Poll: Do you have natural gas?

The gas line stops about 300 feet up the road. Dumbass gas co keeps sending me letters that they will hook me up for free. In the fine print it says only if the line is in front of the house. I think they went to the same school that the power co. did.

Natural Gas is all around me, but not on my street. If it ever comes here I will be hard pressed to stay with coal. When efficiencies are factored in, natural gas is 40% less expensive than anthracite for me.

Berlin wrote:I've got gas.

But my bit stoker is still much cheaper to operate.

I personally hate having gas piped in and the monthly bill, I hardly use any NG so I pay just above the monthly min for the stove, HW, and dryer. If oil and NG were close in price, and I had the choice of the two, I would choose oil every time.

I agree, a cooler and safer fuel, but price and international politics make it a NO GO for me. Just can not pay the angry mustaffa who wants me dead.

Yes I do have NG. Few more days of coal left then kicking on the NG boiler.

No, sir. My choices are. Oil. Wood. Coal.

I chose coal.

Closest gas in 150 miles South, Wasilla.
They liquify it there and truck it to Fairbanks 150 miles North. I understand it is just barely cheaper than oil in Fairbanks.
Cheapest gas I've ever seen was in Barrow Alaska, 40$ 50$ per month to be warm, but the water bill ran in the hundreds. They have no pipeline to get the gas to a national market.
Big talk of running a gas line from Prudhoe Bay about 800 miles to Wasila, past here but no conections for us. They say it would be like a second Alsaka Pipline as far as work.

Gas furnace in the basement, Baker coal stove going in the dining room. One barrel of coal left. The weather will get too warm for the coal stove soon and that's when I'll use the gas furnace. I guess if I spent a couple thousand for a new high efficency gas furnace there might not be as much savings burning coal but that couple grand will buy a lot of coal.

We have two 100 lb Propane tanks. We do not have a city gas hook, heck, we don't even have city water or sewer (insert dualing banjos here).

We use it for our gas stove, gas fireplace (that may get used 3 times a year) and we have our outside gas grill connected to it. We typically go thru a tank in 7 months, but we cook most of our meals from scratch and use the outside gril even when it is snowing...

Dan

The natural gas line is 400 feet up the road from me. I called ugi and at first they told me My cost would be $80- $100 foot. ($40,000 ) and later a another rep from ugi said with the new no trench pipe pusher, they may be able to do it for $20 foot off the road in the right away. I have just installed a gas stove and a fireplace insert for nice with a 100 pound lp tank. I did talk to 2 neighbors about the natural, one is moving and no longer interested and the other neighbor just installed a heat pump.

No NG anywhere around here. They have it in Newton, about 5 miles away.

have gas line in house since we moved in gas boiler sits right next to coal stoker,

Jeff

Yeah, I've got gas. It's real cheap these days too. A lot of neighbors are still burning oil anyway, I guess they are too cheap to bother to convert.

I own a big, brick Victorian which cannot be insulated (solid brick walls with lath and plaster inside) beyond what I've done in the attic. Have closed up most of the air infiltration. The gas boiler and baseboard can (barely) keep the house warm in the dead of winter, but cannot counteract the cold brick walls.

House with current setup (low mass boiler, 3/4 inch baseboard) is pretty cheap to heat, but I'm definitely concerned about keeping all my energy eggs in one basket. If gas prices go way up again like they did in 2008 I will be pretty poor.

I own a stove but have not burned it yet; need to get my chimneys fixed and finally getting that done this summer. I am looking forward to steady, radiant heat to keep a few rooms comfy warm in winter, and planning long term to run a coal boiler in series with the low mass gas boiler to give me choice.

Interestingly, my sister just bought a well maintained 1930's colonial here in Connecticut which has gas from the street but not hooked up to anything; brand new, high efficiency WM oil boiler with indirect domestic hot water setup, electric stove and dryer. Seems so idiotic to spend all those dollars on that beautiful boiler setup when you have gas available! But I agree, safer fuel, less beholden to a utility company. I suppose the prior owner may have been scared of gas? Some people are!

If I had gas available, I would still burn coal. Coal is part of who I am. Gas would be nice for the hot water heater and kitchen stove.

wsherrick wrote:If I had gas available, I would still burn coal. Coal is part of who I am. Gas would be nice for the hot water heater and kitchen stove.

ditto that (I do have to use propane for kitchen stove and outdoor BBQ that I use all winter too )

I hooked up to gas when one of my friends said that the gas company was making the connection to the street for free. That alone saved me about $1000...and that was in 2000. I put in a high efficiency gas furnace and gas water heater at that time.

It was 4 years ago that as the price of gas started climbing, I switched to coal. Loved it immediately. But as the cost of gas has dropped and dropped, I carefully weighed my costs. 2 seasons ago, I figure using coal cost about $100 more than gas. I didn't care. The comfort of steady temperature in the house was well worth the $100.

But the cost of gas keeps falling. This past season, I heated with coal 12/10 - 3/15. That was $900 for 3 tons of coal here in Western MA. Just to get a 'benchmark', I kept my gas furnace set for a constant 70 for the past month and just got the bill...$100. That was with temps in the mid 20s to mid 40s except for a day or two. So, I'll say double that for 10s to 30s in the 3 coldest months. That's still a savings of $300 for the season if I use gas without the 'set back' thermostat I have. Call it $400 or more with the setback 'stat. As a result, I think I've heated with coal for the last time. I'll definitely miss it. The cost difference is too great to ignore.

BUT...I still have about 400 pounds just in case of another week-long power outtage like we had for the Halloween surprise of 2011! It'd take me about 30 minutes to 'get back online' again with the coal. But as I'm painting everything on the inside for long-term rust-free storage, I'd have to wait until night to fire up as it will stink and smoke something fierce for an hour or so!