Last week we contracted our propane for the winter at $.74 a gallon. I was just wondering if others have contracted for this winter and how the prices vary around the country. We used to heat entirely with wood but got old enough to say it was just too much work to do all by ourselves. Kids grew up and left home etc. Anyone else out there heating with propane?

Dee

-- Dee in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), August 12, 2001

Answers

We use propane for our gas kitchen stove and hot water and heat with wood. But know what you mean...when did we start to age?Have an ancient furnace in the basement but since we can't get natural gas ( that's a whole nother story...neighbor won't give the OK for the gas co. to hook us up on her property). We certainly pay more because we don't use so much..$44 for a hundred pound cylinder. But...how do you like the propane to heat with and what will your yearly bill be ?? Do you know the cost of propane vs natural gas. Maybe we will look into the propane heating after I call the Public Utility Com this week about the natual gas problems. Been waiting about a year for the gas company to do something for me.

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), August 12, 2001.

Contacted the lp companies locally to check the prices just last week. We use wood to heat with, but use lp as a back up and for the water heater. The contract price I got was .62/gallon. I haven't got that good of a price in a couple of years, so I jumped on it.

-- Barb Stiarwalt (Barb43@counrtlife.net), August 12, 2001.

You guys got a bargin. We had our tank filled last week. It was $.85 per gal. The furnace is our only propane burner and we had used $384 worth of propane sence we filled it last Aug. We also burn wood in the fireplace. Helps a little. Hubby says chainsaw gets heavier every year. Getting old???

-- Belle (gardenbelle@terraworld.net), August 12, 2001.

Oh yeah Belle, that chainsaw getting heavier is the first sign. Beware, when those logs, that don't look as large as they used to, are much heavier you know you're in trouble. LOL Helena, we don't have a choice of natural gas. It's either elec. or propane around here. We contracted for 1800 gallons.....believe me these 120 year old family farm homes are not "romantic". We have the radiators with hot water heat which is a nice even heat. Not nearly so warm as the woodburner but oh so much easier! Old age kind of creeps up on you like becoming a grown up did. When did I stop being a kid and become grown up??? I never did figure out when that happened it was just a fact one day. Hmmmmm!!! Wow Barb, you hit the jackpot with $.62 a gallon. I'd have jumped on that too. Where are all of you from or maybe I'm not supposed to ask that. Thanks for talking with me, this is fun!!!

-- Dee in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), August 12, 2001.

Dee, I am in South East KS.

-- Belle (gardenbelle@terraworld.net), August 12, 2001.

Dee, I live in Iowa too - south central (almost to MO - the legislature thinks we belong to MO since they always ignore us :) )

Where are you? We are getting a fill at .85/gal and contract at .89 and thought it was good.

We use about 1400 gal per year plus the woodstove and yes we have a turn of the century Victorian that is leaky too. We need to replace the furnace and that would save a lot, but the basement needs rebuilt first.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@hotmail.com), August 12, 2001.

I checked with 2 local companies last week, one wants .99 and one wants .96 both have 500 gallon minimum. Ouch.

-- Joan (JTYTOR@pressenter.com), August 12, 2001.

1.59 contract for tghe winter,,, you guys have it good

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), August 12, 2001.

Down to 15 lbs and will be taking cold showers any day now! They are raping us for $1.10 a gallon( S. NY ), and I refuse to pay that price!

-- kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), August 12, 2001.

I guess ours does sound good when I read what most of you are paying.

Beckie, I'm in north central Iowa. I don't think most of the legislature is aware of any place in the state other than Des Moines and maybe Ames. I was born in Corydon and have many relatives in southern Iowa. My family's roots are in the Derby area but we have relatives in Lacona, Garden Grove, Chariton, Humeston, etc. Do you know any Snooks, Ryan's, Hitts to name a few? From my grandparents (Moms side) there are probably 250 of us by now but those are the main names.

-- Dee in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), August 12, 2001.

Dee,

I live in Clarke county. Those names are not familiar. My husband and I grew up in Johnson and Linn counties over to the east.

I agree about the legislature.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), August 12, 2001.

I'm in central Illinois, around Macomb, home of Western Illiois University. We usually use 500-700 gallons a year in LP. Of couse the winters haven't been as bad as they have in the past but the wood and kerosens help alot. I just kept calling around every few days till I got the .62/gallon price and that was justa stroke of luck!And I agree too that the chainsaw gets a little heavier every year.

