Changed to natural gas?
Oldtimer Depends on what you mean, Elizabethtown ran the line up our street to new shutoff, then to meter at house, no problems at cost we were quoted, fixed paving, sidewalks and grass as necessary. After meter its up to you and your plumber. All in all a good experience
eapos 
Darrin I did this two years ago. It was *well* worth it.
Make sure you size your heating unit correctly! My house had a 110,000 BTU oil fired boiler. Some calculations using the right engineering books showed that I only had 55,000 BTU of radiator, so the gas unit I installed was sized at 65,000 BTU. My heating bills are much, much cheaper then they were when I using oil!
The_Bishop E-town does a pretty neat job of running the meter to your house. My parents in H'town were originally quoted around $3K to run gas line, but a little negotiating got the price down to zero.
The main thing driving the gas line price, besides distance, is the anticipated amount of gas you will use. So, you might say that you will not only heat your house with gas but also install a gas range and maybe water heater. I don't think anybody from E'town would follow-up to see if you installed the additional appliances as long as you used a reasonable amount of gas.
jjmonth4 We really had a good experience with Elizabethtown and a local plumber. We really didn't have an issue with oil but it was time to replace the furnace. Gas has proven to be a significantly better investment.
Bonv From the contract i got, which started at $2000 then got to zero through some talking, i have to convert my boiler and hot water heater to natural gas within a year, and maintain use of it for three years. According to the contract they do check in that first year
I have signed the contract a few weeks ago, not sure how long it takes them to get town approval and start digging
I converted back in 2001....best thing to do if you're able. I hated paying huge amount of $$ for oil to sit in the tank...gas you pay as you use it. Switched from forced air to water filled baseboard heating - much less dust/allergies, etc. E-town gas very easy to work with and also put in new water pipe from street at same time...you might as well situation. Local plumber handled permits, recommended digging person, HMUA person involved. Fairly smooth from start to finish. I did it about this time of year as well. Definite savings in $$ and much less trauma of running out of oil, emergency oil fill-ups, etc.
ss2cats I haven't switched from oil but most certainly would in a heart beat. Elizabethtown has never been the slightest issue for me. And I would never go back to oil from my experiences at my previous house. Worrying if it will freeze and clog or if I can get an emergency delivery in the middle of a snow storm.
GC Also in process of converting to natural gas now, just sent signed contract back and have been talking with contractors to do the inhouse hookup and new equipment. Going from Propane to NG, needing new furnace & hot water heater. Elizabethtown is very easy to deal with and answering questions. Said should be about 4-6 weeks for them to run line to house and have 1 yr to activate. They even give names of contractors in area. Have contacted some from their list and others whom have read about on the various HL forums. So far most are very accomadating and helpful, learning bit more from each one I talk with. Good luck to you, and hope all is true that will save $$ for us. :)
Wendola eapos, never said i wasn't going to use it, i was responding to jjmonth4's post who said they negotiated it down to zero and didn't think etown would check to see if what you were suppose to put in was put in
I definitialy will be changing everything i possibly can over to gas
Wendola, I was considering installing a wall mounted natural gas boiler with a side shot to a water tank to eliminate a appliance. I figure i could just install the new boiler and have it do both my hot water and my heat.
I have not contacted any contractors yet because i do not plan on switching until next summer when there is less of a rush, plus i already have a full oil tank, so i will let etown run the line, and then i will do the hookups in the summer months
We are in the negotiation process with Elizabethtown to switch from oil to gas. We will be converting our furnace but we just bought a new electric water heater a couple years so we are not replacing that. However we will be replacing our dryer soon so we will switch to gas for that as well as replacing our electric oven with a gas one. We are also considering putting in a line for a natural gas grill and getting rid of our propane grill. Not sure if the grill is worth it though. Opinions?
jrsemom The #1 difference is burner, the 2nd biggest difference would be hot water heater. I just put a new electric one in too, but the savings of changing the hot water heater to gas is well worth replacing it immediately, I figured at least 20-30 dollar savings per month just for the electric hot water heater, depending on how much you use it. That means in just 2 years or a little more it will pay for itself. Now etown may negotiate even better if you are willing to do the hot water heater, so that could affect how quick it pays off.
I see it as if i have to resell a $400 year old hot water heater for $100 bucks, then all I lost is $300 bucks. at $30 a month in savings, it will pay off for the loss in 10 months, everything after that is savings
I too will be getting a gas range, and installing a small gas fireplace. I also want to install a tap on my back porch for my smoker and for a grill, or anything else i may want to eventually run.
We wanted to convert from propane to gas so badly but the gas line stops 3000ft from our house on our street! Such a bummer.
smilingbecs I wonder if you get enough people on your street willing to convert if e-town will run the line further down the street?
