Propane tank - above or below ground?

[Knots]

Just to follow up - I went in-ground. 1000 gallon. Should be good for a while.

I like the new tupperware top they put on it. What I don't like is the plumbing job they did...

 

[WiscWoody]

Just to follow up - I went in-ground. 1000 gallon. Should be good for a while.

I like the new tupperware top they put on it. What I don't like is the plumbing job they did...
View attachment 135590 View attachment 135591

Whys that? What kind of soil do you have? It looks real light brown.

 

[Bret Chase]

Whys that? What kind of solid do you have? It looks real light brown.

it's only that light because the sun has been baking it and dried it out. the soil comp here is more or less a loamy gravel with clay mixed in. there are of course areas with pure gravel, areas with much more organic content.... and areas that are just clay... or granite.

 

[Bret Chase]

Just to follow up - I went in-ground. 1000 gallon. Should be good for a while.

I like the new tupperware top they put on it. What I don't like is the plumbing job they did...
View attachment 135590 View attachment 135591

what's wrong with the plumbing? it looks like a typical lazy "gasman" job. it would be better if the black pipe nipple was shorter, but otherwise nothing unusual about it.

 

[TimfromMA]

I looked at it but be careful. A lot of propane companies I talked to said they would only fill their tanks, which made shopping around for the best price impractical. They will put in the tank for free but if you don't use enough they charge.

Thank goodness oil companies don't work like that. I can buy oil from anyone and use as much or as little as I want and noone complains.

 

[Knots]

what's wrong with the plumbing? it looks like a typical lazy "gasman" job. it would be better if the black pipe nipple was shorter, but otherwise nothing unusual about it.

Exactly. If it was shorter then the tube wouldn't have had to take such a hard turn out of the top. It doesn't leak, but it's not pretty...

 

[Knots]

Whys that? What kind of solid do you have? It looks real light brown.

The largest gravel pit in Maine is not too far away...

 

[WiscWoody]

Thank goodness oil companies don't work like that. I can buy oil from anyone and use as much or as little as I want and noone complains.

But who owns the oil tanks? The homeowner owns them I'd think. Oil tanks are prolly much less costly than LP tanks since oil isn't a pressurized gas that will expand to 270 times it's volume changing from a liquid to a gas.

 

[TimfromMA]

I own my oil tank.

 

[Knots]

Up until now, I had oil heat my whole life. I won't miss all the space the tanks took up in the basement or the lingering smell after servicing, or the servicing for that matter. Here's all my mechanicals in the new house (blue well tank on the right got cut off in the pic) .

 

[WiscWoody]

Exactly. If it was shorter then the tube wouldn't have had to take such a hard turn out of the top. It doesn't leak, but it's not pretty...

Put the cover on... Out of sight out of mind.

 

[WiscWoody]

Up until now, I had oil heat my whole life. I won't miss all the space the tanks took up in the basement or the lingering smell after servicing, or the servicing for that matter. Here's all my mechanicals in the new house (blue well tank on the right got cut off in the pic)View attachment 135691 .

That will be nice and they can make the equipment with a small or no footprint don't they!

 

[Knots]

Put the cover on... Out of sight out of mind.

Yeah - looks good from 20 yards...

 

[Knots]

That will be nice and they can make the equipment with a small or no footprint don't they!

Leaves more room for chairs around the wood stove!

 

[potentialburner]

In NC you can own or rent. When I built my house in 1999 I rented from Amerigas and had it buried. Several years later when Amerigas started getting more expensive with worse service, I dug out my contract and found it had a clause allowing me to buy out the tank for a price that decreased every year. By now it was relatively cheap so I bought the tank and fired Amerigas. I've been shopping around ever since and saving money compared to Amerigas but propane is still crazy expensive now and I'm putting in a geothermal heat pump this year. So I'll have a 500 gallon buried tank that I only use for cooking, fireplace, and hot water (and once the hot water heater reaches its replacement age, it will probably go electric too).

I never had anyone refuse to fill a tank they didn't own, and I usually got a cheaper price as a tank owner. I did have one company require me to have them inspect the tank (at no charge) before they would fill it.

 

[WiscWoody]

I wander how they inspect a underground tank?

 

[potentialburner]

I wander how they inspect a underground tank?

They do a pressure test. I'm not sure exactly what it entails, but they turned off all the pilot lights in the house first. I think they then pressurized the system and measured for leakage (pressure drop over a set time interval)?

 

[Kaaiariz]

Interesting question - not possible to go underground here with it - regulatory issues...

topnotchcigar.com

 

[velvetfoot]

There are loads of underground propane tanks here.
I covered my well head with a fake rock. Can you do that with the tupperware?
Here is an installation photo; there were some initial issues:

 

[Knots]

There are loads of underground propane tanks here.
I covered my well head with a fake rock. Can you do that with the tupperware?
Here is an installation photo; there were some initial issues:

Hah! Your well head has a body attached to it!

The only issue with doing that to the tupperware would be accommodating the venting feature. See the slot in the front?