Propane vs Natural Gas Generator in Florida: Which Is Better?

If your street has a natural gas line, natural gas is almost always the better fuel for a standby generator: no tank, no refills, and no wondering how many days you have left. If it does not, propane is the answer, and a properly sized tank will carry a house through a hurricane outage without drama. That is the short version. The longer version is that the fuel decision is usually made for you by your address, and the real work is getting the details right for whichever fuel you end up with.

We install Generac standby generators on both fuels across Palm Beach County and the Space Coast, and the split is roughly geographic. Gas mains run through a lot of the older coastal neighborhoods and newer master-planned areas. Head west to the acreage lots in Wellington or Jupiter Farms, or into the sprawling inland subdivisions of Palm Bay, and propane becomes the default because there is simply no gas line to tap.

Natural gas: what you get and what it costs

A natural gas generator connects to the same utility supply that feeds a gas range or water heater. The fuel arrives on its own, you are billed for what the generator actually burns, and there is nothing to refill before or after a storm. During the 2004 and 2005 storm seasons and every season since, gas service in our area has generally stayed on while the electric grid was down, because the mains are underground and pressurized from a distance.

What drives the cost on a natural gas install:

• Distance from the meter to the generator. A short run across the side yard is one thing. A long run around a pool deck is another, and every foot of black iron or approved flex pipe is labor and material.
• Meter and pressure capacity. A standby unit draws a lot of gas when it is loaded. Some existing meters cannot deliver enough volume with the water heater and range running too, and the gas utility may need to upgrade the meter or regulator before we can set the unit.
• Whether your house has gas at all. If the main is in the street but the house was never connected, the utility has to bring in a service line, and that has its own timeline and cost that we do not control.

One technical point worth knowing: the same generator produces a little less power on natural gas than on propane, because natural gas carries less energy per cubic foot. Generac publishes separate ratings for each fuel, and we size the unit using the correct one. Do not let a salesperson size your house off the propane number if you are running on gas.

Propane: the tank is the whole conversation

A propane standby generator runs exactly like the natural gas version, but the fuel sits in a tank on your property. We see this setup all over Wellington, the Farms, the older lots around Cocoa and Rockledge, and most of inland Palm Bay. Generac's air-cooled units come set up to run on either fuel, and our crew configures the unit for propane during the install.

Three things decide what propane costs you and how well it works:

• Tank size. Runtime depends on the tank and the load. A tank sized for a weekend of outages is not sized for the week-plus you can see after a direct hit. We talk through realistic outage length for your area before recommending a size, and we would rather you buy a bit more tank than find out the hard way.
• Above-ground or buried. An above-ground tank is cheaper to set but has to meet setback distances from the house, the generator, property lines, and ignition sources. A buried tank disappears from view and handles wind better, but excavation, anchoring, and the tank itself cost more.
• Who owns the tank. Many homeowners lease the tank from a propane supplier, which lowers the up-front cost but ties you to that supplier for fills. Buying the tank outright costs more now and lets you shop fuel prices later. Neither is wrong; just know which one you are signing.

The refill side is the real tradeoff. Before a named storm, propane delivery trucks get busy, and after one, flooded or blocked roads can keep them away for days. The fix is boring and it works: keep the tank topped off going into hurricane season, and have it checked before any storm that has your county in the cone.

Permits, code, and what a proper quote includes

Either fuel involves a gas piping permit alongside the electrical permit, and in Palm Beach County and Brevard County that means a licensed gas contractor's work gets inspected the same way ours does. On propane, buried tanks and tank placement have their own permit and setback rules, and some HOAs in places like Viera and the Boca country-club communities will want to see where the tank sits before they sign off.

A real quote for a whole-home generator installation should spell out, in writing: the generator model and its rating on your fuel, the transfer switch, the concrete pad, the electrical work, the gas piping run and who is doing it, the permits and inspections, and on propane, the tank size, placement, and whether it is purchased or leased. If any of those are missing, ask. The gaps are where surprise costs live.

We will not put a dollar figure on your job in a blog post, because the honest number depends on your meter, your yard, and your panel. Industry ranges you see online vary widely by site for exactly that reason. The only accurate price is one from a site visit.

How to decide in five minutes

Check whether your house has gas service, or whether a main runs down your street. If yes, go natural gas unless the utility tells you the supply cannot support it. If no, go propane and spend your attention on tank size and placement rather than on the generator brand. Then ask any contractor you are considering these questions: Are you a licensed electrical contractor, and who is pulling the gas permit? What is the unit's rating on my fuel? What tank size are you proposing and why? And what happens on install day if my meter cannot keep up?

If you are weighing fuel options for a home anywhere in our Florida residential service areas, we are glad to walk the property with you and give you a free, no-obligation quote based on what is actually at your address. Call (844) 432-2262 or request a quote online, and we respond within one business day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I switch my generator from propane to natural gas later?

Many Generac air-cooled standby units are designed to run on either fuel, and a licensed technician can reconfigure the unit if gas service reaches your street later. The piping and regulator will need to be changed to match, and the unit's output rating will differ between the two fuels.

Will natural gas stay on during a hurricane in Florida?

Natural gas mains are underground and have generally continued to operate during storms in our area while the electric grid was down, which is a big part of why we recommend it when available. No utility can guarantee service in every scenario, so it is still worth asking your gas provider about their storm record.

How big a propane tank do I need for a standby generator?

It depends on the generator size, how heavily you load it, and how long an outage you want to cover, so there is no single right answer. We size the tank around a realistic multi-day outage for your area and recommend keeping it full through hurricane season.