Does Your Propane Tank Need Someone Looking Out For It ?

[6sunset6]

AW nuts I am going to have to buy a pick up so I can tansport my OA tanks upright and the propane tanks in open air. This is going to be a harder sell than the tractor.
Actually I always had a pick up , for 20 years. Then I got married. She gets a new car everyonce in a while and I get the old one till she gets another new one. I cannot figuire out how to get out of this with fiscal responsibility.

 

[Bird]

AW nuts I am going to have to buy a pick up so I can tansport my OA tanks upright and the propane tanks in open air. This is going to be a harder sell than the tractor.
Actually I always had a pick up , for 20 years. Then I got married. She gets a new car everyonce in a while and I get the old one till she gets another new one. I cannot figuire out how to get out of this with fiscal responsibility.

Just put a trailer hitch on the car and buy a trailer. It's cheaper than buying a truck,

 

[Tig]

She gets a new car every once in a while and I get the old one till she gets another new one. I cannot figure out how to get out of this with fiscal responsibility.

Next time, she needs a new truck instead.

 

[scott_vt]

AW nuts I am going to have to buy a pick up so I can tansport my OA tanks upright and the propane tanks in open air. This is going to be a harder sell than the tractor.
.

Good Mornin Bob,
Ha I know the feeling well ! My wife Kathleen has had two new vehicles in the 10 yr timespan that Ive had my PU, and she is slated to get another new one the end of this year ! Thats OK I like the old PU just fine !

 

[6sunset6]

I have a trailer. It is not the same as a pickup.

 

[atgreene]

I deal with propane emergencies quite often. Relief valves tend to be the biggest culprit. The new OPD (overpressure device) has helped lesson the issues we used to deal with. Still, a full tank sitting on a black truck liner or in a closed car in the sun will get some hot real quick. When it does, the relief valve lets loose and everyone goes into hyperventilate mode.

Makes for a fun scene when we get there.

 

[shakin]

tig a reciever hitch holder for a lp tank sounds like you must have drove a pinto in the 70's. do we really want to relive that!

 

[bencjedi]

Hi! Does anyone else have a propane\gas company that refuses to allow them to transport the 100# propane tanks in their pickup? Southern States refuses to allow their average homeowner customers to bring in their own tank and have it refilled and bring it home themselves. They said Kentucky law dictates that transport of a full tank of propane on a non-commercial vehicle in this state is left at the discretion of the fuel supplier to meet safety. Unfortunately those like me with a 100LB personally-owned cylinder are unable to get their tanks filled themselves. Southern States will fill the tank, but then charge you $50 for them to deliver your filled-tank to your home using their fleet vehicle.

My neighbor is a welder and wonder if he can build me a mount\cage that stands about 2/3rds of the length of a 100# tank out of 1" square tubing that can be bolted down to the bed of my pickup (when needed). Does anyone else live in a state that has propane canister restrictions like Kentucky? The old-timer at Southern States told me a terrible accident happened when one of these cylinders flipped over of the side of someone's pickup in an intersection and since then the gas companies personally judge on whether your vehicle is adept at handling these larger tanks or not. Do you think a 3-sided type cage bolted to the bed of my truck would work to make my vehicle a safe transport vehicle for 100# cylinders?

 

[ampsucker]

sounds like a money making scam to me. they can't get you for tank rental so they charge you for a loophole in the current law.

around here, titan does the same thing. they charge you a "hook up" fee since they claim you can't legally unhook the tank from your home line and then reconnect it yourself. fee? yep, 50 bucks.

i understand that a compression fitting on a copper line can leak if you bend it the wrong way when you are hooking up a tank, but please.... most folks who want to fuss with owning their own tanks know the basics about leak testing a line with a little soapy water or even pressure testing it with a guage and inert gas.

i would shop elsewhere. usually, you can find a company within reasonable driving distance who is more interested in your business.

amp

 

[bencjedi]

Thanks ampsucker. I smelled something (and it wasn't the propane either). They pulled this on me last fall.. ended up costing me over $400 to fill the tank and have it delivered (plus pigtail copper & regulator outside and hookup). I had just bought the tank at Lowes for $119 and drove it over to the place for a fill and got slapped with that spiel.

In a way it probably worked out for the best because I was attempting to get the brand new (yet never used for 3 years) fireplace in our home to operate for the first time and had the old dude sold me the gas and let me take it home myself I would have found (or dangerously not found) that the burner appliance in the house had a leak. I could have blown my house to kingdom come. Instead, by coming home with the gas he charged for the hookup, charged the delivery and found that the burner appliance had a leak somewhere and offered to look at it at the shop and see if he could service it and find the leak (above and beyond what he was there to do). The contractor that built the fireplace used iron pipes without a flexible coupling for the whole rig, so the only way to remove the burner was tediously cutting the pipe with a hacksaw in the tiny space I had to work with. I got it out and brought it to the guy. The guy found the leak in the burner appliance, fixed it and was back out the next weekend to hook it all together and test for leaks.

