myles
Autonomy Expert
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2021
- Messages
- 289
Hey Guys! Can someone please double check my math on this propane vs natural gas comparison:
Current propane prices used: $1.00/ Liter (we are in Canada) this is my average current delivered price for propane.
Current natural gas prices used: $0.3592 / M3
In order to calculate this properly I beleive the best way is to calculate how many BTU i am getting for 1 cent.
So i did this:
Propane is approximately 25,000 BTU / Liter. 25,000 / 100 = 250 BTU Per Penny
Natural gas BTU Per m3 is approximately 35,300 / 35.92 = 982.74 BTU Per Penny.
Why I am doing this, I have access to natural gas to my house for all my heating loads, I just have to pay to put the line in (Around $15,000.00). I am burning about 950 liters of propane per month in the coldest seasons, which is expensive to say the least. This covers hot water, cooking, drying clothes, and heating about 3500 sq ft of concrete slab. So i am in essence using 23,750,000 btu per month to heat the structure, which sounds like alot, but in all acutality is about 32,986.11 btu per hour over 30 days, at -20*C, and some days colder this seems to be not bad!. Now lets compare my almost $1000 per month propane bill to what natural gas would cost:
Propane bill current: 950 liters * 1.00 = $950.00
Natural gas bill projected = BTU Useage 23,750,000 / 982.74 =24, 167 * 0.01 = $241.67
that is a large difference for me. Now we calculate how long to pay off this trenched line:
There are about 4 cold months of the year here average that i would use maximum heating loads, then when there is enough sun the solar kind of takes over most of the loads, so i'd say i'll use about 5.5-6 "cold" months propane useage per year (could be higher if its a cold year)
projected annual propane budget worse case: 950 * 6 = $5700.00
projected annual natural gas budget worse case: $241.67 * 6 = $1450.02
Difference of $4249.98. break even point of 3.5 years. this assumes prices don't change, and they will as natural gas is seen more as a bad thing to use for heat, but where we live currently its controlled by a utility board for the whole province and they are regulated and very stable. Propane however is not regulated as stringently and this price can shoot high and low with volatility over night almost.
Seems like a no brainer to me, please chime in!
Current propane prices used: $1.00/ Liter (we are in Canada) this is my average current delivered price for propane.
Current natural gas prices used: $0.3592 / M3
In order to calculate this properly I beleive the best way is to calculate how many BTU i am getting for 1 cent.
So i did this:
Propane is approximately 25,000 BTU / Liter. 25,000 / 100 = 250 BTU Per Penny
Natural gas BTU Per m3 is approximately 35,300 / 35.92 = 982.74 BTU Per Penny.
Why I am doing this, I have access to natural gas to my house for all my heating loads, I just have to pay to put the line in (Around $15,000.00). I am burning about 950 liters of propane per month in the coldest seasons, which is expensive to say the least. This covers hot water, cooking, drying clothes, and heating about 3500 sq ft of concrete slab. So i am in essence using 23,750,000 btu per month to heat the structure, which sounds like alot, but in all acutality is about 32,986.11 btu per hour over 30 days, at -20*C, and some days colder this seems to be not bad!. Now lets compare my almost $1000 per month propane bill to what natural gas would cost:
Propane bill current: 950 liters * 1.00 = $950.00
Natural gas bill projected = BTU Useage 23,750,000 / 982.74 =24, 167 * 0.01 = $241.67
that is a large difference for me. Now we calculate how long to pay off this trenched line:
There are about 4 cold months of the year here average that i would use maximum heating loads, then when there is enough sun the solar kind of takes over most of the loads, so i'd say i'll use about 5.5-6 "cold" months propane useage per year (could be higher if its a cold year)
projected annual propane budget worse case: 950 * 6 = $5700.00
projected annual natural gas budget worse case: $241.67 * 6 = $1450.02
Difference of $4249.98. break even point of 3.5 years. this assumes prices don't change, and they will as natural gas is seen more as a bad thing to use for heat, but where we live currently its controlled by a utility board for the whole province and they are regulated and very stable. Propane however is not regulated as stringently and this price can shoot high and low with volatility over night almost.
Seems like a no brainer to me, please chime in!