Blue Rhino Propane

I was just checking the Blue Rhino website and I noticed there is a $3 rebate for propane exchange. One per household per year. I'm going to pickup a spare tank today since I'm going to brew today or tomorrow and my tank is running low

http://www.bluerhino.com/br/TankExchange/RecipesandCoupons/index.html

That's mighty big of them to give a $3 rebate when you buy $8-$10 worth of gas for $16. Especially now that it's almost summer and propane sales have slowed to a crawl. I buy from Blue Rhino whenever my tank has expired otherwise I'll keep going to a propane outlet and only pay $12 for my 4-5 gallons of gas.

I have two Blue Rhino tanks. At Wal-Mart it costs almost $16 to exchange for a full tank....at Ace Hardware it costs about $12.88 to have a tank filled. Since my tanks were inherited I just have them filled rather than exchanging them.

i think i paid 30$ for a brand new tank at lowes, told them i wanted it filled they charged me another 18$ to exchange it with an old rusty ****ty tank

I bought a blue rhino because I need the tank and the hardware stores weren't open. I want to get it refilled and get a spare. I know that Blue Rhino is adding "saftey" features that don't allow hardware stores to refill them. Does anyone know how you can tell if mine is that type? Also, how much does an empty tank cost at say Ace?

Blue rhino isn't the only refill company. Just swap your Blue Rhino for an AmeriGas or whatever and be on your way...

*shrug* I just use the Home Depot fill station. It's open 24 hours and you just slap your old tank in and grab a new one.

empty tanks are about $30 (maybe a couple $$ less at one of the evil boxes).

Then most places (i think) charge a fee for purging the air out of new tanks ($5 in my expereince) then to fill it is about $10 round where I am.

I believe the tank is good for 12 years from date of manufacture so check the date on the tank you buy. After that, you have to get a new one I believe.

kornkob said:

*shrug* I just use the Home Depot fill station. It's open 24 hours and you just slap your old tank in and grab a new one.

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Those automated ones are awesome... however they are more prevalent in smaller cities than in metro areas. None in Phoenix, AZ (5th largest Metro are in the US) but saw one in Payson, AZ (you never heard of it?)

Ouch I have a friend who owns a store and they refill tanks. They charge 9.50 for a fill. Best price in town!

Local U-Haul about $12 to $13 just have to remember to take with me when I go to work.

knights of Gambrinus said:

Then most places (i think) charge a fee for purging the air out of new tanks ($5 in my expereince) then to fill it is about $10 round where I am.

I believe the tank is good for 12 years from date of manufacture so check the date on the tank you buy. After that, you have to get a new one I believe.

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You are being ripped off if someone is charging you $5 to purge the air from a tank.

Also the tanks can be recertified just like other compressed gas tanks but in most cases you'd be better off just going to a swap out seller like Blue Rhino and paying the more expensive price.

I just had my tank filled......2.90 a gallon.
Ended up paying just over 8 bucks and the thing was only half empty..

BTW, a little known tip the guy told me when he filled it. If you use a bathroom scale, the tank weighs 38lbs full and 12lbs empty. Useful info if you don't have a gauge. I tested him on it when I got home and wow...38lbs exactly on my bathroom scale!

Beerrific said:

I bought a blue rhino because I need the tank and the hardware stores weren't open. I want to get it refilled and get a spare. I know that Blue Rhino is adding "saftey" features that don't allow hardware stores to refill them. Does anyone know how you can tell if mine is that type? Also, how much does an empty tank cost at say Ace?

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Here in Georgia you can't have a tank filled or refilled unless it has the newer saftey valve. That's why I traded all my old tanks in to the Blue Rhino.

Call or shop around to other places if the hardware store you've gone to says they can't refill a safety valve they are obviously behind the times.

Reidman said:

BTW, a little known tip the guy told me when he filled it. If you use a bathroom scale, the tank weighs 38lbs full and 12lbs empty. Useful info if you don't have a gauge. I tested him on it when I got home and wow...38lbs exactly on my bathroom scale!

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I'm not so sure that your guys numbers correct. The weight of propane is 4.24 lbs per gal. But the weight (or amount of propane) you'd get could also depend on state law.

In Georgia, the tanks are called 20 lb. tanks by the propane industry because that's all they say they are allowed by law to put in them.

But on the web the tanks are refered to as 5 gal. tanks (5 X 4.24 = 21 lbs)

So according to your propane guy you are getting over 6 gal. of LPG and maybe you are but like I said the weight you get may depend on what your state allows.

Just weighted an empty 5 Gal. LP tank 17 lbs. So filled with 5 Gal. of LP weighing 21 lbs. the total would be 38 lbs. if your state allows the full 5 gal. to be put into the tank.

Here in Georgia the max is 20 lbs so a full tank here should weigh 37 lbs. Your state may differ.

