How safe is heating your house with natural gas? ?

Question

Also, if you heat with natural gas, how much is your average bill in the winter and what size is your house?

Answer 1

A natural gas heater is very safe as long as you keep it safe. My family is full of firefighters and they all say the only thing that makes a natural gas heater unsafe is putting stuff around it particularly boxes or wood. Keep at least a 2 foot area around your heater and you'll be just as safe as an electric heater. Personally my house is electrically heated although i wish it was natural gas.

Answer 2

I have used gas heat for years and years (at least 45 years) and never had a problem...ever.

My gas bill is about 1/3 as much as a neighbor with all electric heat and a similar house.

My in-laws have used oil heat until recently, but now have switched to gas because of rising costs of home heating oil.

A little common sense and a tidy furnace area makes gas as safe as any other heating method.

Answer 3

I've never lived in a house with anything but natural gas heat.  Just did a quick look at our bills from the winter months for the last couple of years.  They were anywhere from about 60.00 to 250.00.  In Oklahoma we may be iced in or in shirt sleeves during the winter! Our house is approximately 2500 Sq. ft.

Answer 4

Any pressurized, highly flammable gas is a high risk. Just look at what happened in Toronto this week! And there is also a risk of CO poisoning. Fires, explosions, why bother? I live in BC, Canada and we have a good split between homes that are gas and electric and I can tell you the power bills are within ten percent of each other.

Additionally electric heat is very cheap to install and maintain compared to installing a gas powered heating system which needs certified and professional maintenance on a reoccurring basis. Electric heat also provides very easy zoned heating so you only heat the rooms you want to (compared to forced air heating, which can also be zone controlled but again, for a lot more money).

For me, I have lived in several different homes and I have refused to have anything to do with ones that have gas heating. Lets put it another way. I have fitted two, two storey homes recently both with full electric heat with programmable thermostats in every room and the total cost was about $400 (not including wiring) and there’s no maintenance ever!

Good enough for me!