# Excessive propane use?



## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

jjlrrw said:


> A couple of your toes look like there not getting even circulation


Lmao


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## John Hine (Mar 31, 2019)

You are in the ballpark on your propane usage. My square footage is 2040, no basement but I run a furnace in the barn off & on. We use the 300 gallons in 5-6 weeks. It helps if you get on a budget plan where you pay some each month, all year. Also would recommend signing up for auto fill. Being new to propane it’ll be easy to forget & run out. Then you have to pay extra for a preassure test & the headache of relighting pilot lights. Just my .02.


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## Erik (Jan 17, 2000)

Our old house we had to fill the tank 4 times a year. It was old brick schoolhouse I bought and fixed it up. But insulation not great. Old windows. Half basement was crawl space and other half michigan basement.
I think we could have bought another house for all the money we spent on LP.

We now live in a newer, built in 81, house. It is very well insulated and built into a hill.
We use 2 tanks per year. Much better 

FWIW we do use a lot in winter compared to summer. I filled it in Nov and I'm down to 30% now. I just requested a fill up. They will be out in a few weeks. That fill up will take us all the way through till next Nov. Or at least it should. Suppose if we have a really cold spring it might make a difference, but so far we have lived here 8yrs and we fill it 2 times a year.

2200 sq feet. High efficiency furnace. Water heater. Stove and oven. Electric clothes dryer. Also have 2 fireplaces and I do burn a lot of wood during the winter so that probably helps.


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## onlinebiker (Sep 19, 2019)

Drafty 120 year old farmhouse here. Some insulation.

The first winter (1987) I heated with propane. Froze my butt off - went through 1200 gallons propane.

Been heating with wood/coal since then ...


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

onlinebiker said:


> Drafty 120 year old farmhouse here. Some insulation.
> 
> The first winter (1987) I heated with propane. Froze my butt off - went through 1200 gallons propane.
> 
> Been heating with wood/coal since then ...


Smart


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## brewster (May 30, 2010)

Scout 2 said:


> Have someone do an energy audit to see home much heat you are losing around windows and doors. Is the basement insulated. we are heating 1200 sq feet and the basement with temp set at 74 day and night and used about 150 gallons every 4 to 5 weeks. Slightly less when they fill it at 4 weekds



I have done energy audits on a few new homes and the owners weren't happy. They didn't want to know what they bought.


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## mstevens3920 (Nov 19, 2021)

we have same issue, fill it every 3 weeks, 500 gallon tank they come fill when below 20 percent and fill it to 80 percent 2 adults 2 kids. we only run the furnace on propane. its very excessive. on my side, your not as bad but its bad, the price to heat our house is crazyprobably gonna go electric furnace with heat pump


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## sparky18181 (Apr 17, 2012)

A lot of companies will let you pre buy when the price is cheaper which will help offset the cost. If your company doesn’t allow that then switch to one that does. I’m the summer I can get it for 1.08 gallon. This winter was 2.25 gallon.


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## C20chris (Dec 4, 2007)

We are using way more this year than last year. On a keep full program with the gas company and they actually let us run out... I think there was only one negative morning all of last winter. This year there have been multiple -20 mornings. A couple of them I was headed fishing. Thank goodness for shanties and heaters.


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## MossyHorns (Apr 14, 2011)

That seems excessive compared to what I use. How well is your house insulated? We built our 1700 sft house in 2001 and have a little over 1/3 of the basement finished. My 500 gal propane tank supplies gas to my furnace, fireplace in basement, and my Big Maxx hanging furnace in my pole barn shop (used occasionally on the weekends).. My tank was filled in August and I am just now ordering propane as I'm down to 15%. I have never used more than 550 gal in a year since building my house. I just installed a pellet stove last weekend, which will allow me to just fill up once a year at the summer fill rate going forward.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

sureshot006 said:


> Lmao


LOL, my wife took that picture. I've got one of her naked in the den with the FLIR but I won't post it!!! That was too funny.


