Quote:
Originally Posted by songkrai
Can't understand why anyone would want to do this.
As with all energy products prices vary greatly from year to year.
Propane. You don't own the tank. Some charge a rental fee.
Every time you change companies the tank has to be changed.
A charge to empty the tank. Another charge to remove the tank.
And big trucks driving on your nice lawn every time you change companies.
You can purchase the tank but that is about 2 grand just for the tank.
Best to do a real cost analysis.
What is the actual payback.
You already have the infastructure for oil.
Now you are going to have yard dug up for piping.
Probably different venting.
The high efficiency ones usually reguire venting through walls.
If vents are not high enough - snow will cover them up - and a failure of system.
Do you have ducts for hot air?
Also check out BTU units. Propane is near the bottom.
A lot of money spent and for what in the end?
|
There is a number of false statements above.
Propane pricing has been rather stable for a while, as we have the ability to control the propane market as opposed to relying on overseas oil. There is a surplus of it right now, there is even a $500 incentive to switch to propane.
My current propane price is $2.13 locked, and if I commit to switch my company account over as welll (5700 gallons per year) I will be locked in at $1.72! Songkrai, what did you last pay for oil?
A standard oil burner of that age is 80% efficient in the chamber, then loses a lot of it up the chimney. A high efficiency propane boiler is 95% efficient and does not blow it up through the roof. Good ones are highly insulated and stainless steel jacketed which holds the heat. The new one I am going with holds only 2.5 gallons of water opposed to the 20 gallons my smith burner did, so it comes up to temp a lot faster. Less run time to do the same job. We ran a test this week, it took 20 minutes for my boiler to bring the water temp to the point needed and circulate the water to my air handler for dispersal.
An oil burner also has one speed, full. A propane system can modulate heat output based on demand. If only one zone is calling, why run your oil burner at full output to satisfy one portion of the house, then let the rest go up the stack?
The unit we are going with modulates between 65k to 240k btu, our oil burner runs at a straight 154k btu.
Tanks don't need to be dug up. Behind the scenes the companies will buy each other out of tanks when a customer wants to switch. A company taking over will have to buy and install a tank so it is easier to buy out the existing tank at a lesser rate. Going through that now at work. Depending on the tank size it does not necessarily have to be buried, our 325 at home is behind our shed in the back yard, and still easily accessible by the tank truck from our driveway. Usually they can go 100-125 feet from the truck. We are going with a 1000 gallon buried but that is my choice. I can buy the tank for $3k if I want. I own my 325 and they are giving me $500 back for it.
Comparing btu to btu propane is less than oil, but calculate in the price difference per gallon, overall efficiency ratings, etc. in my case it makes sense, but it may not work for all.
Switching to a zone valve setup is going to save a lot in electricity as well, one efficient circulator running compared to 4 older ones in my case.
If you want to stay with oil, look at the system 2000.