I recently called our propane cooperative because I could have sworn we had a propane leak.
We had only used 135 gallons of propane from 3/15/2019 - 11/15/2019 (we turn the heat down to 44-45 degrees when we leave and try to keep the house cooler at night (it is very passive solar during the daytime hours when the sun is out). We also keep our hot water heater set at "low". But from 11/15/2019 - 3/15/2020, we used 320 gallons of propane (...and this winter wasn't even that harsh compared to last winter...). That comes to 455 gallons for a year.
On Friday, the gentleman from the co-op came and conducted a pressure test designed to detect leaks at any point in the system. No leaks were found. He said he looked at our usage and that it was in line with a vacation home of our property's size (our area has a lot of absentee homeowners). He also compared our usage to the prior owner's usage (we are using about half of what they used (they did supplement with wood)).
He was kind enough (given my dismay) to walk through and give us some pointers for conserving propane (in addition to what we already do). He suggested that we turn our water heater setting to "vacation" when we are gone and restore it to "low" when we arrive.
He also pointed out how our current duct work is not efficient (which we already learned when we had our new furnace installed). The previous owners used and left behind a wood burning furnace in the basement which we cannot use if we want insurance on the property. But because the furnace is "ducted" to send hot air through the wood burning furnace before going up into the house, we are essentially heating a big heavy hunk of iron prior to actually heating the house.
Additionally, the chimney from the wood burning furnace was drawing warm air from the basement and sending it through our roof with the aid of an uncapped damper. He suggested on this point that we put a cap on the "draw" portion of the chimney vent (i.e., cap the uncapped damper; pictured above uncapped) which Ed did this weekend.
We know we'll eventually need to address the furnace duct work; but that is a project for another time.
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