btu

[Paul Somers]

Wife and I spend a couple of months in Florida each winter. This camp ground sets an electric meter and you pay monthly rent plus the electricity you use. I'm wondering which is cheaper to knock the chill off in the mornings, propane or electric. Does anyone know the btu per gallon of propane and btu per kilowatt of electricity. Knowing that I could make an educated quess.

 

[TPCDrafting]

Don't hold me to this, but checking my college notes I have the following average BTU content:



Electricity - 3,413 BTU/kwh - efficiency rating = 100%

Propane - 91,065 BTU/gallon - efficiency rating = 94%(high) / 86%(med. ) / 60%(standard)



To calculate the "Cost of One Million BTUs of Useful heat" use this formula:



1,000,000 BTU x Fuel Price

--------------------------

BTU Content x Efficiency

 

[RustyJC]

There's some useful relative cost information on the table at the bottom of THIS page from the University of Florida.



Rusty

 

[Berrigan]

When propane was a buck a gallon it was the winner hands down. Over the years as propane has risen, it is not any more. Using an 80% efficient gas furnace with $2 dollar a gallon propane cost you will get 364 btu of usable heat per penny. With electric at 8 cents per kwh you will get 425 btu of usable heat per penny. It depends on the cost you will be paying for gas/electric. In reality its probably so close to being the same cost that the pain of filling the tanks makes the electric more convenient. Also remember that most electric meters have a fixed monthly fee added to the actual electicity used. When this is factored into the actual cost per kw on a low useage home like an rv the cost per kw is higher. Hope this makes sence. Bill

 

[klenger]

I doubt that an RV furnace is 80% efficient. 80% is the minimum (and normal) standard for residential furnaces, but I'm sure that RV's don't comply with this.