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We have an older electric 4 burner stove and oven. It's the type that doesn't have the coiled heating elements, but has a totally flat top and the "burners" are under the top. Everything works fine but it doesn't look the greatest. My wife has decided she wants a gas stove/oven. Our house was built bin 1996 and is all electric. She says the gas stove will save us money. I'm not so sure it will. I searched here and saw where it cost $300 to have the plumbing run (for a member here some years ago) for the propane line. I don't know what the price of propane is, but in that thread, it was $4 a gallon. Soon, after my daughter, grandaughter, and son in law move into their house, it will just be my wife and I, so there won't be a lot of cooking. Then you have to buy a tank(s), and run and fill one when it runs out.
Anyone have any comments on this, or maybe someone has gone to a propane stove?
By the way, a gent I know recently converted to all solar, and the price was about $26,000. That would be fine, but I don't have that kind of money as I'm retired at 58. My daughter's house is being built from scratch and is all solar.
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP
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Hmmmm....Assuming $400/month electric bills, that comes out to 6 years, 5 months....
At 26000 for a "complete" system, I may have to reconsider it. You're not talking grid-tie only are you?
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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I don't know the specifics about the person I know, other than that he had his place converted to all solar. At my place we are just looking at switching from an electric stove to a propane unit. I had a quote about a year ago to switch to a solar hot water heater only of about $6000-$7000. I can tell you that after my house guests move out our power bill is going to be about $150 a month and that is for an all ecectric house. For almost a month we had 9 living here (including a work crew) and a little baby using all cloth diapers. So we had a lot of showers/baths, washer and dryer and cooking going on and had a one time high electric bill of $500. For about 3 weeks we lived here with just the two of us and it was $166. When we are alone here we use about zero hot water and no dryer
But anyway, still looking for infe, pros and cons of propane stove versus electric.
Thanks, Jon
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP
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We run a 5 gallon tank for almost 2 weeks (2 people) at $17 per fill (4 1/2 gallons or so is the actual fill @ $3.85 a gallon). We have both our stove and water heater running on the propane (so washing dishes, clothes and showers which my wife takes long showers). My wife left the oven on overnight and 8 hours later we still got 4 more days out of the tank. So with just cooking you could probably get a month out of one 5 gallon tank. @ $300 for the plumbing I think you'd make that back pretty quick.
"Government is good at one thing: it knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, 'See, if it weren’t for the government, you wouldn’t be able to walk." - Harry Browne
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Jon: still looking for info, pros and cons of propane stove versus electric.
This is driven by your wife's wishes, and I'm thinking that she's not just wanting a gas stove bcuz your older electric 'doesn't look the greatest'. If that was the case you could just replace with a more modern electric. There are many reasons for wanting to cook with gas-- temperature control is finer, simmering is easier, cleanup simpler. Perhaps she cooked with gas in early days and just longs for the experience again.
Yes, you will have to put out infrastructure monies to get it going, but balance that against a happier cook and perhaps there will be 'a lot of cooking' when you two are alone again. You could always bargain for your favorite specialty dishes as a reward...
I bought my house with a gas connection, and that was a priority for me in each home we looked at. I am the cook in our family, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
food for thought...
-dwajs
-dwajs
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Aloha David...so good to conx with you here. You are a gentleman, sir! [  ]
Carrie
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"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
Carrie Rojo
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
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We bought a small, 2-burner stovetop at the propane place in the Malama shopping center for $140. No lines needed to be run, just connected our propane tank directly. We now do all our cooking on the lanai. Cooking for 2 people, our 5-gallon propane tank lasts well over a month, sometimes two.
Disclaimer: I only recommend our set up if you don't mind cooking on the lanai.
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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quote:
Originally posted by punafish
We bought a small, 2-burner stovetop at the propane place in the Malama shopping center for $140. No lines needed to be run, just connected our propane tank directly. We now do all our cooking on the lanai. Cooking for 2 people, our 5-gallon propane tank lasts well over a month, sometimes two.
Disclaimer: I only recommend our set up if you don't mind cooking on the lanai.
We got the propane oven with 2 burners on top with free shipping from Amazon ($158, not sure if same model you have) and do all our baking and cooking on the lanai. Of course we also have and use a regular gas BBQ with the side burner. Our primary thoughts are to keep the cooking from heating the house but on the other hand our highest electricity bill since adding the solar hot water heater has been $100.95 since we rarely use any 220. To be fair that is our only electricty bill we have received as it is the first one since getting the solar.
But it sounds like the primary reason for adding this system is that your wife wants a newer looking stove and wants to upgrade to gas. A happy wife makes for a happy marriage.
Will the propane stove save you money? Probably in the long run. The quickest return on the investment will be your wife's happiness. The holidays are coming up.
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Last month our electric bill was $75. Our secret? We turned off our big, energy gulping hot-water heater and hooked up an on-demand propane heater to our shower. We do everything with cold water except our showers. (See "happy wife" comment above  We use one 5-gallon propane tank a month just for our shower. Hope this helps others!
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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Miscellany:
The two-burner campstove is available at Harbor Freight for under $40 (and yes, they will ship USPS). Large burner is 15K BTU. I have three years on mine, no problems. SKU# 35559.
In most situations 220V is up to 15% more efficient than 110V -- not an EE, so can't exactly explain this one. Electronic devices are generally "world-supply", so work just fine at 220. (This can be a huge win if you're also dealing with the heat output.)
For anything that makes heat, gas is 5-8x more efficient than electricity.
Most natural gas appliances can be retrofitted for propane; this is only "useful" when restoring antiques (I once saw a *beautiful* wedgewood range that had been fitted for LPG -- really want one someday).
The two-way regulator is worth the extra few bucks: not just because it automatically "flips over" to the full tank, but because you never bleed the system when changing out the empty, so no running the stove and waiting for the gas to come back.
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