Best way to heat a trailor in MA?

Question

We have a 1968ish trailer that will be rented out soon.  It had a very old oil furnace that we threw out.  What type of heat would you guys recommend for a trailer?  The house has 4" of insulation in the attic that could be increased, the walls are 1" fiberglass batts, and floor possibly none. New vinyl windows, good doors.

No natural gas in the town.

I'm think i'm leaning towards electric baseboard, but could electric bills be over $500/month?

A single propane wall unit seems quite costly a month too, but I just don't know enough.

Hours and hours of google'ing has me all twisted up on what to do too.

Any thoughts on heating this old tin can?

Colleen F. · Answer

@Pat L.  Looks good but it is not the delivery that kills you here it is the per gallon price. I had a price of $ 4.89 /gallon when other areas were paying half that. There are a couple places you can check like

http://www.checkpropaneprices.com/   but the rub is if you take security from the tenants then if they don't fill the tank  depending on the price per gallon it may not be enough to cover a fill.  We are still trying to work out something that works for one place. Last years tenants wanted the tank gone ( parents concerned about safety). We had suburban take it out but this years tenants are trying to set it up on their own but so far no luck. It is supplemental heat for one area of the house so they can go without it but to have spent the money for the heating fireplace and its too expensive to use that is crazy.

Pat L. · Answer

@Colleen F.

$50 delivery now that will make you sick given the gouging you are experiencing. Here is Jay's website & pricing to show you how good we have it. But I do not have the current pricing for home tank fills but he blows away the competition.

http://www.jp2propaneservice.com/deliveries.html

Colleen F. · Answer

@Pat L.   that is cheap but does that carry over to propane delivery for heating?  This is where we had a problem.  They quote a price to get you in the door and then next delivery is more. They price gouge because they can. The heat was a 200 gallon (not 200lb) tank. In this case it isn't the tax it is the companies. Unlike oil you can't just call around for a delivery because they all need to inspect the tank to deliver so even if you buy your own tank it is hard to get people to deliver. If I take a 100 lb tank to get filled I do okay not great but ok , not sure how long that will last for heat so we haven't done that switch, not to mention I don't have a truck .

I do like the auxillary heating units with wood. We installed a built in wood stove (sheet rock exterior so not hot at all) but I don't trust wood burning appliance to tenants and you would need to check with insurance on something like this.

Pat L. · Answer

The Pellet stove is a great idea but they do get very hot esp if they have young kids.

We have a small one (cost $800 installed) in the kitchen addition of a SFH we rent. It is hooked up to a thermostat has a blower & it heats the 500 sq ft kitchen very fast. No pilot light just an elect ignition that does need annual service to keep it functioning.

Venting to the outside is minimal & we hid it behind the unit but you do need a non flammable base & that dictates the size of the footprint. (See pic below).

One of our other older properties has a larger one installed/enclosed in an existing fireplace. During the rehab they were able to vent the heat to adjoining down stairs rooms through the ceilings.

Kristopher K. · Answer

@Pat L. That is crazy cheap! I think I paid $20 for my last refill. I go through at least 4/yr between grilling and homebrewing.

@John H. There are hydronic baseboards too

, not just the standard electric. They cost a lot more upfront but the drawn is quite a bit less. They heat up slower but also cool off slower. We switched to these plus a pellet stove to get rid of the old heating system we had last year. No more bad air from the ducts, no oil smell. Electric bills were higher and I think we paid the same as if we had oil. This year should be less since we have the system 'balanced' now.

A warm floor will make a huge difference too.

Pat L. · Answer

Good point.

We got our Propane from the Reservation & even today we only pay $9 (NO TAX) for a 20lb BBQ tank refill. For the MH, when we had it several years ago, propane was was definitely cheaper than buying & installing elect baseboards.

But in Taxachusetts, as @Kristopher K.  said, elect costs could be more cost effective for the residents.

I just text the current owner of our old MH & they now heat with Nat Gas. Apparently NG lines were installed just after we sold it.

Kristopher K. · Answer

I second @Colleen F.

One of the units across from a rental I have on Cape is trying to figure out how to get rid of propane because of the costs. I went all electric with programable t-stats...no pilot lights, no tanks, no fuel lines. Just a breaker.

Pat L. · Answer

I agree with @Phillip Cailey  on the propane.

But definitely heat trace the water feeds. That's the biggest issue up here with them during winter & you do not want to be under one trying to replace pipes @ 15 below.

Colleen F. · Answer

The propane companies in RI gouge you. I would think since you have some of the same companies in MA then you are up against the same thing. (I also live in MA).   We have a house in RI with electric baseboard and the heat cost  tenants don't understand. Tenants have a problem getting that electric is 350 over  normal electric cost they have a $350 bill for heat while their buddy  is putting $1000.00 in oil in his tank every x weeks.  That being said both for safety and cost I think electric baseboard is better then propane. No one can drive into the tank or fail to light the pilot.  You can also be fairly simple minded and still be able to run electric baseboard without calling the landlord to figure out you are out of gas.   Yes our 1600 square foot house has had $500 electric bills in winter but that is with college students setting the thermostats.  We have a propane fireplace 45000 BTU too and the students who have used that paid  more because of the price gouging with propane. Suburban is the worst offender...   In any case insulating the floor may help you out too. I found not having cold floors makes a difference. In one room we put in floor heat because of the space but that is expensive.