Anyone convert from propane to natural gas?

[Matt Meiser]

We received a letter today from the gas utility that serves our general area that they are looking to build a gas main down our road. I'm all for it but am wondering about the costs of converting over. We've got the following gas appliances:

- Maytag dryer which we have the parts to convert back since we had to have a conversion kit installed when we bought it.
- Richmond high-efficiency (uses a PVC stack) water heater about 6 years old, purchased as a propane unit. We talked tonight that if this isn't convertible we should look at a tankless unit.
- Trane 90 percent efficiency furnace about 1 year old. I'm REALLY hoping this is convertible!
- Gas fireplace insert which I know stated on the box can't be converted so we'll have to replace it. Luckily these aren't terribly expensive. We probably just missed the winter clearance at Lowes which is how we got this one at 40% off.
- Shop furnace which I installed a conversion it in and have the parts to convert back

Luckily when the house was built they assumed that one day this would happen so the house is plumbed in black pipe. However they brought the propane in on the opposite corner of where I assume the gas company would want to come in.

Our house sits a couple hundred feet off the road. I'm assuming we'll have to pay the cost of running the line from the road to the house. The shop is 100' or so behind the house. I'm wondering how much all that is going to cost me?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Matt,

Talk with the utility company. It can vary from town to town.

Here the utility company is responsible to the meter at the house. From the meter inside the house is my responsibility.

When I built my standalone shop, I had "T" added after my meter and I bought a special line from the utility company and I paid to have it run to the shop. I also paid to have NG plumbed into the shop to new furnace. All the plumbing, digging etc...was performed by the company from whom the LOML bought the furnace. I had a house burn down due to a NG leak when I was a kid. I don't do gas.....I pay the pros to do it!

[Ben Franz]

Our neighbors across the road did it a few years ago. I think the cost was in the range of $2000-2500 including running in the line from the road. They are several hundred feet back (I guess 600' or so) so that increased their cost. I haven't given it serious consideration yet because my $5000 stove can't be field converted, or so they say.

[David Christopher]

Matt, when we did it here in pensacola the gas co. sent a contractor out and converted everything for free and gave us a 250 dollar rebate just for hooking up

[Dan Friedrichs]

My folks didn't convert, but did have to move their NG line, at a cost of about $2k for ~600 feet.

[Jim Tobias]

Matt,
We converted about 2 years ago. Much like your situation, they brought the gas lines down our street so the opportunity presented itself. We only use the gas for the following:

• Hot water
• 2 fireplaces
• stove

The house hot water is an on demand type(Rinnai). The hot water tank heater is for shop radiant floor heat. The stove, fireplaces and hot water tank required upfits/conversion for the natural gas. A little hassle, but worth it in the end.
Here in NC, they pay for bringing it to your house (within 100 ft) for free and set the meter. It is then the homeowner's expense to have it run to the house. It was not too costly and the benefits (I think) outweigh the cost. Propane around here is always more expensive so right away I started saving pretty significantly on cost. We also were able to eliminate the above ground propane tank.

Jim

[Matt Meiser]

Related, anyone know if its OK to put a low voltage conduit in the same trench as a gas line? If this happens it will be a perfect opportunity to run some conduit for communication cabling out to my shop.

[Joe Mioux]

Related, anyone know if its OK to put a low voltage conduit in the same trench as a gas line? If this happens it will be a perfect opportunity to run some conduit for communication cabling out to my shop.

NOPE, at least not in Illinois.

I can't have anything in a gas line trench other than the gas line.

Electric and water lines are OK to double up on but not gas.

[Mike Cutler]

Matt

Your appliances will need to be converted over for certain, if they can be. Natural gas runs at 5" of water, and propane is at 11"-14" of water.
The cost of the pipe and regulator will be up to your local jurisdiction. The regulator will "most likely" be a two stage regulator. If the piping is already installed, you have avoided a lof of the cost.
Natural gas gives more bang for the buck, and the price is "generally" a little more regulated than propane.

Here in CT. I would worry about the costs associated with getting out of the "Propane Contract". In this state it's the wild west as far as propane is concerned. Propane contracts convey with the sale of the house,and the price of propane in CT. must be some type of top secret info. You only know how much the propane cost you when you get the bill. Very little regulation on propane.
If I could get natural gas. I do it in a minute.

[Logan William]

It all comes down to the dollars and cents....pull up your last couple years of heating bills and figure out how many BTU's worth of propane you bought and what that cost you, then contact the NG company and ask what their price was for those same time periods and figure what your savings would be. Some of the utility companies give more discounts up front to hookup but make you sign a longer contract that requires a minimum monthly payment even if nothing was used. As was already stated propane(or at least here) is much more volatile then NG, last winter I locked in at 1.995/gal prepaid, this winter was 1.25/gal. I'll have a similar decision if they ever run a rural water main by my place as I'm not paying 20k to run a main 8/10th's of a mile.

[Matt Meiser]

Mike, there are no contracts here. We lease the tanks (house, shop) "free" as long as they get filled once a year. And actually the lease on the main tank might be in dispute--them claiming its ours and us claiming its theirs as once when I asked a question they told us we own it which was not my understanding. We do participate in the pre-buy program every year, but if we don't use everything we pre-buy they refund it. The prebuy happens in late August and we should know by then if this is going to happen this year.

[Steve Peterson]

I believe that propane has a smaller nozzle size than natural gas.

The cost for the dryer kit from Sears was only around $10 and the conversion took an hour or so.

Steve

[Chris Damm]

Matt I converted about 1993 when the subdivision I lived in had new NG lines installed. At that time it cost about $700 for the hook-up and we paid a 30% surcharge on the gas to pay for the infrastructure. They estimated this would last for 5 years with normal conversion rates. However 100% hooked up and it was paid off in 3 years. Even with the 30% surcharge my gas bills were cut in half. I would do it again in a minute!

[Lee Schierer]

Several years ago when my son lived in Tucson we converted his gas grill from propane to natural gas. Someone had hooked up the propane grill to the natural gas line. We had cooked once on the grill and noted that it didn't seem to get very hot and after checking we noted that the orifices were quite small. After checking with every grill place in town, all of whom declined to supply parts for the conversion, one fellow was helpful and told us the size of the hole in the orifices. We made one trip to a good hardware store, bought a numbered drill of the right size, went home and drilled the brass orifices with his hand drill and we were literally cooking with gas in a matter of minutes. There was plenty of heat after the conversion.

[Bob Rufener]

We converted our propane fuel to natural gas about 15 years ago. I only had a gas furnace so had the HVAC guy come out and convert. I think it ran about $100 or so. I changed over our electric water heater a short time later and did the install myself but the unit was already set up for NG. I have a friend who worked on pipe lines for a living and he came over and put the pipes in so it was inexpensive. You won't have that issue as you already have gas lines installed.

I think you will find the convenience of natural gas to more than offset the cost of making the conversions to your appliances.