Buried propane tank ran dry about 3 years ago. I'm not filling it. We are loading up the moped and the family is headed to the Smoky mountains for Thanksgiving so I need to keep the pipes from freezing. I ve heard that you can just take a smaller tank and hook it up in the basement to the furnace. My question is where?? I have since removed my propane water heater so there is an easy access here. My question is this. If I hook it up to where the water heater was wont the propane try to backfill into my buried tank in the yard? Do I need to cap it off to prevent this?
I need to Cheat this year!
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pgmr
Feeling the Heat
Should be a shutoff on the buried tank.
Not the safest idea to use a portable tank inside your house, but the Darwin Awards folks are always on the lookout for new recipients.
Not the safest idea to use a portable tank inside your house, but the Darwin Awards folks are always on the lookout for new recipients.
HotCoals
Minister of Fire
Should be a shutoff or three somewhere.
Should be able to find the line going right into the furnace...by the gas valve.
Should be able to find the line going right into the furnace...by the gas valve.
No need to fill the tank. Why not get a smaller order of propane to have on reserve for this type of circumstance? Call the propane company and ask them to deliver 50 gallons.
Dune
Minister of Fire
One option may be draining the house. In most states, any gas piping requires a licensed gas fitter, for safety and legality. If you are looking for a DIY solution, a handy enough homeowner could learn how to drain the water pipes, fill all the drain traps with anti-freeze, etc. Good luck. NO _WAY would I put a propane tank in a home. Go Boom-boom too easy.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Bringing a propane tank inside a home is a very, very bad idea. If you can do some DIY (and it's permitted in your state) you could easily run a copper line from your furnace to a point outside . . . get one of those 100 pound (torpedo) tanks . . . as a back up that should work OK.
I'm with the "No tank in the Home" crowd. Just not a wise thing to do. And depending on the btu size of the furnace, you may have to make sure you have a proper tank size.
http://www.nbmc.com/heaters/lpchart.html
This link has a vaporization rate based off of tank size.
http://www.nbmc.com/heaters/lpchart.html
This link has a vaporization rate based off of tank size.
Rockey said:
That's really no excuse at all. We have Suburban - suck your wallet dry, too. But safety is safety. Just don't fill the tank. Order a specific amount of propane to have on hand for when you need it. It won't go bad.
Put a oil filled radiator heater in the center of each floor set for forty degrees and hit the road.
BeGreen said:
It absolutely is an excuse/valid reason! Suburban wants to charge me for 3 years of non usage to the tune of $544.00. Then they want a new contract signed. Then they mandate how much I must use a year before I incur a minimum surcharge. It isn't as easy as saying come and get your tank and I'll find another supplier. I have a buried tank(owned by Suburban) in my front yard and they want me to foot the bill to dig it up.
BrotherBart said:
At first I said to myself "like hell I'm buying 3 of those things" Then I remembered the garage out back that needs heat this winter while I finish it up. Maybe I'll go that route and keep our family off the front page for another year.
Later
New Member
- Jan 30, 2009
- 456
We have a part time house in the cold part of NY and starting about now every time we leave for a couple of weeks I drain the water pipes, plug in the heat tape on the water line, and use a compressor to blow out the H and C lines, and put nontox in the traps, washer and dishwasher. Takes a bit more than 1/2 hour.
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
I have been using grill tanks since I backed my tractor up to Suburban's tank and pulled it out to the curb. I ran copper through the exterior wall from where my propane furnace used to sit. Installed a pressure regulator and a grill adapter from Lowes. It was pretty simple. A friend of mine got a setup from TSC for two tanks so that it automatically switches over to the second tank when the first runs out. A nice thing to have if you have to deal with manual pilot lights.
Drain the water from the house. It's not hard to do, just remember to open the valves to the faucets, etc upstairs. The only tricky ones are the showers, some of the valves don't like to drain the water.
Pour antifreeze in the traps and toilet. Make sure the water heater is drained and shut the power off.
This is pretty much what I do when I close up the family cabin every year.
Matt
Pour antifreeze in the traps and toilet. Make sure the water heater is drained and shut the power off.
This is pretty much what I do when I close up the family cabin every year.
Matt
Is Suburban visable at the fill valve? If not call another company and tell them you own the tank and see if you can sign up with them. As was said you might even get a new customer discount.
Joe
Joe
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
Rockey said:
If you have a gas stove, just turn on one of the burners until it lights and then the other appliances should do ok. That was a good find, outside is a good place for your tank.
SolarAndWood said:
Thanks, thats what I was hoping to hear. Would i look like a total hillbilly If I wheeled propane grill to the front yard and hooked it there so it can double as the house heat and the kitchen? (If you answer yes, you can bet I'm gonna do it)
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
the hillbilly look gets that much better when you need 4 tanks to keep the rotation right and they eventually start to rust.
how long do you need the house heated for? a 20 pound grill tank will run the furnace for just a couple of hours. if you can't drop in 50 gallons of propane, like said in the post above two or three cheap electric space heaters in the right spots might be the cheap way out.
flyingcow
Minister of Fire
Curious....how cold does it get in SW Ohio this time of year? You should be able to walk away for a few days without pipes freezing. Shut water off, go away for a few days. Return, heat up house for better part of a day(to be safe) and turn water back on. If it's that cold, an electric heater won't help much.
If i lost power for 3 days up here, i don't think I would have pipes freezing. Cold damn house, but all would be well. Just my 2 cents worth.
If i lost power for 3 days up here, i don't think I would have pipes freezing. Cold damn house, but all would be well. Just my 2 cents worth.
flyingcow said:
Not too cold. The days we are going to be gone it is supposed to be in the 40's by day and teens by night.
I hooked up the propane tank from the grill and gave it hell for about ten minutes and it worked like a charm. I'm going to find a 50# tank and fill it up and set the tstat at 45. The best part is that when we get back I can use the propane to help heat the house back up. It should be interesting to see how much propane it takes to keep the house at 45.
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