Propane Users: Plans for the Future?

[coobie]

I live in grain farm country and the big demand time for propane is in the fall to finish drying the grain. My propane dealer tells me that the price fluctuates wildly from really cheap in the spring to really pricey in the fall because of this imbalance. My plan is to buy a second 500 gallon tank this spring and have them hook it into the first one so I can double my capacity. The second tank will cost around $1,200 installed and I'll prep the site.

I think this is a great idea with a pretty quick payback plus I'll own the tank and it could always be resold. Any thoughts on this? Good idea or bad idea?

I bought my brand NEW 500 gal. propane tank about 5 years ago.The only drawback I see is some of these LOW LIFE propane companies is that they will tell you they need to do a pressure test on your tank before they will fill it to the tune of $50 bucks.No matter if your tank is new or used.I call BS on this practice.IMHO money maker for them.

 

[sixdogs]

Thanks, coobie, I'll keep an eye on them.

 

[lilranch2001]

Suppliers here did not honor the pre-buy contracts. Even on the ones that paid upfront. Used the Emergency Clause in the contracts.

If possible, I think the only insurance against this is to Summer buy and have a tank large enough to hold a Winter's amount of Propane. My neighbor does that with a 1000 gallon tank. He filled last Summer for .99 p/gallon.

Actually the Coop I belong to did honor their price
I failed to sing the agreement last summer, so I did not get in on it, but my next door neighbor did have his price lock honored by them
I know better now!

 

[therealmjfox]

I bought my brand NEW 500 gal. propane tank about 5 years ago.The only drawback I see is some of these LOW LIFE propane companies is that they will tell you they need to do a pressure test on your tank before they will fill it to the tune of $50 bucks.No matter if your tank is new or used.I call BS on this practice.IMHO money maker for them.

I own my 500 gallon tank and play the market every year. This year was the first time a new provider required that test, but they did it free of charge. I suspect it's becoming an insurance requirement.

 

[i579rbd]

Would it be worth it to use a tankless water heater to heat the house? Then I am only heating water for the blowers when they need it versus having to keep water hot all the time. I also want to look in to wood stoves If anyone would care to share a good wood stove for dummies information source I would appreciate it.

 

[sixdogs]

Would it be worth it to use a tankless water heater to heat the house? Then I am only heating water for the blowers when they need it versus having to keep water hot all the time.

....

Not sure about your application but I used a tankless water heater when I lived in northern New England and it was the best water heater I ever had. Hot water on demand and perfectly done. The name escapes me at the moment but if I heard it I would remember it. It was blue and round.

 

[aczlan]

Would it be worth it to use a tankless water heater to heat the house? Then I am only heating water for the blowers when they need it versus having to keep water hot all the time.

My uncle does that. He has one that does both hydronic heat and DHW (2 coils) and a second that does just heat for his house. He likes it enough that he did it again after his house flooded and he had to replace the heating system.

Aaron Z

 

[therealmjfox]

I had previously thought about getting a bigger propane tank to store more propane in the summer when it's cheaper. That's not off the table, but first I decided to have my system checked out by a pro. I have a dual fuel heat pump and lo and behold the outdoor thermostat (which controls the switchover from heat pump to propane) is broken, resulting in my propane furnace running almost all winter even when it's warm enough for the heat pump to easily heat the house. In fact it may have always been this way because before propane was cheap enough I didn't really worry about how much I was using and hadn't closely examined how my system was running before.

So after having that fixed hopefully my propane use will decline significantly next winter. Around here electricity rates are pretty decent (about 9 cents/kwh) so it makes economic sense to run the heat pump as much as possible as opposed to the gas furnace as long as propane is above about $1.20 a gallon, which it likely will be for the foreseeable future.

 

[EdwardB]

We are considering two options:

A. Geothermal

B. A coal-fired OUTDOOR boiler system.

Where would you find info on a coal-fired outside boiler?

 

[Fi-Q]

Would it be worth it to use a tankless water heater to heat the house? Then I am only heating water for the blowers when they need it versus having to keep water hot all the time. I also want to look in to wood stoves If anyone would care to share a good wood stove for dummies information source I would appreciate it.

If you good a source of infos on wood burning, go to the forum on hearth.com !

 

[DutchHenryBrown]

The propane dealer I use here in southeastern AZ just ran an ad for $1.99 I called asked if it was a error they said no I said come out and top my tank off.

 

[wsc9tt]

... That's not off the table, but first I decided to have my system checked out by a pro. I have a dual fuel heat pump and lo and behold the outdoor thermostat (which controls the switchover from heat pump to propane) is broken, resulting in my propane furnace running almost all winter even when it's warm enough for the heat pump to easily heat the house. In fact it may have always been this way because before propane was cheap enough I didn't really worry about how much I was using and hadn't closely examined how my system was running before.

So after having that fixed hopefully my propane use will decline significantly next winter. Around here electricity rates are pretty decent (about 9 cents/kwh) so it makes economic sense to run the heat pump as much as possible as opposed to the gas furnace as long as propane is above about $1.20 a gallon, which it likely will be for the foreseeable future.

