Propane Cost???

[ultrarunner]

Just had a call from the propane company at the cabin...

I did not order any gas and they say they need to leak check the home or they will have to turn off the tank???

Last summer the valve on the tank was leaking and I paid the propane company $250 to "Repair"

Apparantly then are "Required to check the home and are just now mentioning it... in the middle of winter.

I won't be anywhere near the cabin untill at least May... keep the thermostat at 45 and never had a pipe problem over 50 years.

Does it sound right for the company to come out in the middle of winter and say they will need to shut off the valve on a tank I own???

Will be calling them in the morning.

 

[aczlan]

Just had a call from the propane company at the cabin...
I did not order any gas and they say they need to leak check the home or they will have to turn off the tank???
Last summer the valve on the tank was leaking and I paid the propane company $250 to "Repair"
Apparantly then are "Required to check the home and are just now mentioning it... in the middle of winter.
I won't be anywhere near the cabin untill at least May... keep the thermostat at 45 and never had a pipe problem over 50 years.
Does it sound right for the company to come out in the middle of winter and say they will need to shut off the valve on a tank I own???
Will be calling them in the morning.

Sniff, Sniff, smells like a rodent...
Do you have someone up there who could check on the place? Is it even accessible this time of year? Owned tank? Leased tank?

Aaron Z

 

[ultrarunner]

Sniff, Sniff, smells like a rodent...
Do you have someone up there who could check on the place? Is it even accessible this time of year? Owned tank? Leased tank?

Aaron Z

I own the tank.

I did have a year round neighbor that has since moved... so no one that has a key.

Strange in that the cabin has been in the family since 1964 and now the propane company has to get inside?

 

[PastTense]

While a lot of people have suffered from big price increases, there is another result which is much more serious: deaths from using unsafe alternatives. Here for example is a fire where this may have happened:
The cause of a fire that killed five people in Arlington, Iowa January 24 will likely never be known, according to the Iowa State Fire Marshall´s office... investigators were able to determine the house was being kept warm with space heaters...We have to be 100 percent sure when we determine cause, and even if we think it was space heaters, unless we're 100 percent, we won't say it"
Officials say they may never know what caused fatal Arlington fire | TheGazette
They can't determine the cause because the destruction was so complete.

 

[ovrszd]

Propane guy came a few minutes ago, after a different propane guy came last week and filled tank.. The guy that came last week was lost and came to the wrong house, but he said, well we have an open order for you too so since I am here, lets just fill it .. OK. we were "locked" at $4.50 when the wife called about 2 weeks ago. so we got filled that night at the $4.50. So this guy says well he was trying to clear out the old tickets is why he came today. I asked him how much it is today and he says $4.00 even. He says it is on the way down, and expects it to be normal winter price (maybe $2.50) by March. Summer price is about $1.85 around here. I wish the wife had waited and not panicked and ordered, but it is only money. We could have made it to Mid March.

This example is where I blame the local supplier. He's filling orders at the higher price, knowing fully well it'll be cheaper as each day goes by. Shame on him.

I talked to our supplier last week. We are currently on a 100 gallon limit at $3.69 (a week ago). I told him to not put more than 100 gallons at a time in my Mom's tank until I tell him differently. We'll just keep her going. Then we'll fill up next Summer when it's $1 per gallon.

But to stand up for your wife, everyone is paranoid about running out so when the guy shows up and says he can fill it,,,, 99% of the customers are gonna say do it. Shame on the supplier in that case.

 

[ovrszd]

This thread has been an eye opener for me. I'm not going to complain any longer about the cost of my geothermal. Power here is $.10 kwh and my last bill for Nov. and Dec. was $525.00 for all electricity. I heat 4600 sq.ft. of house and 500 sq. ft. of garage. Anyone considering geothermal should check out an open loop system if they have lots of water available. My system uses fresh water from my well and then dumps it. No costly ground loops used.

It's hard to talk about any sort of fair comparison here because we don't know each other's KW cost. My house is all electric. I heat 2200 sq ft. Last month was $288. And I have no significant inital cost. I believe the cheapest heating system is good insulation. Usually the payout is sooooo long on geothermal systems that an efficient house won't get the cost back in the owner's lifetime.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

We have a propane furnace with a 625 gallon tank. This will be the third year that I have not had to order any propane due to running the wood furnace. The tank currently shows 28%. I have worried I may have to purchase some due to the extreme cold this winter; I don't burn wood when not home but build a fire every evening and keep it going on the weekends. I will have it filled this summer when price drops.

My neighbor had bought propane in Jan for $2.69 gal, last week he bought and it was $3.69 gal.

 

[ovrszd]

I think that's the way to be. Have enough storage to run thru a Winter season without purchase!!!

Funniest thing about this to me. All this talk about shortage. Can't get any product so price goes up!!!! I've not heard anyone say they ran out of propane??? A shortage to me means someone is going without. In this case the word "shortage" is being used to drive up price. Nothing mysterious about that at all.

I wonder how many Billions of dollars this is generating?? A fellow has to stop and ponder that for a few seconds to let it soak in....... Hmmmmmmm,,,,,,,, how many millions of gallons of propane are burned in a Winter season??? Then add anywhere from $2 per gallon to $5 per gallon price increase????? Wow. We are soooooo being screwed by our own corporations. Someone's gonna get a really nice Christmas bonus this year.....

 

[3930dave]

I feel sorry for everybody stuck paying these prices for propane. And, there has been many examples in this thread of companies going out of their way to stick it to people, beyond just the actual (ridiculous) fuel price.

People with means (financial and otherwise), will no doubt remember this nonsense, and many will take corrective action before next heating season. The propane industry will only have themselves to blame for this reduction in sales.

The people I feel the most sorry for are the ones on tight budgets - some of them are facing pretty hard times with these propane prices.

Rgds, D.

 

[ovrszd]

The people I feel the most sorry for are the ones on tight budgets - some of them are facing pretty hard times with these propane prices.

Rgds, D.

My Mom is 93 and draws $880 a month Social Security. She burns 250 gallon per month propane thru the coldest 2 or 3 months. If she didn't have her three kids to subsidize her she'd be forced to move out of her house and into assisted care living.