Natural Gas

[ChadTower]

I've always wondered at how heating oil is still a thing.  It seems so archaic, something out of the 1800's.  Natural gas is the heating choice up here in the NorthWest.  No way you can heat anything on electricity for cheap, so NG is the only good option.  But I guess if you have entire cities that were never piped for NG, then a tank of oil in the basement is the way to go...

Piped for gas... heh.  I live right on a route 1A (old alternate highway from Maine to Florida) and not only are we not piped for NG we're not piped for sewer and we're not wired for FIOS or DSL.  Some here use propane but they have to do it under a farm license that my lot would never meet.

[dkersten]

Piped for gas... heh.  I live right on a route 1A (old alternate highway from Maine to Florida) and not only are we not piped for NG we're not piped for sewer and we're not wired for FIOS or DSL.  Some here use propane but they have to do it under a farm license that my lot would never meet.

You know, there are houses that were built in the last 50 years....   

Actually, I am building right now, and I had some great options just outside of town that had an acre+ and were still fairly close to my office and the parts of town I wanted to be near.  They were even in subdivisions that were "part of the city".  But just because they were considered in city limits, it didn't mean any city services were there.  Either you rolled your own septic system and had your own pump or cistern, or you had a community system.  Either way, it was well water and septic system, and that was a deal breaker for me.  That wasn't the worst part, because many of those areas don't have NG either, so it is back to propane.  In fact, while those areas do get garbage services, cable, and the fire and police will come in an emergency, it also meant you paid all the city taxes, had to spend extra on curbs, sidewalks, landscaping, and everything had to conform to city code (no firewood piles, no RV or boat parking on property, and a bunch of other stupid laws).  But really it was the idea of not having city water and sewage, combined with having an acre of lawn to mow that kept me away.  My new place has all the city services, and is even plumbed for fiber optic so I can get gigabit internet (1000mbps up AND down) for $109 per month.  And yes, NG is piped in and will provide my heat.  My apartment right now is electric hot water, and I hate it.  20 minutes in the shower is only possible if nobody else used any hot water recently. 

[ChadTower]

You know, there are houses that were built in the last 50 years....   

Nobody in our city has natural gas and probably nobody in the next two towns north either.  It's not a thing in quite a lot of rural New England.  It's not like I live way out in the country.  I live 5 minutes from an NFL stadium and less than 40 miles from two state capitals.

[dkersten]

You know, there are houses that were built in the last 50 years....   

Nobody in our city has natural gas and probably nobody in the next two towns north either.  It's not a thing in quite a lot of rural New England.  It's not like I live way out in the country.  I live 5 minutes from an NFL stadium and less than 40 miles from two state capitals.

lol, not saying you aren't in a modern area, just that the infrastructure for your neighborhood was likely established before many cities in the west even existed.  Getting NG to your house is probably as likely as getting fiber optic.

Besides, how many homes in your neighborhood could be converted to NG easily even if it became available?  If it wasn't originally built with NG, it is usually pretty difficult to convert.

[ChadTower]

Well, connecting to the line would be a pain, as it would be an underground line.  Once inside the house it might not be that bad to convert.  Furnaces and water heaters tend to be near the oil tank.  Oil tank is in a corner of the basement because the fill line is accessed externally.  Our heating systems vary but the mechanics of supplying them don't all that much.  You'd take out the oil tank, swap the furnace/boiler/water heater (whatever combo is there) with equivalent NG versions.  They would likely interface with the distribution the same way as the old unit.  Basically, inside the house you're looking at oil tank removal, running the NG supply line to the new appliances, and that's it.  Digging out to the underground supply line is the pain in the ass.


None of that would require changing the stove if you didn't want to convert there.  We typically have electric stoves.

[dkersten]

Well, connecting to the line would be a pain, as it would be an underground line.  Once inside the house it might not be that bad to convert.  Furnaces and water heaters tend to be near the oil tank.  Oil tank is in a corner of the basement because the fill line is accessed externally.  Our heating systems vary but the mechanics of supplying them don't all that much.  You'd take out the oil tank, swap the furnace/boiler/water heater (whatever combo is there) with equivalent NG versions.  They would likely interface with the distribution the same way as the old unit.  Basically, inside the house you're looking at oil tank removal, running the NG supply line to the new appliances, and that's it.  Digging out to the underground supply line is the pain in the ass.

None of that would require changing the stove if you didn't want to convert there.  We typically have electric stoves.

I hear ya.  I have seen several houses where they were built before NG was available in the neighborhood and so they used electric baseboard heat.  Since there is no forced air or radiant system already, converting to NG usually means an attic unit with vents in the ceiling.  Really crappy for heating since heat rises...

For stoves, its about 50/50 around here.  Water heaters are NG of course.  Clothes dryers are typically electric but there are still some gas ones out there.  I haven't seen a gas refrigerator in a while... 

I've got gas lines going to 8 spots in the new house.  One gas heater in each garage, gas fireplace, gas range, gas water heater, gas furnace, gas to the center of the patio for a fire pit, and gas to the corner of the patio for a bbq.  In winter, I will probably see $250 per month gas bills, $50 per month in summer, but if I did all that electric, I would be seeing $700+ electric bills.  That will be for a 3900 sq ft house with excellent insulation and good windows.