Propane, electricity, heating oil? (long)

[Nevada_Mike]

I am sure this has been covered before but the search did not yield as much as I hoped.  Here is my situation, I have a good 5800 watt generator and electricity is near and will be here in a year or so.  I can have oil or propane delivered but they are costly due to the remoteness of my cabin.  I will be a seasonal user in the warm months and a short spring and fall trip. My intention is to go all electric due to the lower initial cost of the appliances and relatively low usage.  I have a good wood stove as a primary source for heat. I intend to put in a range, water heater, and dryer as the primary users of energy. I know that my generator will not power them but it will keep my basic needs met until the big power gets here.

Opinions or comments please

[glenn kangiser]

My thought would that you could use carried in propane tanks if you used propane appliances - the little Coleman instant water heater would take care of the hot water- A 10 gal propane tank is easy enough to fill where it is cheaper and bring in instead of having delivered.  5800 watts will do quite a bit except electric resistance appliances off a generator are not too efficient.  Propane refrigerators - used rv ones can be had sometimes fairly cheap- they are also pretty efficient where there is no power.  The electric coolers are not real efficient and pull batteries down fast.

I'm in an off grid cabin and this is what works for me besides solar and wind .

[rwalter]

Mike,

I am in a similar situation, except I have electric already at my site. The other advantage for electric at my site is that the town owns the power company. Since it is a municiple power company the rates are really low. Even the some of the people who live in the area full time heat their houses with electric since it relatively inexpensive.  I am planning on having a wood stove also so I should be able heat the cabin with that if need to and since I have 35 acres of woods I'll have plenty of wood to burn. I was planning on using a on demand electric hot water heater. You can purchase them at Lowes for around $500. However you must have a 200 amp service to your house. I to was planning on an electric dryer and stove to round out the cabin.  Propane might be an option since I could have a large tank installed but I not sure if it is worth all the trouble just to run a dryer, furnace and possibly a stove. Beside I probably won't spend a lot of time there in the winter anyways.

[Amanda_931]

As your insurance person about wood stoves vs masonry stoves, by the way.

What are you going to do about freezing weather when you're not there?

e.g., most washing machines do not drain completely.

[Shelley]

Perhaps your decision should be based upon what you want to wind up with at the end.  I know that's there's hydro up in the NW that makes ele a cheap option for some.

If you're lucky enough to be in that situation a all-ele house is a choice if power is coming soon.

If not, then Glenn's suggestion to have individual bottles powering appliances is a good one too.

Here in NM, propane is the option even tho it's more expensive than natural gas.  People do anything they can to avoid an all ele house.  Resale is less too.  Guess it depends upon the cost/KH where you are....and whether you have any plans to generate your own electricity in the future.

[rwalter]

Amanda,

Thats where the electric furnace would have to have come into use. Probably set the thermostat at 50 degrees when not there. Or winterize the cabin with biodegradable environmental friendly antifreeze in the drains. Then blow out the water lines with a compressor.

[Amanda_931]

I'd think that antifreeze and compressed air would be the better idea.  Ice storms are not my favorite meterological phenomenon.

In Nashville if all we were using for natural gas was the heat, a lot of people found it cheaper to cut the gas off from spring to fall, have it turned back on in the winter.  A bit cheaper, even with the charge to turn it on, but a nuisance.

If there's a minimum charge per month for electricity it would be worth comparing the two.

But then you couldn't decide to go spend January there on a whim.

[ShellyShelly]

On an electricity note..... I am sitting up here along the Columbia River, the land of cheap electricity. I just received my PUD bill which announced that the Bush Administration is trying to change Bonneville power operating process (BPA) into a current market rate plan, which would project into a 20% per year increase in power rates over 5 years.  Yikes, the days of cheaper electricity may be ending. But I suppose all fuel sources are bound to increase. Does Nevada receive any power from the NW?

[Dan]

If you setup your plumbing right you can gravity drain it instead of compressed air.  Been doing that for going on 15 years at my friends cabin with no frozen pipe problems to date.   Probably wouldn't work to well on a slab however, but is ideal with a basement.

[DavidLeBlanc]

Cheap elec. in the PNW is a thing of the past. In the last 3 years, thanks in no small part to Enron and the general deregulation of the elec. power industry, my rates have approximately doubled!

People are doing their best to avoid all elec. houses, although the Natural Gas (NG) alternative has shot up in price too!

According to a site on radiant heating, NG is cheapest, followed by oil and then by propane. I don't know how current those figures are.

I would think, that if you have to tote in your own energy, that kerosene/oil would be the best bet: 2 5 gallon cans ought to last at least a month with the right appliances!

BTW, at least with some popular Japanese on-demand hot water tanks, the warranty is void if you use them with well water due to hardness and scale build up in the heat exchanger. (Something to check into when you buy...)