Our fifth wheel has two of the tall propane containers, one on each side. What's the procedure for filling them? Do I unscrew the hose and regulator? Do they do it for me?Where do I get propane? At the rv park? What about when we go to national forests? What's the general cost?Other than exchanging 20 lb bottles for my bbq, I've never done this before.

You need to remove the tanks from your camper yourself, and you will need to put them back in place and hook them back up.You can get your tanks refilled at pretty much any RV dealership, any variety of home hardware stores like ACE hardware and True Value. You can also get them refilled at any place that sells propane for home use, and pretty much any big box Home Depot or Lowe's type stores. If camping in a new area or part of the country I am not familiar with, I always ask the campground host or the attendant at the park entrance where the closest place is to get propane refills. In over 20 years of camping with propane tanks on 4 different RV's, the farthest I've ever had to drive from a campsite to an RV fill station of some sort was 5 miles. At home, I prefer to use the closest RV dealership to my house. They have most of my RV business anyway and are a great bunch of folks there. The price for a 30 pound tank fill up has ranged from $26 to $31 over the last 12 months, depending upon the month. Winter months will coast a bit more for fill ups than Summer months no matter where you fill up. Of course, prices vary across the country, and even location to location within your own home territory. A few weeks ago I had my 30 pounder filled at the dealership for a little over $26. In South Eastern Indiana, a couple weekends ago, it was $28 for 30 pounds. So, prices vary. You can always check a Google search for Propane Refill (not exchange) and see what pops up in the area you are at. But when camping, I found just asking the attendant on duty is the easiest and quickest (and often the best) location.Edit:If your tank is permanently affixed to your camper, then you have no choice but to take the camper to the propane fill up. You won't remove the tanks then. Larger motor homes usually have the non-removable tanks (like 100 pounders). 5ers and TT's usually have the removable 20 or 30 pound tanks.

Soon after returning home, I go to U-Haul to fill my propane tank, then fuel up my RV, then park it in my driveway. With clean-up, its ready to go on a moment's notice.

Assuming these are DOT cylinders (probably 30 pound ones), similar to barbecue ones but taller, you'd generally shut the valve on the top of the empty one, unscrew the pigtail to the regulator, and take the tank to a place that fills them. They'd take it, fill it, and you'd pay them for the propane, and then put it back in place. I assume you have an automatic changeover regulator, which would mean flipping a lever or something to swap which cylinder is the primary one and which is the secondary/backup one...the instructions for the RV presumably would include the details for your regulator.Places would charge by the gallon or by the pound; a 30 pound tank holds 30 pounds or about 7-8 gallons. The prices vary with the region, filler, market conditions, etc. but somewhere in the vicinity of $20 would not be an unreasonable very rough guess to fill one of the cylinders.I don't know about California, but around here many hardware stores, Agway stores, TSC stores, propane dealers (the ones that have trucks and deliver propane to houses for cooking etc.), and quite a few commercial campgrounds sell propane. Home Depot and Lowes and similar big box home supply stores seem to rarely if ever have it. If you're in the national forest, you of course need to go somewhere that sells propane to get one refilled; but if you aren't using the furnace, you should not need to buy propane frequently, maybe once every couple weeks or so.

Depending on your plumbing, you may or may NOT have a automatic valve that switches tanks when one get low. Some propane refill stations charge a flat rate to fill a tank, regardless of how full or empty it is (maybe more true for 20 lb tanks). Only remove the "empty" tank.If you do NOT have an automatic valve, never open both valves at the same time. If one is empty and one is full, you will quickly have TWO half full tanks.Some propane stores may fill them while they are still mounted on the trailer, but you will likely have to disconnect/connect the hose(s) yourself.

Just to add to the list, After refill and you are ready to open the valve on the propane tank, open very slowly.If you open too fast, the tank will think that there is break in the line somewhere and shut itself off (even though the valve is open).Then go to your stove and light a burner. The burner may light right up or may just blow air for a moment and then light. If it doesn't light, go back to the tanks and close the valve and start over.Pat

Propane refills - how, where, and how much? | Good Sam Community

DRTDEVL
Explorer
May 27, 2018
stickdog wrote:
Think the 30# tanks are heavy, we have two 40# tanks one behind the other. We're fulltimers and still running on the tank I filled in the end of January. That's mostly cooking, a few times for quick hot water after traveling all day in cold weather and a few morning warm ups with the furnace. I leave the second tank shutoff and only turn it on when I pull the outside tank for filling. The inside tank is a pain to get to.

