Saving Money with Propane
With winter getting closer, and cooler weather along with it, more people will begin turning their heaters on. Propane is a common energy source for fireplaces, heaters, and other heat producing appliances.
Although California is one of the biggest propane users in the country, most people in the Southern California have hardly needed to use propane for heat, considering the beautiful weather all year round. Because of this, if it’s an abnormally cold season and more propane is used, it can add up fast! Many people have mistaken their propane consumption for gas leaking because of the unbelievable amounts of propane they had used during the colder season.
Find out how much propane you use
Understanding BTU ratings will save you both cash and energy. On Google, you can find calculators that will calculate your propane use, or you may find it manually with a little math!
BTU is a unit of energy. Appliance BTU ratings express how much propane the product will use at 100% capacity. Propane is bought in tanks, in which a gallon of propane has 91,547 BTU’s. By comparing your appliance’s BTU rating to the amount of propane you have, you can predict and budget your usage.
For example, an average furnace uses 200,000 BTU per hour. By dividing the BTU rate of your appliance by the BTU in a gallon of propane (200,000 BTU/ 91,547 BTU), you will find that your furnace uses roughly 2.2 gallons of propane every hour that it is on full blast. If you were to pay $2.28 for a gallon of propane, it would cost you about $5 an hour to heat your home. If you use your furnace for six hours every day, you would pay over $800 in just one month to heat your house!
Instead, in this case, using your furnace for maybe 4 hours at 50% of its capacity – it will only cost you $280 in the same amount of time.
Check for leaks
Although propane companies have specialized equipment to detect them, you can find them yourself with dish soap and water. Place the solution into a water bottle and cover the connections and seals. Make sure you spray them with a sharp stream, because a mist will not adequately cover it!
If there is a leak, bubbles will form. Bigger bubbles indicate larger leaks. Tightening the screws can usually fix the problem, but if you’re unsure, call your propane company to fix it for you!
By following these simple tips, you can save hundreds of dollars and enjoy the holidays!
Have questions about your heater or propane usage? Give us a call at 800-994-2577!