Propane kitchen range?

[UncleEJ]

We are going to be building a new home soon and I am starting to look at appliances. We don't have access to natural gas, so I am looking into getting a propane range for my kitchen. I have a really hard time cooking with an electric range. We would also, eventually, have a generator that runs on propane for power outages (they happen a lot where I live). So having a large tank isn't an issue. My question is, does anyone have a propane range? Do you like it? How much propane do you go through? DH is worried that it will be cost prohibitive. Any other advice would be great! Thanks!

[RoughCollie]

I have a propane range.  The tank holds 100 gallons.  I had it filled on 12/30/2013, so at the beginning of the year the tank had 100 gallons.  It has 60 gallons in it now, so I've used 40 gallons since the beginning of this year. 

 

I cook and bake a lot for a family of 6 adults.  I don't use propane for anything else.

 

I like that I can light the burners with a match if the power goes out.  The burners have electric start, but that is a convenience feature.  I haven't tried lighting the oven with a match, and I won't.

 

Honestly, the only problem I've had was once spring when I lifted the lid to read the gauge so I could see whether I needed to order propane.  A bird flew out, and her nest of eggs was built around the gauge.  So I left the bird in peace, and winged it on whether I needed to order propane.

 

[Erin]

Anyone who has a gas range in the country is on propane, rather than NG…  For that matter, in 9 of my dozen homes over the years, that's all I've had; propane. 

 

If the only thing you have on your tank is a range, you'll go through very little propane.  You might even get away with using small, portable bottles if you want to be able to take them in for a refill.  Otherwise, you'll need to rent a larger tank from the local propane supply co.  (the nearest co-op, if they aren't your supplier, will be able to tell you who is)

[Miss Tick]

When we lost power it was nice to still be able to hear things on the range. The stove was electric. We also had a propane dryer and propane heat, neither of which functioned with the power out since they have electric igniters. I never had to call the propane company for a fill, they kept track of degree-days and came out to fill when needed and left a bill on the door knob.

[xixstar]

We have one and we used to use two 100 pound tanks. Those tanks would get filled every other year maybe less often actually. We dropped our propane contract because of their high fees and switched to using small portable 20 pound tanks. Those we fill ourselves and I think one last for a couple months. I primarily cook on the stove top only. I do not bake very often, especially not in the summer. In the winter we do go through more because I use the oven more during that time.

 

I really like the small tanks better because we have more control over when they are filled. We run two tanks connected at all times, when one runs out where replace it with a standby one that is full and make sure to fill the empty one the next time we're in town.

 

All my life, I have mostly lived in houses with propane ranges.

[Lanny]

@OP I discussed your post thoroughly with my wife and I asked her to read your post. My wife would like you to know that she has been using Propane to cook, all of her life. We live in a huge rural subdivision and Natural Gas has not been available here, but they are in the process of installing it now. We have 40 pound tanks of Propane gas. She suggests that you do not have the gas tank inside your kitchen. We built a tiny shelter outside, to somewhat protect (on 3 sides) the Propane gas tank and the Propane Hot Water heater. There is a line that runs from there, underground into the house. That was done when the house was under construction. My wife and I are terrified of Natural Gas and as long as Propane gas continues to be available to us, we will continue to use it. She cooks a lot and the 40 pound tank, used only for cooking, lasts approximately 3 months.  Our fear of Natural Gas primarily has to do with earthquakes. I am a California native and we have also seen what sometimes happens after earthquakes and other problems, in the USA, Mexico, etc.

 

If we have a problem, we can go outside in 2 minutes and turn the valve on the Propane tank to close it. End of problem. Try that with Natural Gas...   My wife says the only advantage she knows of in favor of Natural Gas is that it is lower in cost. Also, it is generally more convenient because you don't need to change tanks when the tank is empty.  We live in S.W. Colombia.  The Natural  Gas here comes from an area about a 6 hour drive from Cali, near a Volcano. There have been 2 or 3 occasions, because of extremely heavy rains, Volcanic activity, or other problems, when the people in this part of Colombia were without Natural gas for periods of up to 8 days.  We also have a 2 burner electric stove and if there would be a problem with Propane (tank empty, etc.) my wife can cook on that, but that is FAR more expensive than cooking with Propane. We have lived in this house for 10 1/2 years and the stove hasn't had any maintenance or cleaning service during that time and I would like to have it serviced and I suspect it would work even better after getting cleaning and possibly some new jets for the burners. We keep our 2 spare Propane tanks in the garage.  If there is a power failure, my wife can cook with the Propane stove, but she cannot use the 2 burner electric stove or the microwave oven.   GL with your new home!

[UncleEJ]

Thank you all so much for the input. We would likely rent a 100 gallon tank from the gas company because we will eventually have a generator that could run off that as well. The range would be the only appliance using propane, other than a generator during outages. I would have a separate, electric wall oven. And electric water heater and dryer. I am glad to hear that the stove top doesn't go through gobs of propane. That was DH's worry. I think he imagined having to have a 100 gallon tank refilled constantly.

