JMortensen Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 The house my wife and I are looking to put an offer on tomorrow has septic and electric heat. Apparently the sewer line is at the end of the driveway and the big fee to hook up to it has been paid. Also the natural gas is at the street and we're thinking we'd like to have that hooked up. So the questions are: 1. Does the septic tank have to be removed? 2. How expensive is it to run the sewer line? 3. Is it a plumber or contractor who runs the NG lines to the house? 4. Once run to the house, how hard is it to install a central heating system? 5. Is it really expensive to run the NG all over the house for gas stove, etc? That's the basics. This might change our minds on which house to buy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 john, the local area may dictate who does what. 1. septic removal for hook up to city sewer. the tank would have to be emptied. obviously and may be able to cap and abandon in the yard. others may say to yank it out, leaving a good size hole to fill up. i would think you could leave it in. 2. price is again based on the area. maybe a couple of grand if that. that also depends if the sewer tap is on the property or still out in the street, ouch. that may be the deal breaker as that is a major pita. 3. here it is the plumber who runs the gas. again, do you have a stub at the property or in the street. gas cannont be run under slab so it comes into the house and runs in the attic. getting the lines to all of the appliances might be another pita. depending on how much room is in the attic to feed lines down in the walls. 4. that probably would not be too bad. attic space is ke and how big of a house. figure 1 ton of ac for every 400 sq. ft. of liveable space. ac's generally max out at 5 tons so that would cover a 2000 sq. ft. house. any larger and it is a split system. not a bad idea anyway for zoning rooms not used. 5. covered in #3. hopes this helps out a little. i would get in touch with a local contractor for more help and prices. if the area is slow, prices are cheap. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 I got a partial answer locally too, and it's a good one! The gas company will run the gas to the appliances INSIDE the house FREE, if you buy more than 2 appliances (I think they said furnace and water heater). Any additional lines to run are also free at the same time. Good info on the septic, thanks. Talked to my brother-in-law and he said that if we wanted to build a shop on this property that we would need to go to the sewer first because the shop footers would probably be dug right through the leech line area... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetleaf Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Wher in Washington? Wouldn't happen to be in Ferndale would it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TeamNissan Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 My father owns a plumbing biz which basicly means I was forced into the trade as soon as I could hold a tool lol. That said........ The septic tank doesnt have to be removed unless they changed the code recently. They empty it, clean it, fill it with sand and cap it off. Ya, if the sewer main is in the street you can expect the price to be really high but if its on your property or even in the soft I wouldnt expect to pay too much. About 100$ a foot is a fair gauge. That includes trenching, tieing in etc.... Plumbers do run the gas, for underground its usualy plastic or copper with flare fittings, really not expensive at all but the utility does the hook up off thier main and they usualy charge a arm and a leg. I know they do give out those incentives though about running the gas for free if you buy a certain number of appliances. Esp now that they have that newer gas line. Its like crimped thin wall steel surrounded by plastic and uses special brass fittings but its sooooo much easier then having to run black pipe. Central ac/heat is usualy hvac so I cant say about that. All said and done though why do you want to run natual gas? I would think its a really good think its already electric. Running the entire house on electric is really much cheaper and maybe down the line a lil bit you may decide to spend the money on some solar panels. You will end up paying peanuts in that department. The value of your house goes through the roof too with that conversion. Even things like hot water ends up being so cheap. A inline electric water heater gives you instant and unending hot water for a fraction of what constantly keeping a full tank of water hot, same goes for all the other apliances. Up to you really but its definatly worth looking into. I hope they accept your offer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 the leech field / pit should be fairly deep. i doubt that you would hit crapy soil just by digging your footings. good info on the gas. cool. much more efficient that elect. you would not want to drive over the old tank. woops and fall in. nasty. cannnot have anything or drive way within 10' of tank location. they are just plastic or fg. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TeamNissan Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Actualy the leech field depth depends on the water table in the area. And once the tank is nutralized you dont have to worry whats around it or what drives over it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Running the entire house on electric is really much cheaper and maybe down the line a lil bit you may decide to spend the money on some solar panels. You will end up paying peanuts in that department. The value of your house goes through the roof too with that conversion. Even things like hot water ends up being so cheap. A inline electric water heater gives you instant and unending hot water for a fraction of what constantly keeping a full tank of water hot, same goes for all the other apliances. Up to you really but its definatly worth looking into. I hope they accept your offer i have had a couple of jobs where the clinet wanted solar panels to run the house. a whole batch of panels may run the ac but that is it. i have a quote for my house of 25k for solar panels, batteries ect for my house that i want to build. the feds give 10k back, the state 5k, and mortgage rate drop because of green building. this may only be able to run most of the ac's or all of one of the guest houses. better than nothing i guess. it just shows you the current limits of solar generating. then you can sell back to the utility co. here we have 360 days of sun. in washington it would be much, much less. the tankless water heaters are a cool idea. talk with a plumber though as some say that without a water softner, the unit will die in a year or two. and at 600-1000 per unit, thats not cool. