Propane prices?
- Thread starter Mustang71
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My tanks are 1992,and the date was the first thing the guy checked. Anything over 12 years old has to be inspected. He had the adapter to fill the bottles and I did tell him they where for my cutting torches. This was at Tractor supply. I took the bottles to the gas company and they wouldnt fill them either unless they where inspected first and the valves changed to the new type. I was told I could take them to my welding supply and they might fill them, but its not really worth it to me. If I have to take it to the welding supply all the time to get it filled, I would be inconvenienced every time I need them filled, and most likely have to pay a premium for the gas. I'll pick up some used bottles somewhere, that aint out of date, and maybe even have some gas left in them.
You guys fill your old tanks in the US? I know a few places that still fill tanks here but not many.
We have a tank swap out program that every time you bring an empty one in, they give out a new tank filled.
It's been like that here in Canada for over ten years now. I don't think it's always necessary myself, but hey.
Agree. As much as it is nice to burn wood, your time is worth something too.
If only heat costs me $100 bucks a month I am better off using my time to pull some unused junk out of the garage and list it on a rummage sale site.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
They have that here but it's more expensive. I did get 2 tanks last year, found some old tanks at the shop, (like 1950s-60s) and they swapped tgem, no questions.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
Yup, it's cheaper to refill. Blue Rhino swaps tanks here, but they aren't all the way full.
I heard that Blue Rhino was in some sort of suit over not filling tanks to the proper level. A 20# bbq tank holds 4.7 gal. The new OPC valves are designed to shut off gas when the bottle is full. The valves have a little float that shuts off the gas when the tank is full. The float length on a 20# bottle is 4inches long and on a 30#bottle it is 4.7 inches long. If you placed a 30lb valve in a 20lb tank, your fill would be reduced by about 3/4in. The 20lb bottle I had filled yesterday held 4.5gal of gas and that is where the valve shut off the pump. Since the tank didnt hold 4.7 gal, did I get shorted, no I paid for 4.5 gal of propane. My tank could easily of had .2 gal of gas left in it, but I got what I paid for. Those tanks you swap out at the corner store always seemed skeptical to me. Simply picking one up some seemed like they where heavier than others. If they all had the correct valves, and where filled properly, they should all have the same amount of gas. That doesnt mean they will all weigh the same and all of the bottles should have their empty weight stamped on them somewhere. When getting a bottle out of one of those exchange places, you are getting used tanks made by many different manufacturers. They are all supposed to be inspected and filled before going back out to be exchanged.I like having my personal tanks filled where I pay for what I get rather than rely on some unseen person at a refill center that does nothing but refill tanks all day long. Only thing about those exchange places are they are easy to find when you need a tank, but if I need gas and where I usually buy it is closed, I can always just swap my tank at the corner store, no questioned asked.
My two 30# bottles I have decided to recycle into something more useful. (thinking a forge),After checking, it seems recertifications are only good for 5 years, not the 12 years of a new bottle. It was going to cost me $26 +tax each to have the valves replaced and recertified which means in 10 years I would spend $52+tax each in recert fees. The new tanks are $58 and good for 12 years. Not much difference in total cost or savings.
My two 30# bottles I have decided to recycle into something more useful. (thinking a forge),After checking, it seems recertifications are only good for 5 years, not the 12 years of a new bottle. It was going to cost me $26 +tax each to have the valves replaced and recertified which means in 10 years I would spend $52+tax each in recert fees. The new tanks are $58 and good for 12 years. Not much difference in total cost or savings.
Many places will refill.
I've done the tank swap at Walmart and judging by the hours of usage, I don't believe they give you a "full" tank compared to getting it filled from a local vendor.
Lots of discount places never fill a 20 lb propane tank to capacity. They usually always put in less than 4 gallons, so the tank is not really filled. Propane averages 4.15 lb per gallon. If the receipt says 3.7 gallons, that means you received 15.4 pounds.
I suppose the tank could have had residual propane inside, so to measure what you have on board, you can weigh the tank before you have it filled and then weigh it again after the "fill up". Then you can calculate exactly what was added inside the tank. Many bathroom scales these days are accurate to a tenth of a pound.
