Cheap propane source...

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tireater

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2009
Messages
378
Reaction score
0
Location
Santa Barbara
Is there a retail outlet that has cheap propane bottles and fills...Money is getting tight...
Is it better to find a used bottle and have it filled...Or get one of those trade in bottles.?
 
depends, you might shop around. theres a little feed store in the town i live in that exchanges cylinders for 17.82. they also fill them, so i filled mine and it took 4.1 lbs and it cost me 12.00. thats smokin considering the other places in town sell exchange cylinders for 22.00 or more.
 
Filling is always cheaper. Most propane at retail outlets comes from the same distributor and there is very little competition on the price. Here in Phoenix it doesn't matter where you go its 2.99 per lb. On some things you just have to bite the bullet. Availability is a different story, almost every other gas station in town has a propane refill. There are three with in 2 miles of my house. I would assume that California is similar being how wack they are about clean air.
 
I am looking for a second tank myself but I refill at the gas station down the street, it is $2.25/gallon and I always seem to have a gallon left in the tank so I would hate to exchange a tank and basically pay $20 for 4 gallons :(
 
Filling is always cheaper. ...

I beg to differ... After blue rhino lowered the content of their tanks to 15# I took my cylinder to a nearby place to be filled. The attendant came out and filled it, I went in to pay and the lady looked at me and said $27. :eek: I paid it and later found an exchange that was $18.17 including tax ($16.98 before tax IIRC). The closest exchange place was 23.99 before tax. Lowes is usually arouond $19.99 pre tax. Back when the OPD valves became required blue rhino (through Lowes) let you swap old non-OPD tanks for the new OPD tanks for no additional charge so I got mine swapped out.

Anyway, the moral of the story, call around and ask about fill and exchange prices, they can vary wildly.
 
I just got mine filled for $10.92. I was happy as a clam, considering a not completely full exchange is 19.99 around town.

Yep, you are very wise. The gas station that refills is just down the street from myself and closer than lowes so bascially it is cheaper to refill and quicker too, that's a no brainer.

I actually ran out of gas one time bringing the wort up to a boil after the mash. I ran and got a refill and had it back on within 10 minutes.
 
Around here the "Blue Rhino" exchanges are only 14lbs in a 20lb tank, and say so on the label if you bother to read it.

I refill mine at the local ACE hardware.
 
I have never found any exchange that will beat a $15 dollar fill. It doesn't make sense economically for a place to exchange a tank for less than the cost of the gas.

Yes, but like I said, the fill place charged me $27 while lowes(Blue Rhino) would have been about $20. I am assuming the fill place (gas station) was putting on a hefty markup to cover labor etc. while blue rhino has a big automated cylinder processing and refilling facility with lower overhead. I've yet to find a $15 fill around my area, although I haven't tried the RV place way down on the south side of town.
 
Back
Top