For a large tank (here in Ga.) the max is 80% of total capacity. So a 500 gal. tank could only hold 400 gal.

abracadabra said:

Just weighted an empty 5 Gal. LP tank 17 lbs. So filled with 5 Gal. of LP weighing 21 lbs. the total would be 38 lbs. if your state allows the full 5 gal. to be put into the tank.

Here in Georgia the max is 20 lbs so a full tank here should weigh 37 lbs. Your state may differ.

For a large tank (here in Ga.) the max is 80% of total capacity. So a 500 gal. tank could only hold 400 gal.

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That's weird. The guy said it would weigh 12 lbs empty...but at any rate mine did weigh 38 lbs full so I guess washington state allows filling to full capacity.
I haven't really researched what the code is here though.

Reidman said:

That's weird. The guy said it would weigh 12 lbs empty...but at any rate mine did weigh 38 lbs full so I guess washington state allows filling to full capacity.
I haven't really researched what the code is here though.

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Yeah, your post got my curisoity up especially when the numbers didn't add up. I weighed it today and it weighted 18 lbs.

And since it's such a blind item purchase I wanted to figure out what was going on not only for myself but other.

The last few times I've purchased LP the lady didn't seem to be weighing the tank at all even though she sets them on a scale. She just opened a relief valve and stopped the pump when the gas flow from the relief valve increased. So now I'm wondering just how much gas Im actually getting from these folks.

And if you purchase from Blue Rhino unless you weigh the tanks you have no idea how much you are getting.

Plus I'm trying to ascertain if going with a permanent tank would save enough money to make it worth while.

If I'm paying $3 a gal. for $2 gas then it might pay off to go with a big tank.
If I'm paying $2.40 for $2 gas then it might not be worth it.

The thing with propane in bulk is you can play the market. If you purchase in the late summer or very early fall the price is usually the lowest of the year and you can negotiate a bulk discount. But since LPG ( liquid petroleum gas aka propane ) follows the gasoline and petroleum market a late season hurricane or refinery problem can also cause price spikes.

Another thing is propane is a byproduct of the gasoline refineing process so it's not and either or situation and after a long summer and warm spring the inventories of propane are usually high and that fact can be taken advantage of
if you have the ability to store 125 - 1000 gal.

One of the things I like best about big tanks is they bring the LP to me. The only disadvantage I can see is the lose of portability.

I used to be able to get a 5 - 10 cent discount for large bulk purchases back when the price was $0.89 a gal. I'm curious what kind of discount I can get with the price more than 2x that.

A little off topic, but next time you need a propane tank, don't buy one. Go to your local landfill. If they accept hazmat's and propane tanks, they might let you pick up instead of drop off.

I got a propane tank this way (with the new valve). When I asked, I got a weird look, but they said, "Sure."

Unclesamskid said:

A little off topic, but next time you need a propane tank, don't buy one. Go to your local landfill. If they accept hazmat's and propane tanks, they might let you pick up instead of drop off.

I got a propane tank this way (with the new valve). When I asked, I got a weird look, but they said, "Sure."

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You know, as I was driving by the landfill today, I saw probably thirty or forty empty propane tanks sitting there. Could have just grabbed one, it was near the road and no one was there. But, I have two (Blue Rhino), don't see any value in having a third (or a thirtieth) tank.

Yeah I saw 3 or 4 at the landfill last Sat. when I went. Don't know if they'd let you have them but if you don't ask you don't get.

Here's a reason to have multiple LPG tanks some of the propane suppliers will
give you a discount if you have multiple tanks and here's the trick ask for a discount again if you don't ask you don't get.

Plus it's good to have a spare tank when you run out of gas.

abracadabra said:

That's mighty big of them to give a $3 rebate when you buy $8-$10 worth of gas for $16. Especially now that it's almost summer and propane sales have slowed to a crawl. I buy from Blue Rhino whenever my tank has expired otherwise I'll keep going to a propane outlet and only pay $12 for my 4-5 gallons of gas.

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Eggs actly. My reasoning on this also.

Read the content statement on Blue Rhino. The bottle has remained the same but the contents have dropped from 17.5 pounds to 15 pounds. They are going to have to give me more than $3 back to make up for that reduction. Its cheaper to fill my own bottle and at least I'll know how much I'm getting and what I paid for it.

Wow almost a two year old thread bump

I think it was last year or the year before when they added the overfill protectors to propane tanks . I went to the dump and got 3 outdated tanks for free. Took em to the hardware and exchanged them for 3 brand new ones.
I don't brew outside , they're just for my grill and my propane forge.
Won't use blue rhino , their a rip off.

