I have 2 500 gallon tanks. One for our house and the other for my shop. They were running low the other day so I called to get them filled. I've done this many times and it would almost always be delivered within 3 days. I gave no thought to asking when my propane would be delivered. Monday will be 2 weeks and I'm still waiting. I called 3 different companies the other day asking about lead times and they were all at 3 weeks.

Has anyone experienced waiting this long on propane to be delivered? This is a first for me.

Funny, I am on an auto-fill plan and my guy is here as I type.

Is it 3 weeks due to unavailable product or is it 3 weeks due to everyone needing a refill after a long cold snap (don't know where you are but we're just coming out of a week or so of -0 weather) and you're just last in line?

They have the propane. It's getting it delivered that's the problem. We live in northeast Missouri and yes we did have a cold spell. I'm sure there were many others in front of me. This year seems odd even to the folks that work in those offices.

Lack of delivery guys seems to be the choke point around here.

Would suggest you get more and larger tanks to get you from summer to summer. When I built the new house, I bought two 1,000 gal tanks, that I own. Not hard to figure usage VS capacity and that a summer buy is cheaper per gal than the winter buy. Plus buying at 800+ gal increments is cheaper per gal.

Last weeks cold snap sent folks around here into a panic.

Gas trucks were on the road late into the evenings.

Not the OP’s situation, but folks will wait to the wedderman says it’s gonna get cold to check their tanks….

🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

Likewise it blows my mind the amount of people running to the store every storm to buy a shovel or snowblower. It's nys it's not Texas bad winter weather is common

If a driver has to pull hoses through deep snow and clean a foot of ice off the tank, it slows him down considerably. By day's end, it'll probably slow him down by several deliveries.

This is always a concern for me…….we try to never allow our 1000 gallon tank to go below 40%. I have several reasons…… trucking, refining/processing, labor issues (another covid bs issue), ect.

Or last but not least…….our government shutting down all utilities in order to establish complete control over “we the people”! memtb

Yes I should bite the bullet and buy 2 1000 gallon tanks. 500 will sometimes get me through a winter but not this year.

That last part of your post is something that has been on my mind. We have a Vermont Casting woodstove in the house and it will take care of us all winter if we want. My plans are going to include a backup woodstove in the shop before next winter. Fortunately right now is my slow time of year so the shop issue isn't a big concern.

Just got mine topped off. Delivered next day I called.

But I only ordered 150 gal. We burn wood. My propane is just for decorative gas logs.

Same here. Folks wait till the cold front hits before checking their LP supply.

Local LP Dealer I use said he ran out of propane the second day temps fell to 8 degrees at night. 🤪

I always try to get my tanks filled in the summer time.

I think that is a very wish move! You may even consider a small (nothing fancy) wood burning stove for cooking. Ya may never need it, much like insurance ……you buy it hoping to never “need” it! 😉 memtb

….when you’re cousin’s hot but your trailer’s not….PROPANE!!😃

Recently installed a second 500 gal tank to feed my generator.

Well, I'm in "Small Town USA".
LPG deliveries are 3 days max. Mostly 2nd day. A few are same day.

I would do the auto-fill thing, but I only have a 250 gallon tank and only cook and sometimes heat with gas.
A 100 gallon order in May will normally last until October.
Not only would a stop be almost silly for 5 to 10 gallons, I don't want the gas company hitting my bank account unless I know about it. Blame it on my OFS! LOL!

Just when you think you're fuqked here comes that big ol truck...PROPANE!

Well, I'm in "Small Town USA".
LPG deliveries are 3 days max. Mostly 2nd day. A few are same day.

I would do the auto-fill thing, but I only have a 250 gallon tank and only cook and sometimes heat with gas.
A 100 gallon order in May will normally last until October.
Not only would a stop be almost silly for 5 to 10 gallons, I don't want the gas company hitting my bank account unless I know about it. Blame it on my OFS! LOL!

I have had the same auto fill contract for close to 30 years. Last year I called about getting a second 500 gallon tank installed as back up.

They checked my usage and told me that their cost of tanks had more than doubled so they could not just provide a second tank. They could sell me one but it would cost 4200.00 . We have a wood stove so I'll chance running out at some point.

Interesting times we live in.

No.

Not me.

Not sure how it’s set up in TX, the local LP company has bulk tanks scattered all over.

Maybe 5 or 6 locations in the county.
They don’t have to return to office to refill the truck.

Same. I got to 30% of our 1000 gallon tank Tuesday and called them and they said "oh we're at your house as we speak" - $2.921 a gallon less 10% for paying in < 10 days.

Or bottled water at convenience stores (or elsewhere0 in advance of weather while the taps are still running treated city/normal water


Tried that for emergency backup to my NG feed (earthquakes/broken lines). NG outfit quashed that idear..

So, deliverability, not availability?

We can cook on the woodstove and I've got plenty of camping equipment. We always keep the old Diezt lanterns handy for when the power goes out too. I hate the idea of being helpless.

Sounds like they have the fuel but not enough drivers. One quit about a month ago and they don't have too many wanting the job. Seems pretty common nowadays.

Our distributor ran out three or four winters ago.

Back during the Y2K scare, a wealthy and very eccentric friend of my father’s bought and installed a propane powered generator and tank. Seems like I remember him running into a limit of how big a residential tank he would be allowed to buy. Have no idea if this was imposed by state, feds, or the gas company? Anyone ever heard of this? We heat w propane and only have a 250 gallon rented tank, but end up using 500-600 gallons a year.
Usually pre-buy during early fall and have it delivered as needed. Makes me a little nervous sometimes, afraid I’ll forget and get caught without.

Have a 500 gal tank. Two ~400 gal fills per year most years. Our guy comes within 2-3 days of when I email him. However, will not come until we are down to or under 20% (400 gal). Refilled all of my 20# tanks for the gas grill as well. Purchased some cast iron cookware for the grill. Good to cook if the power goes out as it does every 2-3 years....

I tell ya what.... ain't nothin like cookin with a clean fuel like sweet lady propane..... taste the meat, not the heat.

Seriously though, I think it's drivers and busy times not supply. I was at a buddies house and the propane guy showed up on a Sunday around 2 pm lol. Says he could work 24 hours a day if he wants in the winter time..... they have a hard time finding drivers..... they need 10 drivers in the winter and 2 in the summer, makes it hard to keep good drivers.

I have a 1000 gal tank.... one time I let it get too low and had to wait a couple weeks. I went to tractor supply and bought a 100 gal vertical tank and had it filled at the qwik-e mart and hooked it up.... I always keep that one for back up now....can go fill it at the gas station anytime and it will get us by a couple weeks if needed.

We are lucky up here, tied onto the natural gas pipelines.

So unless government shuts it down we are good to go.

Might be a good time to look for another propane place the first one we had gave us a bullschit hassle

You could install an “excess flow valve” which will close on a high flow…..such as a line break! memtb

Yep. The company that I use has the same set up.

It has become a problem here for residential customers. We have several hundred new chicken houses here and they are the priority customer for the propane company.

Jeff, I never heard tell of someone being restricted to a certain size of tank they can purchase by any local or federal codes, laws...etc ...but you are darn sure restricted to what size tank you can install through distance requirements at time of installation.

When I was working, they typically preferred a customer use two times the capacity of the tank per year to justify the installation of a given size. That is capacity at 80% full, not 100%

Propane driver made it here this evening. Nice young fellow, hunter and aiming to vote for Trump! He said they are running 7 days a week to keep up. I'm sure glad to have heat back in my shop. We have enough now for the rest of the winter.