Total Energy News and Insights

What comes to mind when you think of propane? New England is one of the most popular places in the country for oil heated homes, Propane is much more popular in the midwest and the west coast. That leaves many of us to associate propane with one of it's arguably best uses, grilling.  Propane  can be used for a number of things throughout your home, from heating your entire home, to heating your water, keeping your pool open longer, drying your clothes, cooking your dinner, and much more.  The question for many oil or electric homes that have an interest in converting to propane is, what is involved? To convert any home to propane, first you'll need a tank. Similar to oil, propane heat requires a tank to store the gas that is used by your home's equipment. A difference between oil and propane in terms of the tank is the location. Propane tanks have to be located outside of the home while oil tanks traditionally are found in the basement of the home. Having a tank...

As an Oil or Propane Customer what should I do when snow is in the forecast? This weekend, parts of New England could see a considerable amount of snow. What does this mean for Oil and Propane home here, well not much is changing temperature wise.  However, snow in most cases worries customers and leads many to request an additional or quicker delivery of fuel. In some cases it's enough to push those that have been holding off on getting a delivery to get a delivery. When you see snow in the forecast and you are an automatic delivery customer, you can rest assured that your company should already have your next delivery planned. Most good fuel companies use a program that determines how much fuel your home uses a season. That means that when you get a delivery there is a good chance that your company will have an idea of when you should need another one.  This can change with temperature fluctuations as they normally use the average temp, but they will monitor...

Always loved or wanted a fireplace but don't have a chimney? It's hard to think that the Summer is pretty much over, expect for a hopeful Indian summer.  With Summer coming to a close that means Fall is right around and then the freezing brutality of New England Winters.  For some of us those cold Fall and Winter nights or days mean cozying up to a warm fire in the fireplace or others you could just be wishing you had a fireplace, and then there's the ones that have a fireplace but just never use it. Fireplace owners know how nice and comfy a fire can be, however you also know how much work goes into owning a fireplace and keeping it running.  Cleaning the chimney, buying firewood, opening and closing the chimney to keep drafts out of the house.  That last one might not be that bad.  What if you could have the warmth and comfort of a traditional fireplace at the touch of a button? A Propane fireplace does just this, most models feature a rem...

The cost of comfort isn't as easy to find as opening your energy bill. Whether you heat your home from a COD company, a full service company with a cap or without a cap, Mass Save, or any of the other money saving programs, what does it all translate to. When it comes to picking a heating company or a source it isn't just about the cost of fuel, there is an entire system of people that depending on the company can make or break your experience. When you have a winter like we had last year the price of heating your home became a very important aspect.  This was due to many people taking an additional filling for heating oil and the price of propane rising due to supply and demand.  This lead many customers to look away from Oil and Propane and make the move to Natural Gas or leave their full service company for a COD company.  In some cases these choices were helpful, in others they did more harm than help. Let's look at making the switch to Natural Ga...

Propane can be used for more than grilling When it comes to grilling there are two popular ways to do it, propane or charcoal. If you've ever watched King of the Hill, Hank swears by propane as the way to go for grilling.  Propane isn't just for grilling, it can be used for whole home comfort. Most of the top heating equipment companies offer boilers or furnaces heated by propane in a similar way to Oil.  Propane at the home requires a tank, just like a gas grill, but tanks for home heat are much larger.  The tanks can be vertical or horizontal and come in sizes that vary from  100 gallons to over 250.  Propane set ups can feature multiple tanks and tank above or below ground.  Below ground set ups are more common in new home constructions but can be added to older homes, keep in mind that your yard will be dug up as a result. Once the tanks are set, what can be fueled with propane other than a grill? Your boiler/furnace, dryer, pool heater, g...