All the places near me use a scale to fill LP tanks.
Good point and I pondered that too once or twice.
Those dirty b-tards may be shorting me on a tank, even a little short adds up to more money in their pocket and less in mine.
None of us likes paying for something we're not getting.
I do have a farm store nearby that fills my two BBQ tanks yearly. That's where I usually go.
I will say that Walmart refills are cheap but obviously you get what you pay for.
TSC fills by the gallon. They have a meter on their fill station that tells how much you got. Yesterday mine held 4.5 gal. A full tank is 4.7 gal. I dont feel shorted because the OPC valves will shut off the pump when the tank is full. 2 tenths of a gallon is not shorted if the tank will only hold 4.5 gal and I paid for what I got. Weighing the tank before and after should produce the same results. Taking the tare weight of the tank and filling to the full weight of tank plus fuel would be very inaccurate as to how much fuel you actually got. You would end up paying for fuel you already had that was left over in the tank. Now if you get an exchange tank somewhere and subtracted the tare weight from the actual weight, and doing the math you should be able to tell if your getting what you paid for with an exchange. If propane weighs 4.15lb per gallon then 4.7 gal would weigh 19.5 lbs. Add the tare weigh of the tank and your full tank should weigh that amount or very close. Bathroom scales should be accurate enough to tell if you are being cheated.
We stayed at a cabin in upstate NY one time and it used a twenty pounder a day in cold weather. Every day I went into Walmart for a refill and got the same old guy associate each time. Dude probably thought I was cooking meth lol.
Been doing a little reading, its raining outside what else is there to do. Anyways, it seems that a lot of those exchange folks only fill to 75% of the 4.7 gal the tanks are supposed to hold. Those 20lb bottles are designed to hold 20lbs of gas, 4.7 gal which is 80% of total capacity. So instead of getting 20lbs of propane you are only getting 75% of that 20lbs, or about 3.5 gal of gas. They pass it off as some law. Well there is a law that says the tanks should not be filled to over 80% of capacity which is a little over 5.8 gal of water. Not filling to 80% of capacity is a ripoff pure and simple. Not only are the exchanges not selling full bottles, they fill by weight so if there is gas left in the tank, they make money off the leftover gas in bottles that are not empty when traded in. Double dipping and cheating the buyer. Bottles should be filled according to tare weight plus 20lbs for the gas or you have been shorted.
T. Mainus
ArboristSite Operative
Just had the shop tank filled today, $1.29 a gallon.
Let's look again at propane prices vs. firewood. The propane price variance from one state to the next is immense. So are firewood bundles, for that matter. My firewood bundle prices are about the lowest anywhere. I charge $4 apiece for 8 to 10 logs if 3 or more bundles are purchased, and 4 bundles yield 133 lb of wood most of the time. That yields a million BTUs for $12.
At $1.29 a gallon for propane as T. Mainus just reported, 11 gallons costs $14.19 plus tax (if any). So, I figure my firewood bundle price is very competitive with propane in Wisconsin. I get the equivalent of about 48 bundles on a truckload and charge $120 delivered, so that's $2.50 per bundle. That yields a million BTUs for $10.
So, to equal my truckload firewood price by buying propane, you need to find propane at 11 gallons for $10 or 91 cents a gallon and pay no sales tax.
At $1.29 a gallon for propane as T. Mainus just reported, 11 gallons costs $14.19 plus tax (if any). So, I figure my firewood bundle price is very competitive with propane in Wisconsin. I get the equivalent of about 48 bundles on a truckload and charge $120 delivered, so that's $2.50 per bundle. That yields a million BTUs for $10.
So, to equal my truckload firewood price by buying propane, you need to find propane at 11 gallons for $10 or 91 cents a gallon and pay no sales tax.
Your comparing bundle firewood to propane. When you compare cords to propane, I think firewood might come out way ahead
Yea a couple years ago my neighbor was selling heaping wheel barrows of wood for 10 dollars or u could go to the gas station a few miles away and get a bundle of 6 pieces for 10 dollars where as a cord goes for 75 here and 125 when you get near the suburbs or city. Cords are more of a standard pricing
