Propane vs Electric
An honest comparison, including where electric wins.
Request a Free Estimate →We install propane, so take our word with that in mind — but a fair comparison serves you better than a sales pitch. For some jobs propane is clearly the right answer. For others electric is, and we will tell you so on the site visit rather than sell you something you do not need.
Where each one wins
Instant heat, visible flame, and control you can see. Wok cooking, charring, anything where you adjust by eye. Induction is genuinely good and very fast, but it needs the right pans and it stops when the power does.
Gas recovers far faster and a tankless unit does not run out. An electric tank heater is cheaper to install and fine for a small household — but with a big family or back-to-back showers, gas is the difference between hot water and a queue.
Shorter cycles and lower running cost per load. The gap widens the more laundry you do. For a household running one load a week, honestly, it is not worth changing over.
Not really a contest. Propane stores indefinitely, does not go stale, and a properly sized tank carries a house for days. A battery system is quiet and clean but the storage is measured in hours, and it depends on sun to recharge during a multi-day outage.
Gas heats fast and does not care how cold the night is. A heat pump is cheaper to run for holding a pool warm all season — but it loses output exactly when the air turns cold, and it cannot bring a spa up in an hour.
In most of Florida, a heat pump is the sensible answer — our winters are mild and heat pumps are very efficient in that range. Propane heat makes more sense north of here, or for a property that already has a tank and wants heat that works in an outage.
Nothing to argue about. Cooling is electric, and in Florida it is most of your bill.
A single appliance in a condo, a rarely-used guest cottage, a property where running a gas line would cost more than the appliance saves. If the numbers do not work we will say so.
The honest cost picture
Propane usually costs less per unit of heat than electric resistance heating, and more than a heat pump running in mild weather. Anyone who tells you propane is always cheaper is selling something. What actually decides it is how much you use, what you use it for, and what you pay per gallon — which is why you should buy your fuel from whoever gives you the best rate.
The install side matters too. Running gas to a property with no tank is a real cost. Where that cost pays back quickly is when several appliances share the line — a range, a water heater and a dryer together justify a system that a single appliance would not.
The reason most of our customers choose it
It is rarely the running cost. It is that the house still works when the power goes out. In a Florida storm season, a system that cooks, heats water and runs a generator without the grid is worth more to most people than a line on a utility bill.
What we will actually tell you
On the site visit we look at what you want to run, what you already have, and how far a line would need to go. If propane is the wrong answer for your property, we say so — there is no sense installing a system that disappoints, because we are the ones who get the call about it.
Working it out for your property
- Free estimate — tell us what you are considering and we will price it.
- Property site visit — where a tank could go, and what the route costs.
- Contract and property survey — what is being installed, drawn and agreed.
- Permit — filed with your local building department, inspection handled.
- Install and first flame — tested, inspected and commissioned with you there.
Not sure which way to go?
Tell us what you want to run. If electric is the better answer for your property, we will say so.
Request a Free Estimate