PROPANE TANK OWNERSHIP

Garycw · Nov 21, 2015

If your tank ever does run out to empty, the company has to do a complete pressure and safety check before it can be filled again. At least they're supposed too.
We have two 500 gal tanks manifold rd together. I usually alternate there use and switch to other full tank at around 20%and order more.

lostcreekranch · Nov 21, 2015

Garycw said:
If your tank ever does run out to empty, the company has to do a complete pressure and safety check before it can be filled again. At least they're supposed too. We have two 500 gal tanks manifold rd together. I usually alternate there use and switch to other full tank at around 20%and order more.

Yep, letting tank go empty is not a good thing and will waste a lot of time getting back up and running again.

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

check · Nov 21, 2015

rlgustafson said:
Guess that's why, after 6 years, it's never moved. Oh, and I would get a different propane supplier if mine let it get empty 3 times. My guy checks my tank when he is in the area and I check it regularly as well. Guess you don't check yours Check? Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

Hasn't moved an inch - it's above ground. And last time was after a 72-hour power outage, whereby the automatic standby generator kicked in. A confluence of events that has only happened once in 13 years. However, I did threaten to switch after they screwed up way back at the beginning (shortly after the turn of the century), and have had no problems since, until now. Will be talking to them on the phone on Monday!

check · Nov 21, 2015

rlgustafson said:
Yep, letting tank go empty is not a good thing and will waste a lot of time getting back up and running again. Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

Actually, the furnace was running fine when I got back up to the cottage, and the standby generator had a low-pressure code on it, which all I had to do was push the reset button to correct. Then it ran fine as well, with no other intervention.

A bit of a surprise about the furnace, but it is a fairly high end forced propane furnace, which is only about two or three years old. I guess with the modern furnaces you don't need to bleed them or anything like that after the gas/propane is shut off. Nice feature!

dadster4 · Nov 21, 2015

Not that it would ever happen but...a 1000 gal tank would displace about 8350 lbs. of water(the flood). The combined weight of the propane, 3825 lbs., and say 1000 lbs. for the tank will leave you with 3525 lbs. of "lift" which would pop that tank out of the ground in no time.
Same way a 20 ton concrete swimming pool would lift up if emptied if not properly installed.

MinnesotaEric · Nov 21, 2015

My owned tank is going to get moved over to my new parcel. I'm now leasing a 500 gallon pig for $30 a year at the lake house I'm wintering in. The gas price is the same whether I own or lease. If the price gets out of hand, I have two other gas companies in my area to call.

dragoneggs · Nov 21, 2015

EricTheOracle said:
My owned tank is going to get moved over to my new parcel. I'm now leasing a 500 gallon pig for $30 a year at the lake house I'm wintering in. The gas price is the same whether I own or lease. If the price gets out of hand, I have two other gas companies in my area to call.

Wow that is a good price on lease. I was paying $60 per year for a 500gal after complaining. Around here you get stuck with the leasing company for fuel. I got tired of threatening to go elsewhere to get a better price than they offered. Finally bought from another source and it has already paid itself off in two years!

Raspy · Nov 21, 2015

dadster4 said:
Not that it would ever happen but...a 1000 gal tank would displace about 8350 lbs. of water(the flood). The combined weight of the propane, 3825 lbs., and say 1000 lbs. for the tank will leave you with 3525 lbs. of "lift" which would pop that tank out of the ground in no time.
Same way a 20 ton concrete swimming pool would lift up if emptied if not properly installed.

Exactly. Excess regulations? Maybe not.

PILOON · Nov 22, 2015

check said:
First time I've heard of that problem! We have an above ground tank, and it gets down to close to 40 below in the winter, and we have never had a problem

Could it be that your provider 'tops you up' often enough to keep the pressure up? or your tank is big enough that you never go below 1/2?

That problem only exists when the tank is very low as the lower it gets the lower the pressure is. The cold 'shrinks' the pressure to the point that the gas stops flowing.
Heating causes the vapor to expand resulting in increased pressure.
In the colder zones you actually only get to use half of what you paid for if they swap out 100 lb cylinders.
With the larger site refilled tanks you get to use that balance next summer.

Burying the tank makes sense as the ground temps would keep the pressure up, however the tank would need to be below frost level.

MinnesotaEric · Nov 22, 2015

dragoneggs said:
Wow that is a good price on lease. I was paying $60 per year for a 500gal after complaining. Around here you get stuck with the leasing company for fuel. I got tired of threatening to go elsewhere to get a better price than they offered. Finally bought from another source and it has already paid itself off in two years!

Years ago our farmers got irked at what gas companies where charging for propane and formed a producer cooperative. I'm lucky enough to be in their service area. Sadly, electrical power is just the opposite we're paying $33 a month meter charge and 0.129 a kW with prices guaranteed to increase over the next three years thanks to mandates for power companies to produce 30% of power through alternative means. Since our power company buys power from producers, we take in the backside and electricity prices alone are starting to gentrify rural living, a thing that is already energy intense.