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to macsierra8
Re: Check my math - Propane vs. NG cost comparison for BBQsaid by macsierra8:[
It's kinda out of our hands with the advent of OPD valves. They are engineered to close the fill valve at 80% liquid by use of a float arm.
With tank exchange it has nothing to do with OPD. Ferrellgas (blue rhino) and others are putting 15lb in the tank now and charging the same price. They said flat out that it is because of pricing pressure. |
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 dennismurphyPut me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold
Premium Member
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ |
said by fifty nine:With tank exchange it has nothing to do with OPD. Ferrellgas (blue rhino) and others are putting 15lb in the tank now and charging the same price. They said flat out that it is because of pricing pressure.
Correct; they're all doing it now. It's now at least $20 for 15lbs of propane here. Since I moved into a house with NG service, I'm done with propane... NG for everything. It's wonderful. |
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 macsierra8Baby Newfoundland
Premium Member
join:2003-11-30
Minden, NV |
to fifty nine
said by fifty nine:said by macsierra8:[
It's kinda out of our hands with the advent of OPD valves. They are engineered to close the fill valve at 80% liquid by use of a float arm.
With tank exchange it has nothing to do with OPD. Ferrellgas (blue rhino) and others are putting 15lb in the tank now and charging the same price. They said flat out that it is because of pricing pressure. I was referring to the 80% rule. Agreed, weight is much more accurate and 15 lbs is 3.19 gallons liquid. Wow, at $20 that's over 6 dollars a gallon.. |
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 robbin
Mod
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX |
robbin
Mod
2012-Jun-19 4:41 pm
said by macsierra8:said by fifty nine:said by macsierra8:[
It's kinda out of our hands with the advent of OPD valves. They are engineered to close the fill valve at 80% liquid by use of a float arm.
With tank exchange it has nothing to do with OPD. Ferrellgas (blue rhino) and others are putting 15lb in the tank now and charging the same price. They said flat out that it is because of pricing pressure. I was referring to the 80% rule. Agreed, weight is much more accurate and 15 lbs is 3.19 gallons liquid. Wow, at $20 that's over 6 dollars a gallon.. A 20 lb tank holds 20 lbs at 80% full. Forget the exchange ripoffs and go to a propane company to have your tank refilled. I don't remember the price offhand for the smaller cylinders but a month or so ago I had a 100 lb tank refilled and it was $74. Nice thing about the 100 lb tanks is they aren't required to have an OPD valve. |
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to fifty nine
said by fifty nine:With tank exchange it has nothing to do with OPD. Ferrellgas (blue rhino) and others are putting 15lb in the tank now and charging the same price. They said flat out that it is because of pricing pressure.
Correct I have a customer statement from Americagas who was sued for shorting the weight. Note that the tanks were being only filled to 17 lbs to start with for safety reasons and laws. |
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to macsierra8
said by macsierra8:I was referring to the 80% rule. Agreed, weight is much more accurate and 15 lbs is 3.19 gallons liquid. Wow, at $20 that's over 6 dollars a gallon..
That's about 3X what I currently pay. Propane pricing is just ridiculous sometimes.. |
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robbin
Mod
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX |
to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:Note that the tanks were being only filled to 17 lbs to start with for safety reasons and laws.
Can you find anything to back up their claim that 17 pounds is the correct fill for "safety reasons and laws"? |
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 alkizmo
join:2007-06-25
Pierrefonds, QC |
to robbin
said by robbin:Nice thing about the 100 lb tanks is they aren't required to have an OPD valve.
haha except you have to transport 100lbs + tank weight  Plus what's the downside to OPD? It's true though, a 20lbs tank is designed to actually hold 20lbs of propane while still being at the 80% capacity limit. OPD has no impact on that. |
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to robbin
said by robbin:said by Jack_in_VA:Note that the tanks were being only filled to 17 lbs to start with for safety reasons and laws.
Can you find anything to back up their claim that 17 pounds is the correct fill for "safety reasons and laws"? The statement from Amerigas approved by the judge detailing the standard practice since around 2000 that 17 gal was the safe fill. See image I posted earlier. I'm sure if you need more info you can Google it. I have my tanks manually filled and he puts 17 pounds (~4 gal) in them for $20 ($5/gal). Propane is expensive here. It might be different at another location that fills tanks. |
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said by Jack_in_VA:I have my tanks manually filled and he puts 17 pounds in them. It might be different at another location that fills tanks.
I had a 20# propane cylinder filled often some time ago (before I had built with a house propane grill hookup), and they didn't use a scale at all. The guy at the local filling station opened a bleed screw and when liquid propane started spitting out he stopped filling it. I have no idea how much propane the tank actually had in it. Thankfully, nothing bad came from it.. but I'm guessing that wasn't the right way to fill it..  |
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to Jack_in_VA
As a sidenote, I literally just got off the phone pricing propane from the three companies that supply propane for a customer owned 500 gallon propane tank in my delivery area, and here's the breakdown: Amerigas: $2.299/gal as a first fill-up price only... then who knows... Osterman Propane: $1.999/gal Northeast Propane: $1.619/gal (including discount of 10 cents per gallon for payment within 10 days) $1.61 is the lowest I've ever paid for propane... like I said, propane pricing in unreal at times... both to the upside and the downside. Northeast's price comes out to ~53,737btu/$ Needless to say, I'm expecting a top off from Northeast soon.  |
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49528867 (banned)
join:2010-04-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL |
to robbin
said by robbin:Can you find anything to back up their claim that 17 pounds is the correct fill for "safety reasons and laws"?
It's purely economic as NFPA 58 allows a 20 pound cylinder to be filled with 20 pounds of propane. Down here if I take my tank to an AmeriGas filling location and am serviced by a guy who has a clue, he will fill the cylinder with 20 pounds of propane, if he understands to add 4 or 5 pounds to the total weight needed to compensate for the weight of the filling valve. Conversely if I exchange my cylinder at an AmeriGas exchange location I will get a tank back with 15 pounds of propane in it. With exchange you are getting easy propane based on a per tank price and depending on local propane prices that can be quite a rip… Now propane exchanges do provide a useful service, they are a great place to dump out of date non-ODP tanks in exchange for in-date OPD equipped partially filled tanks.  Wayne |
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macsierra8Baby Newfoundland
Premium Member
join:2003-11-30
Minden, NV |
said by 49528867:Now propane exchanges do provide a useful service, they are a great place to dump out of date non-ODP tanks in exchange for in-date OPD equipped partially filled tanks.
Wayne
Thanks.. You have me thinking now! |
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