Propane ???

Dodgeit · Sep 28, 2015

I'm having a new propane heating stove put in the house, along with a propane heater put in the garage where I restore my tractors. The stove will only run 4 hours a day to heat the living room and the one in the garage will be used only on Sundays while I tinker in the garage.

I bought a 420 lb tank when I bought the other items. My question is:

Should I enter in to an agreement for $49.99 to fix the price at $1.99 gal through 2017. Or take my chances? I'm in the upstate of SC so we see some cold temps in Jan and Feb. primary is a Heat Pump and we just want to take the chill off while we watch TV in the evening.

Thanks

Ozlander · Sep 28, 2015

I got my yearly fill-up last month for $0.99.
Sounds a little high and paying money to lock it in, to boot.

Richard G. · Sep 28, 2015

That is not too bad a price for upstate SC. It is always higher here than in the midwest.
I am thinking of buying my own 500 gallon tank so I can shop around. The local dealers here get you hooked if you rent a tank.
Where are you in SC?
Richard in Oconee County

IAtractorKid · Sep 28, 2015

I have 800 gallons contracted for winter at $1.06/gal for this winter.
My summer fill was $0.86/gal. But remember, demand goes up in the
winter and so does the price especially if we have a long cold winter.
It's not unusual to see propane at $5.00/gal here in the dead of
winter. All in all that's probably not a bad deal.

Hobo,NC · Sep 28, 2015

I don't think a 420lb tank will give you much leverage on the price of propane unless you live beside the LP owners girl friend... We don't see those cheaper prices unless you are a chicken/tobacco farmer...

I would lock it in and be on the hunt for a larger tank....

I got off the bottle this summer and hooked the shop to natural gas

I called the LP co today to pick up there leaking tank...

OH Boy · Sep 28, 2015

I would take my chances on it if I were you.

I own my own tank and my dealer's daily price today (to fill a 500 gallon tank) is 74 cents a gallon. If I want to pre-buy for future delivery, its $1.30. Now, those prices are 'own your own tank' prices. 'Lease a tank' gas prices will be higher because they have to cover the cost of the tank they let you use. Still, it seems excessive. I paid for our tank with the savings in less than three years after we bought our tank.

We are in a significantly colder climate here in Ohio. We heat our house and garage, run a gas cooktop, and water heaters, and that uses about 1200 gallons a year. I doubt you will go through the 420 gallons you have.

I would chance it for one winter to see what your usage is, then consider buying your own tank so you can get the better 'own your own tank' deal and choose who you want to buy gas from.

Hobo,NC · Sep 28, 2015

A 420 lb tank is 120 gal.

OH Boy · Sep 28, 2015

Oh I misread that- Pounds not gallons! Yeah that is not very much gas is it. I agree with Hobo, you should be on the lookout for a bigger tank that you can buy.

Hobo,NC · Sep 28, 2015

I had to google it :shock:

john in la · Sep 28, 2015

Playing the fuel price futures is just like playing the stock market.
You can save big bucks if you guess right but lose your shirt if you guess wrong.

Propane and crude oil prices have been falling for over a year now.
Do you feel we are at the bottom?
If so buy now and buy the longest contract you can get.

If you do not think we have hit bottom yet you might want to contract for this winter only.

ditchwitch · Sep 28, 2015

Hey Dodgeit, We just bought a 120 year old house we fixing up and it has a propane heater
and we are also remodeling the kitchen and putting in a gas stove and double gas oven. We
just filled the 320 gallon tank for 1.49 a gallon. It was a summer special but goes to
1.99 after that. They didnt mention a contract. Only the tank rent was 69.00 a year and if
i do a automatic fill(top it off when they were close by) the delivery was cheaper. Ive
never had gas heat or gas stove so i hope this is a good deal. We live in North Carolina
in Lincoln county so not real far away from you.

David G · Sep 28, 2015

That is not a lot of propane, how did you come up with that size tank?

JohnDeereJimOhio · Sep 28, 2015

I paid 1.29 first fill and contracted 1.79 rest of winter in north east ohio. I own my own 1000 gallon tank.

Owen Aaland · Sep 29, 2015

Propane is 4.24 lbs per gallon.

A tank with 240 lbs in it will have just a tad under 100 gallons of LP in it.

Total tank capacity should be about 125 gallons since the tanks are rated to be filled to only 80% to allow room for the fuel to expand as it gets warmer.

NoNewParts · Sep 29, 2015

just got mine
price protection is for 2.79 per gallon. (2.29 today's price)
I used to gamble, but no more. few years ago, very cold
and it spiked to almost $6 per gallon. way outside the budget,
so we got cold.
I'll be putting it in the mail today.
I never pre-buy, might die tomorrow.

Dodgeit · Oct 1, 2015

(quoted from post at 22:10:18 09/28/15) That is not a lot of propane, how did you come up with that size tank?

Two places
Based on run times and temps. Place where I bought the stove, said that size would last all winter+

Buddy has same size stove that runs 24/7 when it's cold and has the same tank size and uses a tank and a half over the winter.

Propane ???

Dodgeit

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Richard G.

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IAtractorKid

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Hobo,NC

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OH Boy

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Hobo,NC

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