RedOctober
Well-Known Member
Heads Up!
Noticed lately that my Barbecue gas seemed to be running out faster....Here in Virginia, I had been using local tank exchanges..i.e., trade the empty for a "full" one...price $22.00
something was not right!
When I still lived in NY, I had been going to a fill up location (a welding supply co in Elmsford). They would put the empty "20lb tank" on a scale and pumped (bleeding the air out) until the tank reached a certain weight (approx 45lbs).. It felt full and would last a year....
Yesterday, spotting a propane fill sign, I went into a local U-haul to get one of my new tanks filled....While it was being filled, I noticed no scale and asked how they knew it was full...Quote..."we sell it by the gallon"!
Approaching the counter to pay and ready to do battle over this "possible" scam, I was shocked when told the fill was only $12+ bucks..
The 20lb tank holds 5 gallons of propane (max)...even with bleeding of the air, they were able to pump in 4.7 "gallons"!
I came home and found this article on a google search..If are using the tank exchanges, you are getting screwed royally...
***********
Propane users fear new tanks aren't fullLabels reflect less fuel, but consumers want maximum amountThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Grill jockeys who use gas are familiar with the 20-pound propane tanks that fuel their fires. But the tanks they buy may be only three-fourths full, depending on where they're purchased.
Last summer two of the nation's leading sellers of pre-filled grill tanks -- Blue Rhino and AmeriGas -- reduced the amount of propane in their tanks from 17 pounds to just 15 pounds. Company officials said the change allowed their tanks' retail price to remain the same at a time when propane prices had spiked. Although propane prices have dropped significantly, the companies haven't increased the amount of propane in their tanks.
Meanwhile several local tank refillers say they have continued to put the maximum safe amount of propane in their customers' tanks: about 18 to 19 pounds.
Because Blue Rhino and AmeriGas have changed tank labels to say "15 lbs" they're complying with weights and measures laws, regulators at the Georgia Department of Agriculture said. But some consumers -- who assumed that the uniformly sized metal tanks would be filled to legal capacity -- are crying foul at what they consider sneaky shortchanging.
Last month a frustrated Joseph Viggiano of Marietta complained to state regulators about what he considered short-weighted AmeriGas propane tanks at the Publix on Sandy Plains Road, records show.
"I said: You're cheating me," Viggiano recalled of his conversation with a store manager.
Viggiano had gone so far as to take his bathroom scale to the store that day, weighing tanks to see which one had the most propane after returning a tank he had taken home and found to be "very short." While acknowledging the limits of his scale, Viggiano said his informal survey found wide variations in how much the tanks on display weighed.
A state inspector, who later weighed five tanks at that Publix in response to Viggiano's complaint, found no violations because they were labeled as containing 15 pounds. Although there were variations, the inspector found they each contained at least that much.
Yet Viggiano's point is more basic: "I'm giving you full money. I want a full tank." And none were full.
A full barbecue tank can contain as much as 19.7 pounds of propane, experts say, though the amount can vary from 17 to 19 pounds depending on variations in the wall thickness of the cylinder, the design of the valve on the tank's overfill prevention device, naturally occurring impurities in the propane and the temperature, which can cause propane to expand. All grill tanks are equipped with an overfill prevention device to protect against the fire danger posed by adding too much propane.
Most consumers are unaware that the major tank exchange companies have reduced the propane in their containers, local propane sellers said.
"The public just never saw this coming. And who looks at the label of propane tanks to see how many pounds it contains?" asked Don Martin, whose Roswell-based firm markets a device called the Original Grill Gauge, which helps barbecuers know when their tank is running low.
Using one of the devices, Spotlight weighed a Blue Rhino tank bought at a Lowe's in Atlanta. The tank registered less than three-fourths full.
Martin said his company, which has sold more than 50,000 of the grill gauges, started receiving calls last fall from customers questioning the device's accuracy when newly purchased propane tanks didn't register as full. The problem, Martin said, is with underfilled tanks. The gauges, which were developed in collaboration with Georgia Tech engineers, are calibrated to register full when the tank contains 18.5 pounds of propane.
Bill Katz, an AmeriGas vice president, said the company's canisters have been labeled as containing 15 pounds of propane since last August.
"Unfortunately, some consumers feel they were not sufficiently informed and that's a serious concern to us," Katz said in an e-mail last week.
The company is offering a $2.50 rebate to its cylinder exchange customers at AmeriGas, he said, and is in the process of changing its sales displays to make the amount of propane in its tanks more visible.
Home Depot, which uses AmeriGas as its tank exchange provider, will have the new sign-age in place at Atlanta-area stores by the big grilling holiday of July Fourth, said Jean Niemi, a spokeswoman for the retailer.
No date has been set yet for the new displays to appear at Publix stores, another major AmeriGas retailer, said Brenda Reid, a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain.
Still, for consumers who are cost-conscious, Reid said the information is already available if consumers read the tanks.
Jim Saladin, a spokesman for Blue Rhino, said he could not discuss issues surrounding the amount of propane in the company's tanks because of pending litigation. This month the Kansas City-based law firm Stueve Siegel Hanson filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Kansas against Ferrellgas Partners, which owns Blue Rhino. The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed for a California man who claims the propane company shortchanged consumers.
