I am hoping that all goes well with my attempt to purchase a house. If it does, I will be left with a decision on what to use for the house.

Right now the house is hooked to a propane tank. It also has a line run to it from the local gas company. I was told that switching would not be a major task.

With that said...

A) Has anyone made a similar switch? If so, is it as relatively painless as it sounds?

B) What would be the better option?


This isnt something that I have ever researched before. I am just starting to look into it to see what would be the better route for us to go.



From what I have come across (or been told) so far:

Natural gas is less of a carbon monoxide risk.

Risk of gas leak would be a wash.

Going natural gas would allow me to have the propane company remove the tank from the yard.

Propane would be a large bill at the times of filling the tank where natural gas is monthly.

Propane would require making sure the tank doesn't run low.

Natural gas could have an outage if something happens elsewhere beyond the borders of my property (this has only happened one time in the 4 years that we have had natural gas).

Propane sounds as if the price can fluctuate quite a bit which leaves your actual bill up to the time that you end up getting the tank filled.


Any suggestions or comments? All are appreciated.

As far as the switch goes, I think it's as simple as switching out heating elements with ones that have a slighty different gauge. I'd probably burn off the remainder of the propane and switch to gas. Buy like 1 CO detector per level and per bedroom. I think you're probably using gas for the water heater, so I would just switch everything over.

Probably worth doing a bit of research on the pricing of propane first, however. There might be a good reason the owner used it. Also, there's something to be said for filling up the tanks when you have some extra cash, vs paying a big gas bill during the holiday season.

I'd consult Hank Hill before making any final decision.

Propane is not a regulated product, so you are correct that you are at the mercy of the market each time you refill your tank. I'm on propane out where I live, but there is a huge 10,000 gallon tank that serves the whole neighborhood, and we are billed monthly.

There is bit of work to switch from propane to natural gas. The regulators all have to be changed out for the stuff using propane (water heaters, furnace, stove, ovens, etc.). The cost really depends on the device. Sometimes the manufacturer makes it so you can't change the parts out, so you have to do a rip and replace.

Part of the lawsuit we are currently in with our HOA is the ability to stop using the community tank and bury a tank on our own properties. During the summer, my bill is usually around $25/mo. In the winter, it jumps to over $400, even though I'm only using about three times as much propane. My ideal would be to figure out how much I use, and size the tank so that I can fill up when propane is the cheapest.

From what I have been told the only reason that the previous owner didn't switch is that she had propane forever and they only just recently ran the line to that neighborhood for natuaral gas. By then she was already looking to move to Florida.

I am really hoping we can settle at the end of this month, which we are pushing for. Waiting on the inspection but I think that we lucked into this one so far. The previous owner seemed to keep everything maintained and upgraded.

Relatively new (within the last 10 years):
- New roof
- New vinyl fence
- New shed
- Expansion to the home
- New windows
- Upgraded the septic
- Added a second central air during the expansion to the home
- Upgraded the heating
- Added a jacuzi to the master suite as part of the expansion


She has all the receipts for everything too.


She basically turned what was a small 80 year old rancher into a relatively new almost 2500 square foot rancher. The house is basically a U shape with the front being the original house and the sides the the U being two different expansions. The center of the U is a private patio from the master suite. It sits on an acre of land. The back is fenced in with plenty of room and has a fire pit (the girls are already planning on sitting out around the fire with friends and roasting marshmallows when they have friends over).

The only thing that I would like to change is to add an actual driveway. It pretty much doesn't have one but you can see the route that has pretty much been used as the driveway. I would probably put down stones or maybe have it paved.

(sorry, a combination of nervous that things go right and pumped up for the possibilities)

Propane is not a regulated product, so you are correct that you are at the mercy of the market each time you refill your tank. I'm on propane out where I live, but there is a huge 10,000 gallon tank that serves the whole neighborhood, and we are billed monthly.

There is bit of work to switch from propane to natural gas. The regulators all have to be changed out for the stuff using propane (water heaters, furnace, stove, ovens, etc.). The cost really depends on the device. Sometimes the manufacturer makes it so you can't change the parts out, so you have to do a rip and replace.

Part of the lawsuit we are currently in with our HOA is the ability to stop using the community tank and bury a tank on our own properties. During the summer, my bill is usually around $25/mo. In the winter, it jumps to over $400, even though I'm only using about three times as much propane. My ideal would be to figure out how much I use, and size the tank so that I can fill up when propane is the cheapest.

Please tell me you asked Tom Cochranr if he'd join your cause against the lunatic fringe running the HOA.

Please tell me you asked Tom Cochranr if he'd join your cause against the lunatic fringe running the HOA.

He actually is part of the lawsuit. The house he bought belonged to one of the people that was part of this craziness.