Wow that is huge especially in your mostly mild climate. The air source heat should be around 40% of the cost of running the propane. Good find.

 

[TnAndy]

I'm looking at a heat pump complemented with solar power to reduce electricity bills. I would rather pay on something to show for than line some utility share holders retirement account!

And capture a tax credit or two while I do so...

Yep. I've built an 11kw system over the course of several years ( adding on 4 times as money permitted ) and now we produce what we use. Still use propane for water heating and cooking.

 

[TnAndy]

My plan is to buy a second 500 gallon tank this spring and have them hook it into the first one so I can double my capacity. The second tank will cost around $1,200 installed and I'll prep the site.

I think this is a great idea with a pretty quick payback plus I'll own the tank and it could always be resold. Any thoughts on this? Good idea or bad idea?

I did the same. Bought our 500 gal underground when I got tired of renting an above ground from the propane company.....that let me shop companies. Then I added two more 500gal above ground tanks off Craig's list. One was couple years old, $800 ( they ran natural gas where the guy lived and he didn't need it anymore ), and the other was free.....just come get it. I repainted both, had the gas company plumb them into my existing line, and install two new primary regulators ( first one was gone from the tank, the second one was too old to trust ), so now we have 1500gal storage. I keep the second two full and shut off, just as backups. We'll use 300gal or so per year out of the underground.

 

[Eyecatcher]

Can't believe the prices you guys are quoting! In this area, the local hdwe store had a near monopoly on propane supply and delivery. 10 years ago, when they installed my tank, the contract said free tank rental as long as we used 100 gal/year. Hdwe store sold their gas business to an outfit out or Orlando. Price immediately jumped 50 cents a gallon. I had the 100 gal tank filled in Nov.@$3.69/gal. A week later I got a letter in the mail informing me that as of Jan 1, there would be a $4/mnth tank rental billed quarterly. Sent them a copy of my contract, then called them, and they more or less said tough sh--. As long as I have gas in the tank that I own, they can't have it back. Called the other day for a price, it's now $5.19/gal. They are the only company that will deliver in this
area, however a different hdwe store right down the road will fill 100# tanks @ $3.75/gal and load them in your truck. I just bought 2 100# tanks. Guess it's time to become "an all electric house". Pay the electric monopoly or the lpg monopoly. At least the electric is less hassle.

 

[dmccarty]

Where would you find info on a coal-fired outside boiler?

Can you get coal in your area?

I thought about coal years ago but the price to get the coal made it an unoption. Never did figure out what I would do with the coal ash either.

We used to have coal years ago in our area to heat houses, businesses and diaries. Nobody uses it anymore and the train track that brought the coal to Southern States was torn up decades ago. Course, the dairies have been long gone too...

Later,
Dan

 

[Yellowhair42]

I WAS going to buy a 500 tank (have a rental now) and had talked to the company several times and had plans. then when I was getting ready they raised prices some so I didn't worry thought I would have enough thru winter, then we got a bad extra cold winter so had to putt 200 more into the rental tank so maybe this summer I'll buy IF prices don't stay up so much...

If you can swing the initial price this deal is too good to pass up. I called Thrifty Propane. The deal is if you buy up front 2200 gallons they will give you a 500 gallon tank for free. Now I can have whoever fill my tank. Plus Thrifty said they would meet or beat anybodies price. I got this last year when the price was $1.19 a gallon. Not too sure if it's still going on now.

 

[therealmjfox]

I did the same. Bought our 500 gal underground when I got tired of renting an above ground from the propane company.....that let me shop companies. Then I added two more 500gal above ground tanks off Craig's list. One was couple years old, $800 ( they ran natural gas where the guy lived and he didn't need it anymore ), and the other was free.....just come get it. I repainted both, had the gas company plumb them into my existing line, and install two new primary regulators ( first one was gone from the tank, the second one was too old to trust ), so now we have 1500gal storage. I keep the second two full and shut off, just as backups. We'll use 300gal or so per year out of the underground.

This is good to hear because I currently have a 500 gallon underground tank and was considering adding to my storage capacity as well. I wondered if it was possible to plumb an additional above ground tank in series with my current underground tank, and then, if anyone would be willing to do it. HOw did they do it? Did they put the new tank between your existing tank and the house, or make it so the existing tank is between the new tank and the house? Any detailed info about this installation would be appreciated!

I think I'll wait a year to do this though, to see if recent repairs to my dual fuel heat pump system reduce my propane usage enough that it's not as big a problem.

 

[therealmjfox]

If you can swing the initial price this deal is too good to pass up. I called Thrifty Propane. The deal is if you buy up front 2200 gallons they will give you a 500 gallon tank for free. Now I can have whoever fill my tank. Plus Thrifty said they would meet or beat anybodies price. I got this last year when the price was $1.19 a gallon. Not too sure if it's still going on now.

Thrifty sounds like a great propane company. We need someone like that around here. We're watching one of the worst companies in the area, Amerigas, gradually buy up all the local smaller competitors. Since their name is mud they are letting the companies they buy keep their names and operate independently (for now). I fear in a few years there will be only Amerigas and Ferrellgas around here.