On the collar of the tank the tare weight, or the weight of the empty tank, is stamped TW and a number. Most of them I've seen weigh 17 pounds. Also, most of the refill stations charge you a flat rate for refilling, regardless how much is left in your tank. They all know what the local swappers are charging and usually drop it a couple of bucks under that. Get a cheapo bathroom scale and don't refill it until it's close to the tare weight.
*He says even though he still hasn't done this* Luck - Dwain

Man, 3 edits, gotta quit posting after the dopple bocks

I have a couple blue Rhino tanks but will probably just get them refilled next time. Ohhh and I have been to Payson many times, awesome town!

yeah the Blue Rino driver and 'ex yard monkey filling bottles told me they fill to 3.5 to 3.7 gallons here in the S.F.Bay area, charge $19.95 a bottle exchange. The yard is 32 miles east from me. This with the new fill limit float now called a 15# in small print. What a frigging rip. These two Blue Ripoff bottles are a mistake used only for the BBQ and they do go empty a lot quicker than the old full 20# bottles. I have a collection of old bottles that I get refilled off a friends 500 gallon tank and pay his bulk rate.
This B/S ended brewing with propane 5 years ago, electric is the only way without gas valves and more crap to go wrong. This works for my size of brewing system I used in the past. I can deal with 37,559 BTU's of electric heating power heating each keggle. No brewing with propane at my two houses.
They also make great bead blaster seating tools with a little welding and work, just get a 2" ball valve for free if you can is the best way as other parts are cheap to build as well cutting 2" coupling in half couplings.

Not sure if this is the appropriate place for this first post, but here goes. I searched the forums as best I could for advice on Blue Rhino tanks. I've found a guy selling a new turkey fryer and a new (filled) BR tank for cheap. Essentially, I'm asking if there's any reason I absolutely should not use BR. There is a place very near my home that refills tanks, I just fear they won't refill the BR tank from what I've been hearing.

So, thanks for the forums and discussion (I've learned a lot). And, anyone with any really strong opinions on BR tanks please let me know.

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't fill a Blue Rhino tank.

For that matter, just take the label off; it's just a piece of plastic shrink-wrapped onto the tank.

they will refill the tanks anywhere . Just read the BR sign at the store they state you still own the tank . Its just like the CO2 I bring in my tank they give me another I can sell it if I want .the only time I will use them is to get a new dated tank and give them the outdated one.

On some valves there is a little triangle on the side that means an adapter is needed to fill it I have one of them but the propane guy has the fitting to fill it so its not a big deal.. i think they did this for a while so you couldn't get it filled.

Thanks for the advice. I'm ready to take my brewing outdoors!

I was fed up with paying Blue Rhino's prices. I looked for somewhere else to do a refill only to find that local refill places are setting their price based on Blue Rhino. For a full tank the price at the U-haul for a refill is the same as Blue Rhino. The only benefit is they completely fill the tank, rather than only 3/4 from BR. I don't save any money though.

JKoravos said:

I was fed up with paying Blue Rhino's prices. I looked for somewhere else to do a refill only to find that local refill places are setting their price based on Blue Rhino. For a full tank the price at the U-haul for a refill is the same as Blue Rhino. The only benefit is they completely fill the tank, rather than only 3/4 from BR. I don't save any money though.

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Huh? If you are getting more fuel at the same price you are saving money.

Plus, if they completely fill the tank, that's very dangerous. There's a reason propane tanks are only filled to 80%.

Rick500 said:

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't fill a Blue Rhino tank.

For that matter, just take the label off; it's just a piece of plastic shrink-wrapped onto the tank.

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The BR tanks have a proprietary valve for refilling that doesn't match standard tanks.

the_bird said:

You know, as I was driving by the landfill today, I saw probably thirty or forty empty propane tanks sitting there. Could have just grabbed one, it was near the road and no one was there. But, I have two (Blue Rhino), don't see any value in having a third (or a thirtieth) tank.

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You need to be very careful with these. A lot of propane tanks are used in the manufacture of illegals drugs. Tanks are filled with corrosive materials that damage the tank and render them capable of failing.

Here is one of dozens of articles on the subject:

http://wcco.com/crime/propane.tanks.meth.2.715531.html

I am a big fan of getting my tank refilled at u-haul. $2.99 a gallon.

weirdboy said:

The BR tanks have a proprietary valve for refilling that doesn't match standard tanks.

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Not true . I have refilled all my tanks if you do get the tank with a little triangle on the valve then they need an adapter to fill it any good fill station will have it.

Scimmia said:

Plus, if they completely fill the tank, that's very dangerous. There's a reason propane tanks are only filled to 80%.

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20 lbs will fill a propane tank with room for expansion but some tanks will only take 18-19 lbs before the OP shuts it down . They are made that way BR is filling to 15 lbs .

springer said:

Not true . I have refilled all my tanks if you do get the tank with a little triangle on the valve then they need an adapter to fill it any good fill station will have it.

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So, because fill stations may have an adapter for the valve, it's not proprietary? I'm confused. I'm not saying refilling stations can't fill the tanks, I'm saying the valve on the BR tanks is proprietary.