They are installing the line to my house today, never told me of course, just so happened I was home today
HMUA came by last week to mark off my water lines for my conversion. I still don't know when E-town will be running the lines though. I guess I'll know when they show up.
They never let me know they were coming, and they never marked out the other lines (although someone was suppose to) LOL, I had to tell the contractors doing the work where the lines were.
Well I got a call today from the contractor that they are coming tomorrow to run the lines. He said they are so busy they have to work Saturdays.
Wow, i wish I got a call, strange that I didn't, just so happened I was home today so it worked out.
I was outside all day talking to the cops/contractors and all of them were very nice!
He said I don't have to be home since they will only be working outside. We'll probably be home anyway though.
I distracted them the whole time they were here, I was talking to them and the cop that was blocking the road. Had i not been home there was a good chance where they had to get to would of been blocked by cars
Just a fyi, they do not install the meter at this time, you have to get the lines run in the house and then e-town gas will come back out and put the meter on
How much digging do they actually have to do?? I have never observed an install. Do they "bore" underground or trench the route?/
Here is the pic from what they did at my house. They made a minimal hole out at the street, then bored under the rest of the road, everything in my yard they dug about 14-16 inches wide with a trench bucket. The pipe they installed was 1 inch diameter tops
It looks like that at my house too. Darrin, the guys said they'll be installing my meter now. It obviously won't be hooked up to anything yet though.
Interesting, I wonder why they did not install my meter? they told me I had to call to get the meter installed
I finally have my gas on, and my stove and boiler installed. Man what a production.....
I was originally told (when they did not install the meter) to call and they would have someone out to put in a meter within a hour.......called.....2 weeks they said........then showed up two days later without ever letting me know they were coming and put it in at 7 am on a Saturday, but of course I was not ready (Had not installed oven yet because what would I cook on for two weeks?) so they had to safety pin it off and told me to call and they would have someone out within a hour to un-pin to turn the gas on....I questioned about time frame since I heard the one hour thing before, and I was told that it was a different team and they would be right out
Okay, so I switch out my oven with my contractor and call.....we'll be out in a week.....YOUR KIDDING RIGHT? called a hour later and started over, did not mention anything about my previous call.....we'll have someone out in 4 hours.....???? Really?
They come out and turn the gas on about 3 hours later.......it gets better.....
Two days later my contractor and I fire off the boiler for the first time since the conversion...... finally...... now that we have gas, and every time I walk past the front door I smell gas, had the contractor look at the meter, yup he smelled gas too.....call the gas company you have a leak at you (brand new) meter......
So I call to report a leak and am told.....we'll be out in a half a hour to a hour........REALLY?????? I HAVE A GAS LEAK AND YOU WILL BE HERE IN A HOUR????? okay....
gas guy shows up about a hour and a half later....yup you have a leak.....installation guys painted over the port on the blow off valve and it destroyed the valve causing it to leak........WONDERFUL!
so there, in a nutshell, has been my experience switching to natural gas!
My contractor has been wonderful, gas company....I have a few words for them
Darrin: Awful experience for you. If you were to switch to gas again, what company would you recommend? Please don't name the company you used, just give some ideas about other ones you might recommend for such a switch. Thanks.
clarioncall clarioncall - I don't think you understand. It wasn't a contractor that was the problem, it was the gas company. Gas companies are monopolies so there isn't a choice of which one. Locally it's Elizabethtown Gas.
I understood perfectly well!! As you know, GC, we moved to the area recently. Where we lived previously there were several options. So it sounds as though we will be cornered into the sole gas-reigning local enterprise...
E-town often uses private contractors to do their installations... at least for their mains. I'm not sure about their service connections, maybe they do them in house, but I wouldn't be surprised if they subbed them out as well. Skoda does most of their work down here in Hunterdon County.
ianimal clarioncall, now I think you're confusing a natural gas utility with pressure mains located in the public right-of-way with propane companies that come and fill a tank on your property out of a tanker truck.
The natural gas utility is regulated by the Board of Public Utilities and whereas propane companies are free to raise their prices basically at their whim due to market pressures real or imagined, the gas company cannot change their rates without BPU approval. It's a much better situation to be in.
If you don't believe me, do a Forum search for propane prices (-;
Skoda (I think) did my line from street to house, the meter install, and the gas leak was all Elizabethtown Gas, no choice there.
I too was shocked, because most I have talked to have had nothing but good experiences. With me, it was one thing after the next. Call one person get a answer, call right back get a completely different answer. And the thing that bugged me most is every time the have been her to do work they told me I needed to be home for it, but never contacted me to tell me they were coming when they changed their days.
Commenting is no longer available.