 

Thanks again for the information! This makes me very happy because I REALLY dislike cooking on an electric stovetop.

[Lanny]

I forgot to mention that our Propane stove is full size. It has 4 burners and an Oven and a Broiler. The 4 burners are used daily, the Oven and Broiler rarely.

 

Note: There is a Regulator attached to the Propane tank. Removable. On very rare occasions, it will seem like the gas flow to the stove isn't correct. My wife or I disconnect the Regulator, blow on the connection to clear it out and that usually does the trick. If not, they are cheap. About USD$5 here in Colombia. We have replaced ours a couple of times in 10 1/2 years.

[Lanny]

Electric water heater? That is costly to operate. We have a Hot Water heater that is Propane powered. It is outside, in the same shelter where we have a 40 pound Propane tank. Much less expensive to operate unless you live in an area where electricity is incredibly cheap. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Everyone here who lives outside of city limits is on propane.  Cooking on a propane range is not a huge fuel user...but heating a home is.

 

Our area had propane shortages last year due to extremely cold weather.  Prices were crazy through the co-op, and deliveries were interrupted. For the month of February, everyone was rationed as to how much they could order.

 

If you are new to propane, and are using it to heat your home, I highly recommend getting a summer contract, filling your tank well before cold weather begins, and arranging for a refill well before you become low in supply.

 

If you are just attaching a tank to your range, and you're heating with wood, no problem. :)

[MEmama]

We have one and it's fine. We live in town and are in process of getting NG so we'll be switching over, but only because we are upgrading from oil to NG for the boiler and hot water. Cooking on it is no different than gas, which is what I'm accustomed to. I think I spend around $100 a year on propane, which is much less than electricity where I live (but higher than NG). The tank gets partially filled once a year.

[Lanny]

This afternoon, when my wife was cooking our Lunch, the Propane tank ran out. It is 40 pounds. It was installed on June 28th. Today is September 18th. So, not quite 3 months, but quite a while. Here in Colombia the cost of a 40 pound tank at this time is approximately USD$23 at today's exchange rate.

[UncleEJ]

Electric water heater? That is costly to operate. We have a Hot Water heater that is Propane powered. It is outside, in the same shelter where we have a 40 pound Propane tank. Much less expensive to operate unless you live in an area where electricity is incredibly cheap.

The area I live in has pretty cheap electricity. Most homes have electric everything. A/C, heat, dryer, water heater, and range are generally all electric. I am guessing our electricity must be much cheaper than propane because most people don't seem to use it. Propane rates are about $3 per gallon. So I figure if I used about 10 gallons or less per month, it would be reasonable for us.

[UncleEJ]

We have one and it's fine. We live in town and are in process of getting NG so we'll be switching over, but only because we are upgrading from oil to NG for the boiler and hot water. Cooking on it is no different than gas, which is what I'm accustomed to. I think I spend around $100 a year on propane, which is much less than electricity where I live (but higher than NG). The tank gets partially filled once a year.

$100 per year is definitely reasonable for my family. Thank you for sharing.

[UncleEJ]

Everyone here who lives outside of city limits is on propane. Cooking on a propane range is not a huge fuel user...but heating a home is.

 

Our area had propane shortages last year due to extremely cold weather. Prices were crazy through the co-op, and deliveries were interrupted. For the month of February, everyone was rationed as to how much they could order.

 

If you are new to propane, and are using it to heat your home, I highly recommend getting a summer contract, filling your tank well before cold weather begins, and arranging for a refill well before you become low in supply.

 

If you are just attaching a tank to your range, and you're heating with wood, no problem. :)

It would be just for the range and a back-up generator. We are in Texas so heating is not so much of an issue. Our HVAC system is all electric. And the generator would run that in a power outage.

[Wheres Toto]

We have propane for our heat, hot water and kitchen range.  The portion used by the kitchen range is very very small.  We can light the stove manually when the power is out, which is great.  The oven can NOT be manually lit when the power is out but we have a propane grill outside that we can also use. 

 

We looked into getting a generator that would be hooked in to our big propane tanks.  It would have been great when we used to lose power all the time, very convenient not having to deal with making sure we had enough gas.  But since Irene and Sandy they had to rewire our whole neighborhood and many of the older trees came down, so we don't lose power much anymore.

 

Propane heat, etc. is much cheaper around here than electric.  People will hesitate to buy houses that are all electric because it is more expensive.  Natural gas isn't available in a lot of places.  Oil is usually slightly cheaper than propane but can vary from year to year.

[kiwik]

I think your propane is our LPG. I would have it for the stovetop only. However once again it is partly because it is really expensive here and the one time I had LPG bottles for heating it cost a fortune. My mother runs a 6 burner stove top off a 9 kg bottle and it seems to work.