when it's cold out, not so much when it's hot.
I've been toying with the idea of an OWB but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm afraid that cutting wood will stop being fun if I am forced to cut more than 7-8 cords a year.

 

[russhd1997]

Reading posts like the ones in this thread reaffirm my reasoning for getting an OWB. The initial cost was in the area of 8 grand but well worth it. I run it year round for hot water and heat for 2 houses. I haven't let the fire go out in mine since the fall of 07. I still have a 1/4 tank of oil in my tank. I'm not sure if my oil burner will even work anymore. I don't plan to find out either.

I love being in the woods and besides cutting wood I also make maple syrup. When the weekend comes I'm usually in the woods for one reason or another. I really enjoy running a chainsaw and processing the trees into firewood. It's a lot of hard work and you feel like you did something at the end of the day.

 

[stihly dan]

Steve check out the ge, geo therm heat pump water heaters. They only use $195 or less a yr. I did the research on these and put 1 in. Very cheap 2 run.

 

[shougcuo]

You gotta love it when a plan comes together.

 

[Philbo]

That's cheap man! The house I'm renting has a 250 gal tank (200 gallons to fill) and it's owned by a terrible local company that doesn't do any type of financing and wanted $3.05 / gal back in August (when I thought it would be cheap!)....minimum of 150 gallons...nope

Needless to say, that's motivated me to bring home another couple of cords of wood for the shed since then. Always got my eyes and ears open for more free wood!

 

[iceman7668]

I have natural gas, we use it for water, dryer and stove. My monthly bill runs around $20.00 to $50.00. We only turn the furnace on to take out the chill when the temp drops below 10 degrees or so. The nice thing about propane, is when you write the check, you own it. Natural gas you are subject to market fluctuations and seasonal demands all year. I still hate to write the check, but an outdoor burner does not justify the cost for us right now. I can't afford $5000 - $6000 to save $20.00 a month.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Right about PRO-PAIN Steve. The pricing iis like the Mafia: " take it or leave it"
We also are in that "not using enough" propane pricing bracket--< 200 gallons/year put us in the top $$$ category. Some pushing and top-down demanding did get us pricing more in line with larger users; it was a fat PITA that took hours and weeks.
In fact we have no central furnace, a thru-the-wall space heater for those times away for a day or more to barely keep the pipes from freezing does the job.
Propane is also, as others, only for cooking, occasional dryer use, and a great on-demand Rinnai water heater ( no real $$$ saved since we now take longer showers:msp_unsure: ).

Your pricing at ~ $2.00 is cheap; ours is now at $2.79/g.

P.S. You never told AS where you got that patriotic bra in your avatar . :msp_wink:

I'm putting in a tankless HWH soon. It should help in my case. It's just me, the dog and the cat here, and they don't use hot water. I don't see how I can't save money by not keeping 40 gallons of water warm for the 23 hours a day I don't need it.

As I'm seeing, midwest propain prices are cheap compared to most of you. I paid $1.49+ the usual fees, worked out to about .06/gallon in added fees.

I _DID_ tell AS where the avatar pic is from. You must have missed it . Try the search :tongue2:

Steve check out the ge, geo therm heat pump water heaters. They only use $195 or less a yr. I did the research on these and put 1 in. Very cheap 2 run.

I'll have to look into these a little more. Sounds like it might work well for me, from one site I looked at:

Install them in a space with excess heat, such as a furnace room

. My basement fits that bill VERY well when the stove is going. The downside is that it's another electric appliance.

 

[Fred Wright]

Pro-pain cost, tell me about it.

$2.00 per, that was ten years ago around here. We had a freestanding gaslog in the living room and it did pretty well. That was until we got hit with an $800.00 propane delivery. The stuff shot up to $4.00 per. Couple months later, the delivery truck came by, added 18 gallons and left a bill for $49.00.

I cut a check and closed the valve to the gaslog. The following weekend it was pulled, cleaned up and for sale on CL. Ironically an old boy bought it, said he'd been cutting firewood for 30 years and was tired of it.

Only the kitchen stove is on propane now. Called the dealer and had the pair of large tanks replaced with a single 30-gallon. They gave us credit for the gas we hadn't used... over $550.00.

We won't be paying for pro-pain for some time to come.

 

[Arbonaut]

My gas meter should be runnin' backward. Shoot, they don't ever send me a credit though. They came out to replace it once cause they thought it was defective-two therms in December...Christmas Cookies and all.