How Much Propane Will I Use This Heating Season?
If you’re a new North Carolina homeowner about to experience your first winter using propane, you may be wondering what to expect in terms of gas usage. While it’s clear that you’ll be using more propane than you did in the summer, the question is how much more?
Well, our friends at Propane101.com did the math, which you can take a look at here.
A key concept to understand when it comes to predicting propane use (and understanding the Propane101 numbers) is capacity. A house operating at 100 percent capacity is a home in which all propane appliances – furnaces, gas ranges, water and spa heaters, etc.) are running at their highest settings 24/7.
Clearly, no one uses their appliances this way – which means that in the course of a “normal” day (for you), your home is running at some portion of full capacity.
Let’s consider a real-world example, where your gas furnace and space heaters are running on low, you take a hot shower (which means you used your water heater), and you do a couple loads of laundry. For the sake of discussion, we’ll call this 50 percent of your capacity.
According to the Propane101 calculations, you will have used about 39.6 gallons that day, which would be about 277.2 gallons per week.
Propane Usage Estimates
Here are some other estimated usage numbers from Propane101:
- 50% capacity for 18 hours – 39.6 gallons/day or 277.2 gallons/week
- 75% capacity for 06 hours – 19.8 gallons/day or 138.6 gallons/week
- 75% capacity for 12 hours – 39.6 gallons/day or 277.2 gallons/week
- 25% capacity for 12 hours – 13.2 gallons/day or 92.4 gallons/week
- 25% capacity for 18 hours – 19.8 gallons/day or 138.6 gallons/week
- 25% capacity for 24 hours – 26.4 gallons/day or 184.8 gallons/week
As you can see, the propane gallons add up pretty quickly – which is a big reason why the efficiency of your home plays such an important role in keeping your heating bills in check (in a more efficient home, your heating equipment will run less often, for shorter durations, at lower power – all of which lower that capacity number).
For a more in-depth explanation of how to calculate your estimated propane usage in the winter and summer, check out the Propane101 article.
Still not clear about your propane use? Give us a call!
Estimating your propane use isn’t easy – but don’t worry: our pros can help you get a much clearer idea of what to expect based on your home size, the number of propane appliances you’re running, and the number of people in your home, among other factors. Contact us today and we’ll be happy to walk you through it, as well as get you filled up for the season ahead!