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## HUBBHUNTER (Aug 8, 2007)

I bought my house august 2020 with 50% in the tank. In early december of 2020 they came out and filled it. Mid January I was having a bonfire and where my fire pit is it's about 50 yards from my tank and I caught a good whif of propane! LIke WTF? It was leaking obviously by smell but then confirmed exactly where with soapy water. A couple turns of a wrench and I fixed it and called and left a rude voicemail to my gas company. They came out and checked the tank and told me they couldn't find the leak.... So after they filled it I had a good month of leaking money right out the tank.


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## Botiz (Oct 21, 2010)

Your situation sounds pretty normal to me for propane. I’ve bought about 730 gallons this winter.


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## ongo (Oct 1, 2017)

Switched to wood heat the year price for propane went sky high. Was a good move !


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

6Speed said:


> Great idea Scout. In addition to leak checking this would help most anyone save money. Old Splitshot did energy audits for a living for years.
> 
> I borrowed a FLIR from work and scanned my own home. The infrared return showed me exactly where I needed to add a little insulation here and there. I'll bet you could rent one (new is $350), and winter is the most efficient time to do this.
> 
> ...


I just saw the other day t hat the gov is on a heat saving kick and the power companys will do an audit but don't know the cost. The first place I would check is that walk out basement. I bet that door and wall if uninsulated is a killer for heat. I have a walk out and before I insulated the wall I could stand 3 foot away and feel the cold coming off it


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

mstevens3920 said:


> we have same issue, fill it every 3 weeks, 500 gallon tank they come fill when below 20 percent and fill it to 80 percent 2 adults 2 kids. we only run the furnace on propane. its very excessive. on my side, your not as bad but its bad, the price to heat our house is crazyprobably gonna go electric furnace with heat pump


check with someone who has one and the monthly cost to run it. I know a guy that has had one for many years and he said it cost him 400.00 a moth just to run it But his is a erler one and I know they are more efecct now. Your furance % efi makes a big difference to. Ours is a 96 or above effency. Our propane is locked in at 1.39.9 gal


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

ongo said:


> Switched to wood heat the year price for propane went sky high. Was a good move !


Last year was the first year I did not heat with wood`````````````````. It is fine if you have your own wood which I did but if you have to buy it now around here wood is 90.00 for a 4x4x8 cord and if you buy it cut and split it is around 65 to 80 per cord which is 6 x4 foot x 8 foot. Guys I talked to with pellet stoves are using a bad a day and a bag is between 4 and 5 dollars


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## Team Camo (Mar 11, 2014)

Scout 2 said:


> Last year was the first year I did not heat with wood`````````````````. It is fine if you have your own wood which I did but if you have to buy it now around here wood is 90.00 for a 4x4x8 cord and if you buy it cut and split it is around 65 to 80 per cord which is 6 x4 foot x 8 foot. Guys I talked to with pellet stoves are using a bad a day and a bag is between 4 and 5 dollars


90 bucks for a full cord?...which is 3 face cords? Sign me up. Must be in the sticks somewhere.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Team Camo said:


> 90 bucks for a full cord?...which is 3 face cords? Sign me up. Must be in the sticks somewhere.


If it hasn't already expect that number to go thru the roof with fuel knocking on 4 bucks a gallon. A pulp cord cit and split is closer to 2 1/2 ricks not 3


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## jjlrrw (May 1, 2006)

Scout 2 said:


> Last year was the first year I did not heat with wood`````````````````. It is fine if you have your own wood which I did but if you have to buy it now around here wood is 90.00 for a 4x4x8 cord and if you buy it cut and split it is around 65 to 80 per cord which is 6 x4 foot x 8 foot. Guys I talked to with pellet stoves are using a bad a day and a bag is between 4 and 5 dollars


Pellet stoves are no bargain and a lot of cleaning, we have one at the cabin also a forced air propane furnace, we like the heat from the pellet stove in the main room because of big windows, a cold floor and the forced air furnace we added we didn't have a good way to run air ducks. We use a bag a day when we're there plus the furnace runs a few times so no savings but it's warm.


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