Stickin it to the gas man!!!

For some of you guys who pay these outrageous rental fees for propane tanks, might it not be better to just buy your own 100 lb cylinder and have it filled whenever you need it?

Pat

Just keep an eye out for them wanting their Propane tank back. The reason you get them is because you use all their propane and pay $$ for it. My buddy got a letter from the gas company and they came out and took their tank back. He just found 2 used 100# tanks and hooked them up. Only has to fill them up every 3-6 months.

firecracker_77 said:

Al Gore should be personally thanking all the renewable energy users, instead, some 'officials' view stoves as polluters. When burning hot with the secondaries dancing, there's nothing cleaner. My gas charges were $0.00 last month. However the meter fee for having gas service and the tax on that comes to $32 a month whether I heat with wood or not. Gas company around here is sneaky.

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$32/month just in fees and taxes. OUCH! I groan about the $10 I get charged from the gas company here in NC. I only use gas now for the hot water heater and it runs about 10-12 buck/month. Ocassionally we leave for a few days and I set the heat on 60 but that's about the only time it comes on any more.

WoodpileOCD said:

firecracker_77 said:

Al Gore should be personally thanking all the renewable energy users, instead, some 'officials' view stoves as polluters. When burning hot with the secondaries dancing, there's nothing cleaner. My gas charges were $0.00 last month. However the meter fee for having gas service and the tax on that comes to $32 a month whether I heat with wood or not. Gas company around here is sneaky.

Click to expand...

$32/month just in fees and taxes. OUCH! I groan about the $10 I get charged from the gas company here in NC. I only use gas now for the hot water heater and it runs about 10-12 buck/month. Ocassionally we leave for a few days and I set the heat on 60 but that's about the only time it comes on any more.

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My sister bought a short sale 7,000 sq foot house in Charlotte speaking of NC where you live. I thought she was out of her mind and still do for wanting a McMansion, but the winters are mild in the south, so it's not as costly to heat...like it would be up north. I hate paying utilities like everyone else on the forum. I feel like I should pay for what I use. That $30 flat fee is usury, but I can't do anything about it, so I just grin and bear it.

If someone GAVE me a house that big, about 5,000 sq ft would have to remain unfurnished for a long while. Either that or Goodwill would be getting a lot of furniture business from me.

firecracker_77 said:

WoodpileOCD said:

firecracker_77 said:

Al Gore should be personally thanking all the renewable energy users, instead, some 'officials' view stoves as polluters. When burning hot with the secondaries dancing, there's nothing cleaner. My gas charges were $0.00 last month. However the meter fee for having gas service and the tax on that comes to $32 a month whether I heat with wood or not. Gas company around here is sneaky.

Click to expand...

$32/month just in fees and taxes. OUCH! I groan about the $10 I get charged from the gas company here in NC. I only use gas now for the hot water heater and it runs about 10-12 buck/month. Ocassionally we leave for a few days and I set the heat on 60 but that's about the only time it comes on any more.

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My sister bought a short sale 7,000 sq foot house in Charlotte speaking of NC where you live. I thought she was out of her mind and still do for wanting a McMansion, but the winters are mild in the south, so it's not as costly to heat...like it would be up north. I hate paying utilities like everyone else on the forum. I feel like I should pay for what I use. That $30 flat fee is usury, but I can't do anything about it, so I just grin and bear it.

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Cooling a house that big in the southern part of the country ain't gonna be cheap.

Forget furnishing, heating or cooling a house that big . . . just think of the time to clean a place that big.

Funny thing . . . I'm already thinking about what size house my wife and I should have when we retire . . . it will most definitely be smaller rather than larger . . . but will most likely also have a basement.

Must be that time of year. We got a call from them today reminding us we haven't filled for winter yet and when would we like them to come out. told them maybe next fall. They have a not so good habit of filling when we don't ask so i might just have to lock the damn tank. Funny thing is they are the ones that drove us to wood heat to begin with. We used to have a meter on the tank and only pay for what we use, this was very reasonable for us. One day we got a letter saying we were being removed from metered service because we burn wood. At the time there was no wood on the property but they saw the chimney. When the guy came to remove the meter i told him we don't burn for heat. He said it doesn't matter they were told any one with a chimney big enough for wood stove/fireplace use was to be removed from metered service. So after we decided on a stove, I stacked all the wood to season next to the tank so when they come to fill they have to walk by it.

My drafty old house has given me a few "chest grabber" gas bills over the years even though I have been adding insulation and doing other improvements over the years. I get my gas from a municipal gas authority. I went to school with the gas company manager and we are pretty good friends. I ran into him the other day at the local gun store and during the course of our conversation I mentioned I had installed a wood stove. The look on his face you would have thought I had run over his puppy.

My gas man just sent me a bill for the rent on my tank LOL I have not bout gas in a year. $50.00 for rent on the tank, hope it makes him feel good

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Buy you a tank, it will pay for itself in 4 or 5 years. You can also negotiate a little better price when you own instead of rent your tank too.

I once had a propane company tell me they would have to tack on a couple fees because I was buying less propane than before when I used all propane heat. What a great way to keep customers.

Last April I put in a preheater tank for my hot water. it is a used electric hot water tank striped of its outer shell and insulation. I painted it black and replaced the upper element with a temputer gauge. It sits about 1 inch from my wood stove on top of 1- 8inch chimmney block. Right now the avage temps are 100 to 110 and even during the summer it was around 70 degrees. So I hope It will help save propane and say screw the gas guy. Current gas use Range, Dryer and Water heater. using around 100 gallons every 3 months.

steviep said:

Last April I put in a preheater tank for my hot water. it is a used electric hot water tank striped of its outer shell and insulation. I painted it black and replaced the upper element with a temputer gauge. It sits about 1 inch from my wood stove on top of 1- 8inch chimmney block. Right now the avage temps are 100 to 110 and even during the summer it was around 70 degrees. So I hope It will help save propane and say screw the gas guy. Current gas use Range, Dryer and Water heater. using around 100 gallons every 3 months.

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Hey Steve you have ay pics of that preheater setup?

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pic of my water preheater....

steviep said:

[img][/img]


pic of my water preheater....

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nice setup Steve, I don't think the wife would let me pull that off in the living room though. Lol