LOL. When I was full-timing, I kept 3 40# cylinders. One for the main hookup to the RV, one hooked up to an auxiliary portable indoor-safe propane heater via adapter hose and fuel filter, and one spare kept inside the coach.

I was working the oilfields of ND.

I found that, although LPG has a "boiling" point of -42f or so, the discharge rate when the furnace was running would drop the tank temperature below this point when it was any lower than -10f outside. That was the third tank's purpose. When the water heater and furnace died from the cold, I would have to drag the "extra" tank outside, swap it, fire the pilot for the water heater, and restart the furnace. I would then drag the other tank inside as the new "extra" and defrost it in the 55f-60f interior.

I would refill 2 40# cylinders every 2 weeks, leaving the "extra" hooked up while I was gone to the truck stop. It ran about $23 per cylinder for the refill.

As with everything, consumption rates vary.

Had I stayed for another winter, I was going to build a "tank house" next to the coach in which I could store the tanks in an insulated environment. The only part I hadn't worked out was how to safely heat it, aside from wrapping each tank in heat tape for pipes and plugging them in.
stickdog
Explorer
May 24, 2018
Think the 30# tanks are heavy, we have two 40# tanks one behind the other. We're fulltimers and still running on the tank I filled in the end of January. That's mostly cooking, a few times for quick hot water after traveling all day in cold weather and a few morning warm ups with the furnace. I leave the second tank shutoff and only turn it on when I pull the outside tank for filling. The inside tank is a pain to get to.
sayoung
Explorer
May 23, 2018
bob213 wrote:
Tractor Supply Co. beats everyone's price where we live. Have to remove the tanks yourself and take them there.

Same here in East Texas,$2.29 gal. A lot of places do a " flat rate " fill for $20 no matter if it takes 2gal or 7 gal.
Grit_dog
Navigator
May 22, 2018
Not gonna find any propane refills in NF campgrounds! But unless you’re running the furnace, 2- 30lb bottles will cook, run the fridge, hot water and a bbq for grilling for a Long time. At least a month, maybe 3 depending on use.
bob213
Explorer
May 21, 2018
Tractor Supply Co. beats everyone's price where we live. Have to remove the tanks yourself and take them there.
twins89
Explorer
May 21, 2018
Eat your Wheaties before you do this. They are heavy!!!
Bobbo
Explorer II
May 21, 2018
Take the tank(s) off and carry them to the refill location. I use UHaul when at home, and wherever is convenient when traveling. Flying J is my most common location when on the road.
mowermech
Explorer
May 20, 2018
Propane here is $2.49/gallon, dispensed through a temperature compensated meter, as required by state law (the meter, not the price). Nobody around here sells by weight anymore.
Big R farm store, Ace hardware, Tractor Supply Company, and U-Haul all sell propane.
Farther away, Flying J, Bretz Rv, Amerigas, and Pierce RV.
mbopp
Explorer
May 20, 2018
The gas station a mile from my house refills my 10, 20 & 30# tanks.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
May 20, 2018
5th wheel with two propane cylinders ----one on each side

Then the one on 'roadside' is connected to a Red Top Regulator (30# setting) that feeds across front area of 5vr to the other side (curbside) where the other cylinder and auto changeover main regulator is located.

Both cylinders will have shut off valve which is connected to a Large Green ACME Nut
Close valve....then unscrew by hand the large green nut.

Remove cylinders and take to propane vendor for refilling
Depending on locale, vendor they may refill by:
*weighing cylinder on scale
*by 'bleed valve' ----crack open small needle valve on OPD Valve Assembly and the close it and stop filling when Liquid Propane spews out
*bu gallons pumped via meter

***weighing AND bleed valve at same time is best methods and most accurate

Reinstall cylinders, screw on the large green nut tight (by hand) and then SLOWLY open the OPD Valve