You are clearly a lot more knowledgeable than myself, so what would you suggest in my situation? I doubt propane stays this high. Hopefully it goes back down closer to at least $2 hopefully back down to the $1.75 by summer. I've had the unit looked at recently and he said everything checked out, but still even with the laundry list of what was looked at, I don't know if there is more that can be done.
I'd go with a dual fuel system (add a heatpump) if I was in your situation, you already have the furnace. Nobody knows what electric or propane rates will be in the future, with dual fuel you can choose the lowest cost fuel as rates change.
Heating Fuel Cost Calculator - BuildingGreen.com
That article is somewhat promising in the fact that it seems like there are some unfortunate events that coincided. I'm going to look at a heat pump but from a quick call to an hvac friend sounds like I'd have to replace a lot because my unit uses the old r22. He is saying ballpark $5k. That's practically a new system.
Personally I have never missed any of my NG appliances and I am someone who worked in the natural gas transmission business for about 15 years. The performance in extreme weather has been very good. Unlike many people I keep the thermostat wherever it feels comfortable and don't worry about my bill is being 10 dollars higher that month because of it.
The up front cost are high, although the tax breaks and rebate did help a lot.
I look at this as an investment that pays me back a dividend with a lower utility bill each month.
It will add just a tad extra to my homes value and perhaps make it an easier sell?
Much to many of my neighbor's amazement we had the Geothermal wells drilling in our front yard. Some thought we were drilling for oil. The pipe in the wells and ground, that is the loop, is guaranteed for 50 years. Even if our home is blown away in a tornado the ground loop / wells would make our lot more desirable to buy.
Another very big reason why I elected to go with Geo thermal is that it would act as a hedge against future NG price spikes that were 100% sure to come at some point with the way our Government has been interfering with the NG business.
Yeah we talked a bit about that, my unit is a 4 ton I believe. I'm not sure how expensive those pieces are but it seems like those are the major components so I guess that's why it is so high.
4 tons is most likely overkill, sized by the old "500sqft per ton" rule thats been around since the 60's. Hopefully your house is better insulated than a 1960's model!! You bill is $130/mo which would be closer to a 2.5-3 ton load.
Well there is a natural gas line that runs through my neighborhood, as people that live towards the back of my development have NG. I called ONG today to see what it would cost to run a line and they said they'd have to go measure. Maybe that is a better alternative than switching my whole unit over.
While not totally fool proof living in a large neighborhood with underground utility's helps a lot.
In my case I am on the same main line as a major OG&E maintenance facility....
In the 12 years in this home we have been without power for a grand total of 6 to 7 hours and most of that was due to a copper thief.
Power outages would still require that you have a generator to run your gas furnace. BTDT, 2002, 40 hours w/o power right in Mustang. I see no advantage to gas. I have a fireplace connected to a small propane tank that will run me for several days if the heat pump is off line. Also have a transfer switch and generator.
Just talked with someone at OLG, $3.98 a gallon.
I just went and looked and don't see anywhere that it says Propane only. It actually only says LP in one place. Other than that it's similar warnings about hot water and gas smell. It's a bradford white. I googled the model number and it is a propane model, but looks like it also comes in a NG model. So makes me wonder if you could buy the NG parts to install.
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