Good Place for Propane Tanks? (Dallas, Melissa: to buy, taxi, price)

[idezzire]

Hi All,

I just bought an outdoor heater that runs on Propane. I’ve never dealt with propane before… Should I just get a pre-filled Rhino tank from Lowes/Gas Stations? I see the big exchange/new tank sign outside of CVS and doubt if that’s a fair price.

Your advise on a reasonable price is greatly appreciated. Also, how long would it last for a patio heater? I will probably be using it 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes or so each time. Hope it would last me one full season. =)

I am in the Mckinney/Melissa Area. Thanks!

[TheOverdog]

I'm assuming that it runs on propane and you can just connect one of those tanks to it, which is pretty common for patio heaters. So yes, you can just get one of those rhino tanks and when it empties, replace it. The price for those is generally $40 to buy the first one, but after that, it's $17-$22 or so to replace them, so a bit of shopping around is worth it if you go to all the places you can get one in your travels. How long it lasts really depends on your settings, but for a grill, I'd say they typically last 6 months to a year or more of really regular usage.

[idezzire]

Cool! thanks! I will look for something around $40~ then.

[pharpe]

If you can find a place that refills the tanks you are much better off for two reasons.

1 - The tank exchange places only fill the 20 lbs tanks to 15 lbs so you only get 75% of what the capacity is.
2 - Unless you run your tank completely empty you are trowing away whatever is left in the tank when you do an exchange.

The problem is there are not a lot of places that fill them in Dallas.

What I did to alleviate #2 was buy an extra tank. That way I could run the tank dry knowing I had a spare I could swap to. I also use propane taxi. You just put the tank out on your front step and they come take it and leave a fresh one. This works well if you have a spare tank or two.