Offshoot of the generator thread, but a very specific question that I don't want to get buried and that might be answerable by people who don't have a generator...

Does anyone in the north/northwest Harris County area (Spring) or southern Montgomery county area use a propane delivery service? I have so many questions that I can't find answers to online.

Has anybody rented tanks and ballpark price? What company do you use?
- Not looking for anything too big. Maybe a couple of 120 lb tanks. Small enough that they don't need to be buried or have their own slab, but too big for me to load up on my own to get refilled.

How close do the tanks have to be to the driveway for them to be refilled?
- area where I'd put the tanks is next to a covered back porch behind our detached garage. But no idea if that is too far for the hose to reach when refilling. Can't find anywhere online about the furthest the tanks can be from their truck.

General cost estimates?
- I'm assuming it's a flat delivery fee plus a premium cost for the propane itself? Any other fees I should be aware of?

Any issues getting refills when you need them?
- Want to keep them on hand to run inverter generator for whole home. (natural gas isn't an option....way too far from gas meter and cost-prohibitive to dig trench and run a pipe). So ideally, would be sort of an "on call" delivery when there's danger of a big storm hitting during hurricane season.

Anything else you wish you'd known before you signed up?
- what are the not-so-obvious issues you wish someone had told you about?

I grew up in East MoCo and currently live on the communist side of the NE Harris/SE MoCo line, and Buster Brown Propane is who everyone around us used while growing up. They're based in New Caney, but it may be worth it to give them a call to see if they are out in your area, and if not, maybe they have some good recommendations.

are you wanting 120 gallon or 100lb? I don't think they make a 120lb tank.

Sorry...100 lb tank. 25 gallon.

Nobody is going to refill a 100 lb propane bottle at your house. You''ll pay for propane, rental on the bottle and delivery. Contact your local Linde or Airgas branch. ETA I rent lots of them from Linde.

Would agree. Isn't that about $75 worth of fuel?

Would cost about as much for the delivery fee.

1. Don't rent a tank. When you rent from a company, you are bound to buy from them at whatever price they set
2. If you are lookng for just 100lb tanks, go to Tractor Supply or a local supplier and buy them. Might find some on facebook marketplace as well, but you'll need to check the stamp on them to see how old they are.
3. For 100lb tanks, take them to TSC or wherever you find close that fills the tanks on the spot, delivery usually requires a 100 gallon minimum

he's said he can't load a 100lb bottle to get filled

Buy 2 25 gallon new tanks and have a friend with a truck get them filled at the local propane store. You are now a prepper. Generator, grill, heater in a winter storm. You are now ready.

Ducks4brkfast said:

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he's said he can't load a 100lb bottle to get filled

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Instead of 2, get 3 and don't fill them up to max.

Otherwise it's buy a big tank and have it filled or do the Blue Rhino route with the 25lb tanks.

Whoop Delecto said:

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Blue Rhino puts 15lbs in their tanks.

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If anybody is on the west side of town, there's a used car lot at Hwy 6 and Westpark Dr. that fully fills 20# tanks for $12.

Ducks4brkfast said:

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he's said he can't load a 100lb bottle to get filled

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She. Tank weighs almost as much as me, so no way will I be able to lift it in the bed if my truck.

Whoop Delecto said:

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One neighbor had to buy his 500 gal tank because the company didn't want to lease a tank dedicated to his swimming pool. Said it wouldn't get filled enough for them to lease, probably similar for a generator.

Another neighbor poured a slab for his generator propane tank that was beyond the 115 ft hose reach and had to pour a 2nd slab. The original spot was close enough to reach from the private road in front of the home but the company said the truck had to be positioned on the driveway.

Links below show pricing on new and rebuilt tanks just FYI. A tank only gets filled to 80%, so a 250 gallon tank holds 200 gallons.

https://www.blttanks.com/new-propane-tanks/

https://www.blttanks.com/rebuilt-propane-tanks/

Tanks over 125 gallons have to be 10 ft from house and 10 ft from electric service, a/c etc. Under 125 can be next to house.

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Definitely looking for under that. Since NG isn't an option, im trying to find a way to stretch our generator usage between times we have to refill. Gasoline we'd have to refill every 5 or so hours. I figured with a larger propane tank we'd be able to stretch it longer.

I talked about this with Katy Butane. They stated in order to have the truck deliver, the bottles had to have a certain rating and the standard propane bottles aren't rated to that standard.

Whoop Delecto said:

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Blue Rhino puts 15lbs in their tanks.

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Couldn't remember what it was, I guessed.

AJ02 said:

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Whoop Delecto said:

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One neighbor had to buy his 500 gal tank because the company didn't want to lease a tank dedicated to his swimming pool. Said it wouldn't get filled enough for them to lease, probably similar for a generator.

Another neighbor poured a slab for his generator propane tank that was beyond the 115 ft hose reach and had to pour a 2nd slab. The original spot was close enough to reach from the private road in front of the home but the company said the truck had to be positioned on the driveway.

Links below show pricing on new and rebuilt tanks just FYI. A tank only gets filled to 80%, so a 250 gallon tank holds 200 gallons.

https://www.blttanks.com/new-propane-tanks/

https://www.blttanks.com/rebuilt-propane-tanks/

Tanks over 125 gallons have to be 10 ft from house and 10 ft from electric service, a/c etc. Under 125 can be next to house.

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Definitely looking for under that. Since NG isn't an option, im trying to find a way to stretch our generator usage between times we have to refill. Gasoline we'd have to refill every 5 or so hours. I figured with a larger propane tank we'd be able to stretch it longer.

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A little longer, but remember that you have to de-rate your generator by about 20% when it is on natgas or propane, so it works harder to power the same equipment.

Understood. I've factored all of that into consideration. Inverter generator 15200 peak/12350 running on propane. (16000 peak/13000 running on gasoline)

Variable speed AC so no soft start needed. Gas water heater, furnace, and stovetop. So even on propane I can run the generator at 80% and run almost everything in the house. With the exception of washer and dryer.

rao11010 said:

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I talked about this with Katy Butane. They stated in order to have the truck deliver, the bottles had to have a certain rating and the standard propane bottles aren't rated to that standard.

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Meaning a 20 lb you can buy off the shelf? Or a certain size?

I'm guessing their own bottles (Katy) would be rated to standard though?