Noticed lately that my Barbecue gas seemed to be running out faster....Here in Virginia, I had been using local tank exchanges..i.e., trade the empty for a "full" one...price $22.00
something was not right!
When I still lived in NY, I had been going to a fill up location (a welding supply co in Elmsford). They would put the empty "20lb tank" on a scale and pumped (bleeding the air out) until the tank reached a certain weight (approx 45lbs).. It felt full and would last a year....
Yesterday, spotting a propane fill sign, I went into a local U-haul to get one of my new tanks filled....While it was being filled, I noticed no scale and asked how they knew it was full...Quote..."we sell it by the gallon"!
Approaching the counter to pay and ready to do battle over this "possible" scam, I was shocked when told the fill was only $12+ bucks..
The 20lb tank holds 5 gallons of propane (max)...even with bleeding of the air, they were able to pump in 4.7 "gallons"!
I came home and found this article on a google search..If are using the tank exchanges, you are getting screwed royally...
***********
Propane users fear new tanks aren't fullLabels reflect less fuel, but consumers want maximum amountThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Grill jockeys who use gas are familiar with the 20-pound propane tanks that fuel their fires. But the tanks they buy may be only three-fourths full, depending on where they're purchased.
Last summer two of the nation's leading sellers of pre-filled grill tanks -- Blue Rhino and AmeriGas -- reduced the amount of propane in their tanks from 17 pounds to just 15 pounds. Company officials said the change allowed their tanks' retail price to remain the same at a time when propane prices had spiked. Although propane prices have dropped significantly, the companies haven't increased the amount of propane in their tanks.
Meanwhile several local tank refillers say they have continued to put the maximum safe amount of propane in their customers' tanks: about 18 to 19 pounds.
Because Blue Rhino and AmeriGas have changed tank labels to say "15 lbs" they're complying with weights and measures laws, regulators at the Georgia Department of Agriculture said. But some consumers -- who assumed that the uniformly sized metal tanks would be filled to legal capacity -- are crying foul at what they consider sneaky shortchanging.
Last month a frustrated Joseph Viggiano of Marietta complained to state regulators about what he considered short-weighted AmeriGas propane tanks at the Publix on Sandy Plains Road, records show.
"I said: You're cheating me," Viggiano recalled of his conversation with a store manager.
Viggiano had gone so far as to take his bathroom scale to the store that day, weighing tanks to see which one had the most propane after returning a tank he had taken home and found to be "very short." While acknowledging the limits of his scale, Viggiano said his informal survey found wide variations in how much the tanks on display weighed.
A state inspector, who later weighed five tanks at that Publix in response to Viggiano's complaint, found no violations because they were labeled as containing 15 pounds. Although there were variations, the inspector found they each contained at least that much.
Yet Viggiano's point is more basic: "I'm giving you full money. I want a full tank." And none were full.
A full barbecue tank can contain as much as 19.7 pounds of propane, experts say, though the amount can vary from 17 to 19 pounds depending on variations in the wall thickness of the cylinder, the design of the valve on the tank's overfill prevention device, naturally occurring impurities in the propane and the temperature, which can cause propane to expand. All grill tanks are equipped with an overfill prevention device to protect against the fire danger posed by adding too much propane.
Most consumers are unaware that the major tank exchange companies have reduced the propane in their containers, local propane sellers said.
"The public just never saw this coming. And who looks at the label of propane tanks to see how many pounds it contains?" asked Don Martin, whose Roswell-based firm markets a device called the Original Grill Gauge, which helps barbecuers know when their tank is running low.
Using one of the devices, Spotlight weighed a Blue Rhino tank bought at a Lowe's in Atlanta. The tank registered less than three-fourths full.
Martin said his company, which has sold more than 50,000 of the grill gauges, started receiving calls last fall from customers questioning the device's accuracy when newly purchased propane tanks didn't register as full. The problem, Martin said, is with underfilled tanks. The gauges, which were developed in collaboration with Georgia Tech engineers, are calibrated to register full when the tank contains 18.5 pounds of propane.
Bill Katz, an AmeriGas vice president, said the company's canisters have been labeled as containing 15 pounds of propane since last August.
"Unfortunately, some consumers feel they were not sufficiently informed and that's a serious concern to us," Katz said in an e-mail last week.
The company is offering a $2.50 rebate to its cylinder exchange customers at AmeriGas, he said, and is in the process of changing its sales displays to make the amount of propane in its tanks more visible.
Home Depot, which uses AmeriGas as its tank exchange provider, will have the new sign-age in place at Atlanta-area stores by the big grilling holiday of July Fourth, said Jean Niemi, a spokeswoman for the retailer.
No date has been set yet for the new displays to appear at Publix stores, another major AmeriGas retailer, said Brenda Reid, a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain.
Still, for consumers who are cost-conscious, Reid said the information is already available if consumers read the tanks.
Jim Saladin, a spokesman for Blue Rhino, said he could not discuss issues surrounding the amount of propane in the company's tanks because of pending litigation. This month the Kansas City-based law firm Stueve Siegel Hanson filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Kansas against Ferrellgas Partners, which owns Blue Rhino. The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed for a California man who claims the propane company shortchanged consumers.
This is why I have three tanks 
