Like many of you, I heat my house with wood as the primary source. After all the blood, sweat, and beers of getting my wood ready, I had myself a nice little moment this morning. I've been working from home lately, and while I was click clacking away at my computer, I heard a truck. Looking out the window I saw that my neighbor across the road was getting his propane tank filled up and having his bank account drained. Now, I'm not poo pooing anyone who uses propane, but I got a big smile on my face knowing that that propane truck would not be pulling up my driveway in order to drain my account. Especially after the nasty trick they pulled on me two years ago. As a moment of celebration, I watched for a moment, checked my stove, and then watched for a bit more and waved to the truck driver as he passed my house. I think I'm ready to go cut some more.
Good for you. It seems I have heard people say that heating with propane is expensive even down here in my locale.
Yeah, it can get really expensive. Our first year here I believe we spent over $1500 with 2.5 tank fulls and that's not that uncommon.
Yeah that IS a great feeling. For me I'm happy enough just minimizing the amount of oil I end up buying every year. It's kind of a catch 22 for me because the guy I buy home heating oil from is a former coworker of mine that quit years ago, bought himself a truck, worked hard and really built up his business. Today he has a fleet of trucks, a small staff, and I'm happy for him so I like to give him my business.
I never heard of such a mess. We had a delivery two years ago and we asked for a partial fill since we were slow at work. It was a local small coop and they said "Dont worry about it, your credit is good" then they filled it up full. Then they were bought by a bigger company and when it took longer for us to pay it than they would like, they took our tank and sent us to collections despite us explaining the situation multiple times. We looked into buying a tank, but the former place (who told us never to contact them) has a monopoly here and no other company will go where we are because they "don't want to go onto other peoples territories". On top of that, they apparently don't like filling owned tanks because they cant certify the safety of the tank. My Uncle (in a different part of the state) even told a story of a guy (not his normal company) filling his tank and then billing him without his consent. I thought there were laws against this sort of thing.
Yeah scoundrels they are! I get charged 4.59 a gallon and my neighbor gets charged 2.59 because they use more?
My oil guy is one of my best friends. I (jokingly) told him i hope i never have to see him again. Lol I'm using less than a quarter tank per year now. What a great feeling.
There is a gas fire place in an addition on the house. We use less than 100 gallons a year. I asked them to come get the tank I fill a couple small tanks at a welding supply my work uses. Kinda a pain to switch the hose it always runs out when I’m chilling on the couch in gym shorts. But not that much of a pain to want to pay double.
That's about exactly what is getting used here..maybe a bit less. Love seeing the fuel oil truck driving past.
Yeah, great way to keep a customer. They must not realize that you talk to other people too. It might be one thing if it were a flat $20 fee for delivery or something, but double the price is no way to go IMHO. Especially when the median price nationwide is 1.88 right now.
LP stories. I won't even get into that circus here. Other than to say.... My LP delivery guy became a good friend and he stops now and then to shoot the breeze! Keeps telling me he is going to sneak over and burn up my stacks! I do buy a shot from him each year for covering times away from home. Great guy. The other's before... Not so much.
Yeah, I always liked our drivers. They were good guys. I never got to know any of them too well, but never had an issue with any of them either.
Very luck i live in oil and Nat. Gas State today Nat. Gas is a bargain, also i spent many years working in the oil and gas industrys. But trust me if i could burn wood here i would be right into it, but for now i just have to help the people who do burn wood.
I can empathize. When I watch the propane delivery trucks rolling down my road, I always see the drivers eyeballing my firewood hoard. I'm not sure if they're looking at it out of appreciation, envy, or anger, but as long as they keep driving by, it doesn't matter. When I bought this place in '09, I had never had propane before so it was a wake up call. The first thing I did was have the wood stove installed (just had a fireplace) and went from there. The first winter I ended up with propane deliveries every month. Now, they top off the tank in November and again in mid-spring and that's it. There are only six homes on my road and I see the propane trucks going by every month to the other houses as I enjoy my wood-heated home. Just one of the many advantages of being willing to put the effort into scrounging.
What was the nasty trick? I remember my old neighbor complaining when he had his two oil tanks filled up.
Not so much as a trick as to fool, but a move that was not a very good one. We were slow at work and my wife has had health issues and we needed a fill. We told them that we just wanted a partial fill so we didn't get too far behind. They looked at our credit with them and said that we were good so they would go ahead and fill it full since they don't like to do partial fills. Then they were bought by a bigger company. The new company told us that we needed to pay the bill within a certain period. We explained the situation to several people, but after a while they took our tank and told us never to call them. We looked at different options, but no one else will deliver to us because its the other company's territory. That's the story in a nut shell. There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the gist of it.