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TeamNissan Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Ya your right about the panels but things are changing pretty fast these days, my unchle just converted his house and the panels only cost him 15k which was basicly paid for by fed and state refunds. They also genrate a average of 20% of his power needs, its not much but considering its free I think its a good deal. When your not home and turn mostly everyhting off that 20% thats going back into the grid as well. I believe my uncle pays 55% of his power. When you couple that with all electric already being cheaper you end up with very low bills lol. You do need a water softner but only when you town uses well water. I'm not sure how WA runs but I would think with all the rain they would opt for resiviors, I really dont know though. Its been my experience you really should have a water softener if you have well water anyway... 5+ years of mineral deposites play hell with everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 I don't think the electric baseboard heaters are cheaper than gas furnace around here. At least that's been my impression. Maybe I should check into that a little more. Solar in Seattle... that's not going to work very well 8 months out of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Natural gas is the best and most efficient, when we had our coin laundry we went with all gas dryers and water heaters. Besides using a gas furnace and water heater, remember also to buy a gas dryer it's 110v compared to the 220v electric dryer. My father just recently came home from the hospital and when the weather here in Dallas was freezing a few weeks ago we had the furnace running a lot. Our gas bill for that time was only $45. Now barring another hurricane disaster giving them an excuse to raise prices, gas is cheap. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I don't think the electric baseboard heaters are cheaper than gas furnace around here. At least that's been my impression. Maybe I should check into that a little more. Solar in Seattle... that's not going to work very well 8 months out of the year. J, just ran a sewer line today actually. The old cast iron one busted so we opted to replace the whole thing. A total of 40 feet or so. Go rent a back hoe for $200 and do it yourself or maybe find a buddy to help. I think total cost for everything was $800 or so, its not too complicated if you use common sense. Roto rooter wanted $4000 to do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zV8 Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 if u were closer i'd dig up all the lines for you for cheap. I've got my own light excavating business. When u contract people to dig it up it can get pricey, they'll either bid the job (most likely to get the most money, or 100-120 a hour just to dig it up). You really should go rent a excavator for a day and trench it yourself. $160 a day up here for a 6000lb excavator, can't beat that if you have some free time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zV8 Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Thats cool they'll run the lines inside free, if they didn't do that, it's not as hard as you think if you learn how to put drywall up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I would use the old septic system for storing used motor oil jk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I don't think the electric baseboard heaters are cheaper than gas furnace around here. Jon, in CA they have made it nearly impossible to install baseboard heat (except in high rise condos where they don't want a towering inferno), so gas is it. Apparently gas is just that much better as a heating source. I've always liked forced air, but radiant floor heat is pretty cool too Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 Well I'm not sure how this is going to play out, but I think the plan is going to be to get make the completion of the sewer and NG a contingency, and then offer close to or the full price. That of course means that they'll need to supply some appliances, as that is part of the NG deal. We'll see if they accept the offer. If not, we're thinking we'll bid on the house with the big ol shop... so its a win-win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I don't know about NJ but in Maryland gas is massively cheaper than electricity. When I bought my house 15 years ago gas vs. electric heat was an absolute deal breaker. Heat pumps suck at heating a house. Give me gas heat and hot water. It is nice to be able to cook when the power goes out. There are web sites with on line calculators to tell you the cost advantages of gas vs. electric vs. oil vs. propane. All you need to know is the rates the local utility companies charge. I also have a strong personal bias against septic systems. When I pull that handle I want what's going down to be out of my life forever. Not sitting in a tub in the back yard. Sewers are the only civilized way to go. If you talk with a local realtor I think you will find sewer makes a significant difference in resale price. Good luck installing a sewer and gas yourself. I rather doubt any local building codes allow non licensed people to do that kind of work and I even more seriously doubt the local utility companies will let you hook up to their system without the proper permits. Once you get gas in the house, then you can do your own mods. But you won't be able to use the new flexible pipe since they won't sell it to unlicensed people. And don't get me started on solar.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Gosh I know dont get me started about Solar! My gf's solar panels produce more power than they actually use ( a household of 6 mind you) and actually send power back to the provider. By law the electricity provider sends them a check for the amount produced in excess, thats horrible! hehe, just messing with you Pop (still a true story^) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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