What are we (OK, some of us) becoming????

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I had pellets when I lived in MA. Loved them. I would buy what I needed in the summner. I never ran out. The house was toasty warm all the time. Oil was my backup.

I intend to do the same here with wood pellets as a primary and propane as the backup.

I have had nothing but negative experiences with now my third propane company in five years. Using a pre-buy plan to get the best rate. The money outlay is no different than buying however many tons of pellets I need in the summer. With heating oil, I can always add diesel if the truck cannot get here. I have been waiting eights days since I requested the fill. I just want an honest answer about the delivery date, not constant excuses.

Sorry you have such bad propane services.
Our Local CO-OP is excellent, they take good care of us!

We were at 25% and called to fill and they were out in 2 days.
Granted 25% would still last me till end of February so I wasn't worried.
But it's nice to not have to worry about it.

You can also sign up for an always full program for like $10 a month, where they show up once a month and fill it up regardless of the level.

 

[RCW]

@tbk5 -

Our local fuel company carries both fuel oil and propane.

While we’ve been away from it for years because of pellets, they had an auto-delivery option for fuel oil.

The auto- program also afforded abetter price than demand or called-in service/fill ups for HHO.

Not as good as a pre-buy but better than market if my memory serves. Certainly more reliable than demand service, especially in a cold snap.

Assume similar is available with propane.

That said, bet there’s not a lot of winter heating deals in Alabama…(.didn’t think of your location at first).

Certainly hope the delivery truck shows up in time…

 

[jaxs]

Some people predict how much propane they will use and only order that amount which often translates to 75-100 gallons. If you live in a sparsely populated area or on the edge of the service area you shouldn't expect fast delivery unless you sign a keep full contract or rent a huge tank and order well in advance of running low. Keep full contract alows driver to empty his truck while driving fewest miles each time truck leaves nurse tanks. Any customer not on keep full, buying more than 150 gallons or having tank filled to 80% should be charged extra. Some companies around me only take new customers if they rent tank and sign keep full.

 

[chim]

Buried a 1,000 gallon propane tank about a dozen years ago. Wifey watches prices and usually has the tank filled late Summer. Winter of 2022/2023 took 480 gallons at $1.529 to heat our two story house in SE PA. Owning the tank allows us to use any supplier we want.

 

[DustyRusty]

I have been using propane for over 40 years and have seen companies come and go. The last one that I used got bought out by a bigger company and they jumped the prices. I just switched to a new and upcoming propane company. They own the tanks and I am on a keep-full status. The price savings is 20 cents per gallon. I was going to bury a 1000-gallon tank, but my homeowner's insurance said that it would jump the cost of my insurance premium. They don't like any buried tanks at all. That was about 5 years ago, and the cost then of the 1000-gallon tank was about half of what it cost today. I had a 2000-gallon oil tank removed and the hole filled with sand and was all set to put the tank in when I got an inspection from my homeowners insurance company and they informed me during that inspection. What prompted the inspection was that I had advised them that the oil tank had been removed and the ground was certified as clean. I filed all the removal reports, with my town so when the home is sold, there is proof that there is no oil contamination.

 

[tbk5]

They delivered today-9 names drom wh3n I ordered.. I was at 4% I had turned the furnaces off since it was a balmy day-in the 40s. I wanted to save the fumes for tonight. Whew.

Drivers told me that they were 300 delveries behind. The office whined about the volume of calls due to the storm earlier this week. But, this happens every year. They do not staff up for busy season.

The propane gods did enact their revenge. The grill tank ran out while I was grilling steaks.

 

[lugbolt]

the wussification of America; a side benefit is that there are some who would think, man, that's a great idea to warn people that it's cold outside. Other side benefit? They can sit at the house and watch the TV; where the media's lair just happens to be located.

I will say this. The cold has me cooped up in the house because of health issues--I do not and never have, done well with cold. My toes freeze quickly as do my fingers. Even with gloves and warmers I get cold. Can't do much in the shop because the heaters will only heat so much, when it's -5 outside and the wind chill is -25 to -30, I cannot work out there so I have to do what I can inside. Right now, I'm doing a side job but it don't pay much of anything and it's BORING. I would work another 4-5 hours at the day job if they'd let me, and if we had enough to do; but there ain't. Not this time of year.

As an outdoors person, the LONGEST days of the year are also the coldest. Last Monday I got my SxS out and rode around. It was a balmy humid 14 degrees outside. Took maybe 10 minutes to get too cold. I'm over winter. I've always hated winter in every place I have lived.

 

[fried1765]

I have been using propane for over 40 years and have seen companies come and go. The last one that I used got bought out by a bigger company and they jumped the prices. I just switched to a new and upcoming propane company. They own the tanks and I am on a keep-full status. The price savings is 20 cents per gallon. I was going to bury a 1000-gallon tank, but my homeowner's insurance said that it would jump the cost of my insurance premium. They don't like any buried tanks at all. That was about 5 years ago, and the cost then of the 1000-gallon tank was about half of what it cost today. I had a 2000-gallon oil tank removed and the hole filled with sand and was all set to put the tank in when I got an inspection from my homeowners insurance company and they informed me during that inspection. What prompted the inspection was that I had advised them that the oil tank had been removed and the ground was certified as clean. I filed all the removal reports, with my town so when the home is sold, there is proof that there is no oil contamination.

A few years ago, I removed my 1,000 gallon oil tank ....myself.
It was made of fibreglass, and installed with a thought to potential long term disposal issue.
Cut it up with a circular saw, and fed it to a trash recycling place.
I left the sniffer well.
If anyone later wants to have a sniff, they are welcome to do so.