My Industrial Cabin Build

[WoodChuckDad]

Btw. I dropped a short update video this morning.

 

[airbiscuit]

I am actually thinking about driving to Pennsylvania to buy a 500 gallon tank for $2,650. New tank made in Tennessee. I wish there was a way to pick one up in Richmond VA. So many warehouses there, somebody must carry them. I just cant seem to locate them.

Maybe you can call the Manufacturer or the retailer in Pensylvania and see if they can drop off a tank somewhere closer to you?

When I rented my tank, I had a good company, knew the admin person and the driver/installer (both great people). They got bought out by another company - raised the prices and fired the driver I bought my tank so I wouldn't be tethered to single source. I still do pre-buy, and get a discount for having my own tank (it has already paid for itself).

A few years back, there was a propane shortage, and one (small) local company didn't lock in enough supply, and those customers had difficulty getting anyone to deliver to someone else's rented tank.

 

[confused8122]

It must be different here. We called the propane company, they came and installed a tank, lines and regulator. Upto 30 feet of line was included, no charge for all this. We have a smaller tank, 320 gallons. As long as we buy 320 gallons in a year from them, there is no rental fee. If we don't buy enough gas, rental is something like 100 per year.
We are locked into the one company, but they are competitive, and its just as easy to switch companies. As long as I show that the gas is paid for, the new company will transfer from old tank to new.

 

[japody]

I am actually thinking about driving to Pennsylvania to buy a 500 gallon tank for $2,650. New tank made in Tennessee. I wish there was a way to pick one up in Richmond VA. So many warehouses there, somebody must carry them. I just cant seem to locate them.

Here's one in Hopewell, $2800 includes 400 gallons in tank.

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[WoodChuckDad]

Here's one in Hopewell, $2800 includes 400 gallons in tank.

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I saw that one. It says amerigas on it which means it might actually beling to them. I would need to have the gas pumped out. And would have to arrange some kindnof equipment that was capable of lifting it onto a trailer. And basically pay new prices for a 10-20 year old tank. That’s a hard pass for me.
There are some wholesalers near me who have 500 gallon tanks. They flat out will not sell to me because I am not a contractor. They only sell to the propane companies who jack the price up considerably. The companies who will sell to me won’t have any more stock till August.

 

[s219]

Are you committed/stuck with propane at this point?? All this talk reminds me why we avoided it.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Are you committed/stuck with propane at this point?? All this talk reminds me why we avoided it.

I have pex in the floor for heated floors
I need hot water in the house
I plan to buy a propane stove.
Eventually I will add a propane generator

I have a propane boiler to address the in floor heat and hot water. If I had space I could do a heat pump water heater or conventional electric hot water heater but this would require 2 water heaters. I would have to switch to electric stove. And would have no backup power. We are not off grid but we are at the tip of the grid and power outages are not uncommon. Propane seems almost a necessity.

 

[s219]

The remaining reason we had been twisting our own arms to go with propane was for a generator, but I ended up putting in a 22kW diesel unit and that freed us up to ditch all the other propane requirements. Went geothermal for heat/ac and it provides free hot water (augmented with Rheem elec hot water heater for backup). After seeing the tribulations my neighbors have had with propane tanks and prices, I am glad we were able to avoid it.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Diesel is $5+/gallon right now. And diesel storage for a generator seems like it would be a pain.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

There are geothermal water to water units that can do your floor heat.