So I am only faced with how to get a refill for my 100# tank without incurring a $50 delivery charge. The gas lasted all last winter and I used it quite generously, but have no idea how much fuel is left before it is empty. My neighbor is very interested in putting his welding skills to use, so we may end up building a brace\cage\mount for my truck anyhow. I'll check with other local propane fillers and see if they require this mount anyhow.

 

[Charlesaf3]

I solve the problem by barbecuing over a wood fire - even Mass has no oak transportation rules yet

 

[bencjedi]

I solve the problem by barbecuing over a wood fire - even Mass has no oak transportation rules yet

In your living room? The propane tank use I am talking about if for a corner fireplace.

 

[Ductape]

Your propane company is just sticking it to you. I don't know why, but propane companies are some of the worst offenders when it comes to charging for nothing. All I can suggest is to find another place to fill your tanks. Around here there are a few small business, like a camper dealer or service station, that fill propane tanks. Its no problem bringing in a hundred pounder to have filled. Shirley there is someplace else to buy propane within driving distance......... you need to stop spending any money with the jamokes who have been filling your tank !

 

[Bird]

I'm assuming (guessing) the problem is not that they will not allow you to haul a 100# bottle, but that they will not allow you to haul it laying down (horizontal) and you have no safe way to secure it standing upright. I can remember many years ago when the snow birds (winter RVers) at Port Aransas, TX, had to go to Aransas Pass to fill LPG bottles and they were not allowed on the ferries transporting a 100# bottle laying down in their pickups. But it was the state owned and operated ferries, not the LPG dealer, who had that rule, so of course, most of them just covered their bottles in the back of the pickups before getting to the ferry landing and no one was the wiser.

 

[Richard]

Interesting thread.

I get REAL nervous anytime I'm carrying propane with me. I have two 100# tanks and three 30# tanks.

I fill them all at the beginning of fall and keep the big ones in reserve in case we get snowed in. I toss the little ones in my trunk. They've never said anything and it's maybe 6-8 miles from there to here. I come straight home.

Sometimes I'll also have 30 gallons of diesel with me (5-gal containers). As I'm driving down the road, usually alone, I just dare someone to backend me because it would be the end of both of us!

When I carry tanks, this is what I do to keep them from rolling. I have some treated 6x6's that are maybe 18" long. I set the down (yes, laying down ) and put the 6x6's on the outside of it. I then take some of those small ratchet straps and winch the group together. The 6x6's on the outside keeps things from rolling around and the straps keep everything together.

This works with a single tank very nicely and I've never had a tank rolling around. When I get two tanks in there, I ratchet them togethter as well, even the handles of them. Locking the handles together (for me) has kept them from rolling around.

I'll use the truck if I can get it. I don't like the idea of propane in my trunk nor the idea of it so close to me. I also realize if the tank was in the bed of the truck and somehow exploded...it wouldn't really matter if I was in the truck or my car. I figure I'm gone either way.

 

[pat32rf]

When I had my Cherokee and trailer I used to get the camp 100lbers filled at the rental where I was well known. They used to ask me to let them go into the building before I reloaded the bottles. Now that I have a pick-up I just strap them upright to the "back-rack"....

 

[bencjedi]

Yeah, I suppose the company was making excuses and knew as a newbie person buying propane in a 100# tank the first time.. that I was none the wiser. The guy did say these tanks must stand tall and not be laid on their sides for safety reasons with the valve.
I'm going to see if the tool rental place down the road has propane refills and if they will have the same "must stand the tank tall and have bracing at least 2/3rds the height of the tank" before I decide to invest in making a cage to bolt in the back bed of my pickup truck to firmly hold a 100# tank upright. Originally when I went to Southern States I had the tank very well racket-strapped (multiple straps) and saw no possible way it was going to move, but of course I was 'put in my place' about safe transport of these things.

 

[CurlyDave]

Before I went and had a custom-made tank cage welded up, I would look into a lumber rack.

I have one on my pickup and when I have to carry a tank, I chain the top of the tank to the top rail of the lumber rack in such a way that it can't tip over. A second chain around one of the uprights adds redundant safety.

Now the holes in the guard around the valve, which doubles as a handle, have to be rated to take the full weight of the tank, and the rack is clearly capable of supporting more than the tank's full weight.

The lumber rack has many uses other than just carrying tanks, unlike a custom made cage, and can be removed if necessary. I think I paid about $250 for mine...

 

[2manyrocks]

The little fire extinguisher bottles are held in place by a clamp. Looks to me that all you need is an upright, a collar at the bottom to hold at the bottom in place and a larger clamping device near the top. The upright could be bolted to the side rail on a truck bed.

I for sure would not put it on top of a car luggage rack. If it ever got loose....

 

[CurlyDave]

Rocks:

I said lumber rack, not luggage rack.

The bottom of the tank sits in the bed of the truck, the top is chained to the rack.