rico567
Well-Known Member
Note: I'm fairly sure this has been posted somewhere before, but I can't find it, and it may be in the wrong area...and if so, the moderators can move it.
I started to brew AG a month or so ago, and so it became necessary to move outside, and for fuel to the good 'ol 20 lb. propane cylinder. At about the same time, our bulk propane supplier quit filling the 20 lb. cylinders....which may be the only reason I discovered this problem when I did.
The problem: Some propane suppliers (and at least one exchange company, AmeriGas) is not filling the cylinder with 20 lbs., in fact some aren't even close.....can you say "half?"
I had two cylinders filled at Sunbelt Rentals, that had a VERY attractive price ($12, with a fill-4-get-5th-free card). When I arrived home and carried the cylinders into the garage, they felt significantly light. When I weighed them, both came to 28.5 pounds. One has a tare weight of 17.5, the other 18.2. The fact that both filled cylinders came to the same weight indicated that the filling to that level was purposeful, and I then thought back and remembered the individual using a platform scale when filling the cylinders, I just never paid any attention, assuming I was getting a full fill on the cylinder.
I've been too busy to go back to Sunbelt, but sure enough, the tank I hooked up only had 2 lb. left after 2 boils, and I use about 4 pounds total for each session. I took that tank to an AmeriGas exchange at a local supermarket (first time I've ever used AmeriGas) and took my scale along. Weight of "full" cylinder = 33.5 lbs.! When I asked the individual who unlocked the cage, she knew that they were only filling to 15 pounds, and sure enough, fine print on a placard on the cage stated that. Then I noticed a coupon in a plastic envelope on the cylinder, a rebate for $2.50. It came as no surprise to read inside that "-unfortunately,some of our customers felt that they were not sufficiently informed when we went from our former 17 lb (!!!) fill level to 15 lbs, so we enclose this rebate coupon-"
The placard droned on about the high price of propane, and their desire to sell for the same price, but given the fact that they just tried to sneak this in under the radar (if they hadn't, there would be no rebate), it's no different than the game played inside the supermarket that we're all familiar with, where the pound of bacon transforms into 12 oz. And the 14.1 oz. box of cereal into 11.578378374739 oz., but the price remains the same.
This significantly jumps the cost of my propane, so I'm going to have to consider buying a few more cylinders to make economical to go to a bulk supplier who will actually FILL them. Either that, or have my bulk supplier run a propane line from our 1K gal. bulk tank to the garage (it's less than 50 ft. away), and run the burner and grill from that. Actually, it wouldn't be bad to have a propane catalytic heater out there, either.....
I started to brew AG a month or so ago, and so it became necessary to move outside, and for fuel to the good 'ol 20 lb. propane cylinder. At about the same time, our bulk propane supplier quit filling the 20 lb. cylinders....which may be the only reason I discovered this problem when I did.
The problem: Some propane suppliers (and at least one exchange company, AmeriGas) is not filling the cylinder with 20 lbs., in fact some aren't even close.....can you say "half?"
I had two cylinders filled at Sunbelt Rentals, that had a VERY attractive price ($12, with a fill-4-get-5th-free card). When I arrived home and carried the cylinders into the garage, they felt significantly light. When I weighed them, both came to 28.5 pounds. One has a tare weight of 17.5, the other 18.2. The fact that both filled cylinders came to the same weight indicated that the filling to that level was purposeful, and I then thought back and remembered the individual using a platform scale when filling the cylinders, I just never paid any attention, assuming I was getting a full fill on the cylinder.
I've been too busy to go back to Sunbelt, but sure enough, the tank I hooked up only had 2 lb. left after 2 boils, and I use about 4 pounds total for each session. I took that tank to an AmeriGas exchange at a local supermarket (first time I've ever used AmeriGas) and took my scale along. Weight of "full" cylinder = 33.5 lbs.! When I asked the individual who unlocked the cage, she knew that they were only filling to 15 pounds, and sure enough, fine print on a placard on the cage stated that. Then I noticed a coupon in a plastic envelope on the cylinder, a rebate for $2.50. It came as no surprise to read inside that "-unfortunately,some of our customers felt that they were not sufficiently informed when we went from our former 17 lb (!!!) fill level to 15 lbs, so we enclose this rebate coupon-"
The placard droned on about the high price of propane, and their desire to sell for the same price, but given the fact that they just tried to sneak this in under the radar (if they hadn't, there would be no rebate), it's no different than the game played inside the supermarket that we're all familiar with, where the pound of bacon transforms into 12 oz. And the 14.1 oz. box of cereal into 11.578378374739 oz., but the price remains the same.
This significantly jumps the cost of my propane, so I'm going to have to consider buying a few more cylinders to make economical to go to a bulk supplier who will actually FILL them. Either that, or have my bulk supplier run a propane line from our 1K gal. bulk tank to the garage (it's less than 50 ft. away), and run the burner and grill from that. Actually, it wouldn't be bad to have a propane catalytic heater out there, either.....
