I hate searching out propane

[tsetsaf]

6:30pm the tanks ran empty... 1.5 hours later I finally found a station to fill them. Such a pain finding propane; or should I say such a pain finding someone to fill the propane bottles.

[CavemanCharlie]

Dtank wrote:

korbe wrote:
Must not be in a campin' neighborhood.

No problem in urban neighborhood/s at gas station/s.

If you are in rural areas there should be bulk stations available.
Search out brand (supplier) names, Petrolane, etc.

Follow poster's advice. When one is empty - work on getting it filled.

And/or - keep an extra Blue Rino for an exchange at HD, Lowe's, etc.

.

I'm not sure what you mean? There are very few brand suppliers around here. I've never heard of Petrolane. Most of our propane is sold by local co-ops to farmers.

There is one private company but , they are a rip-off and they do not have a bulk station. Heck, I know someone that has them and when she runs out of propane at her house they will take up to a week to bring her more. Thankfully, she has wood heat for back up but, she then has no hot water for a week.

[martipr]

SoundGuy wrote:

pira114 wrote:
I top off my tanks after every single trip. Regardless of how long I'm using them. Use one tank at a time, so only top off the one I used. Unless, of course, I used both.

Is this really that hard?

In many jurisdictions propane fill is by weight, not volume, including here in Ontario where I am. If I take a 20 lb tank in for a fill I pay for a 20 lb fill whether the tank is completely empty or still has some left in it ... aside from the inconvenience no way would I refill after every trip. I have dual tanks and do what many others do - run just one tank until it's empty, then manually switch over to the second tank. Although there's no reason for it to happen, if I ever did run both tanks dry I could run our trailer off the stand alone 5 lb tank I use to run our Weber Q grill or even a couple of 16.4 oz canisters I always carry as spares using a Second Chance Adapter. There's absolutely no reason to ever run out of propane and no reason to ever have to refill until the tanks run completely empty ... it this really that hard? :S

There are many LP centers around here that charge a flat rate no matter how much or little it takes. That's OK if you know your tank is empty so if not I find one that meters and charges for how much it takes. I have an automatic change over valve, I thought everyone did, which switches off the empty and on to the full and has an indicator to show the tank is empty. I check every morning and then I then refill as soon as I can. Can't think of any reason to run out.

[dieseltruckdriv]

pnichols wrote:
We store our RV here at home and consider it as a backup to our home for emergencies, power outages, home oven failures, home cooktop failures, a place to sleep during home remodels, etc..

Same with us. We also have it ready to leave in case of forest fires.

We always get it ready to go when we get home, not when we are ready to go again.

Yes I know this is not what the OP was getting at, but it still can help others. To the OP, I find the same thing here, after normal business hours, propane can be hard to find except for the exchange places. They don't help with our 40 lb tanks either.

[Lantley]

tsetsaf I know you may feel belittled by a few of the post. But actually this has been a good post to share ideas. Some with big internet muscles are quick to point out you should have known better etc. Which you already acknowledged it was your fault.
But when lots of ideas are discussed around a common issue it is always beneficial. It is really the core of this forums popularity/existance
These type of threads are very beneficial to newbies who may not post at all within the thread. But managed to learn lots of valuable info relative to managing RV LP tanks. Your efforts were not in vain

[pnichols]

We store our RV here at home and consider it as a backup to our home for emergencies, power outages, home oven failures, home cooktop failures, a place to sleep during home remodels, etc..

As such, we try to keep it's 18 gallon propane tank always nearly topped up, regardless of any future RV trip plans. We aren't full timers, so we can usually keep the RV's propane tank topped up by taking care of it here close to home - either before starting out on trips or when returning from RV trips.

[tsetsaf]

OP here. Thanks to the posters who noticed that this was not supposed to be a bash the op thread. It was simply a statement about how hard it is to find a propane fill at odd hours in a last minute.

As stated around page 3 it was my fault and I could have waited till the next day and filled at the local uhaul BUT I have a wife and a 2 year old and a tankless (ie propane) water heater. No propane means no bath or shower. CG we are at is for self contained rigs with no showers/ baths. Tap is about 40 degrees.

[hawkeye-08]

I also dislike hunting for propane, so I fill at the local station at the beginning of the season and then if needed, fill the empty (when convenient) after I switch over to the second.

[EsoxLucius]

I feel little sympathy here.

[coolbreeze01]

Propane smells so bad, it is easy to find 😉

[Dtank]

korbe wrote:
Must not be in a campin' neighborhood.

No problem in urban neighborhood/s at gas station/s.

If you are in rural areas there should be bulk stations available.
Search out brand (supplier) names, Petrolane, etc.

Follow poster's advice. When one is empty - work on getting it filled.

And/or - keep an extra Blue Rino for an exchange at HD, Lowe's, etc.

.

[CavemanCharlie]

The exchange places are quite frequent around here. But, if you have a motor home and need to have the tank filled it can be difficult to find a place to have it done.

I took my 20 pound tank to the only place around here that fills them just to have it filled once and compare the price to the exchange tank. It was 3pm and I was told it was too late on the day for them to fill propane tanks. I drove a block down and got a exchange tank.

[BubbaChris]

smkettner wrote:
Around here there is often a 5 gallon minimum or $15 minimum connect charge.

Hmmm, since a 20lb propane tank holds about 4.7 gallons of the stuff, the 5 gallon rule is very beneficial to the station owner.

[rockhillmanor]

I full time and I have noticed over the years that it is regional. Some states have a lot of propane dealers some seem to have none.

That said. I have a relatively small tank on my MH and due to size of the coach and towing, just getting into some places is not doable.

Flying J was my go to until I got tired of the wars at the "gas" island that also had the propane AND you could come in from both sides.

And then they started demanding that I unload all my dogs before they would fill the tank. Not gonna happen. :R

Flying J is permanently OFF my list for stopping for anything. When I need propane I look up a CG that has propane and arrange to stay the night at and get propane before I leave in the morning. Problem solved all the way around.

[time2roll]

If propane is critical such as to run the furnace below freezing I find a place as soon as I set up camp.
Scout motto...