-- Barb Stiarwalt (Barb43@countrylife.net), August 12, 2001.

From Southern Oregon:

Last fall we quit heating with wood for all the above reasons, old and tired. We installed 2-Vermonth Casting's un-vented heaters. the price for LPG then was $2.00 by the next fill up, 4 weeks later the priced had gone to $2.50 and stayed there until June. We had an offer of $1.50 for 750 gallons pre-paid. (the 750 gal. represents what we used last winter) We took the deal because it is a buck a gallon cheaper than the winter price.

Now, we are moving to a place that is all electric, with a Heat Pump & another wood heater. I called the propane supplier to see if they would bring a tank for a gas kitchen range which we will use instead of the electric one, the supplier said that they would not set a tank for just a stove, that I would have to buy a tank and have it filled myself, which is fine with me because I can buy LP at the gas station cheaper anyway. And they will give us a full refund on the pre-paid gas.

$2.50 per gallon is outrageous, firewood here is $165 per cord and it is not very good wood either, Madrone, does anyone know the BTU rating for Madrone, Jump Off Joe, do you know?

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), August 13, 2001.

We are in Cochise County, AZ, and propane is $1.48 a gallon. We used to live in Southern Oregon and burned madrone a lot. I don't know the BTU rating, but it was better burning than fir, etc.

-- dee (www.bdforce@theriver.com), August 13, 2001.

I'm in southern CA and just purchased 750 gal of propane at $1.69 per gallon. They gave a discount for the volume.

-- Dwight (summit1762@aol.com), August 13, 2001.

I have contracted LP at $1.35 but had 500 gal. delivered last week and the price was $.89.

Since this is the first time I have used LP (had natural gas, oil and wood) I am not sure what I will be using. The heat, water heater and stove are on LP. Was told the previous owners used about 1500 gal a year. I sure do not want to use that! I want to replace my cookstove eventually so that should help.

Anyone in IL know of a 6 burner cookstove with warming ovens and resevior for sale?

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), August 13, 2001.

Just topped off the tank today and paid 79 cents per gallon. That is a cash price. They charge 4 cents more per gallon if you don't pay within 10 days. I also am from Iowa. Madison County which is very close to Clarke County. We still do cut wood but we are reaching retirement age and in the next few years, we may not be cutting the amount it takes to get through a winter. Sounds like we do have alot better prices then others. Jean

-- Jean (kjean@i-rule.net), August 14, 2001.

Jean, do you know Bob and Lynn LaFallet (sp) in Winterset? She's a teacher he's a vet.

-- Dee in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), August 14, 2001.

We moved into our house in Oct. last year so it was too late to contract. Filled up a 500 gallon tank at .89 a gal. That hurt. Since we had to heat the house from it's starting temperature of 59 degrees, the first tank was gone in no time. Then it got ugly. The previous owners had done very little winterizing, and we were in northern Vermont experiencing the second highest amount of snowfall on record. The last tank I bought was $1.89 a gallon. I finally finished paying off my winter propane bill last month. Next week I will be contracting. Haven't asked the price yet. We are also installing a woodstove so we can set the thermastat lower, and more insulation is going in the roof next month. Wish us luck.

-- Julie (rjbk@together.net), August 15, 2001.

I just topped my propane tank with 260 gallon and paid the cash price of $.99 a gallon -- a bargain compared to February's price of $1.88. Thankfully, our winter here in northcentral Indiana wasn't a cold- weather record setter last year. I can't imagine paying more what folks do out east. If you're tired of the jacked-up prices, maybe you ought to consider a move to the midwest! By the way, two years ago I converted my wood-burning fireplace to gas, because gas was so cheap and wasn't messy. I'm having it converted back to wood. With free wood, taking the morning chill out of the house will cost me just the time it takes me to sweep up around the fireplace.

-- Sara (mckeefersl@lycos.com), August 16, 2001.

Beware the fine print and run the companys records through you state attorney generals office for complaints. LEVEL PROPANE out of westlake Ohio makes great calmes but put us through he-- The Kentucky Attorney Generals office was not happy with them. They claimed under .60 per/gsal to start then upped it to over 1.49 in 6 months, they were rude at customer service and hostile to questions. Check it out , we went to kerosene and corn stoves. good luck

-- (mrsrooster2020@yahoo.com), August 16, 2001.