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Bob
 
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Default Residential Propane Gauges- How well do they work?

It uses a float that rises with the liquid in the tank. Because of the
tank's rounded top, they're just a rough estimate of what's in the tank. Go
by what the gas company's printed ticket says. Those truck meters are
usually calibrated by your local Weights and Measures Dept. You don't want
to get on their list of bitchy customers.
If you're concerned with energy savings, make sure you have a 90+ furnace.
As for taxes, NC has one of the lowest tobacco tax rates in the country, so
they have to make up the difference some other place.

"Jim Murphy" (add rr between nc and com) wrote in message
...
Just bought my first house with propane (LP) heat and hot water. What a
learning experience. I have a 500 gallon buried tank (didn't realize it

was
owned by one propane provider and I was locked into that dealer unless I
bought the tank) with a guage that reads in percentage. After I signed up
for the "keep full" option (thereby saving a dime per gallon), the dealer
came out when my tank was reading 59%. I wasn't home when it was filled.

The little gauge on my tank (yes, my tank. I bought it.) moved from 59%

to
85%. Subtracting 59 from 85 and multiplying by 500 led me to believe they
had pumped in ~130 gallons.

The dealer's printed ticket showed 183 gallons.

Logic tells me that Boyle figured out the relationship to volume and
pressure in the 17th Century, and that as the volume of gas (in the void
above the liquid) increases, the pressure is reduced and the gauge is a
simple pressure gauge.

Dealer said maybe the gauge was sticking. Could be, but, as a newbie to
propane, I checked that gauge almost every day and saw it drop
incrementally. It took from December 2nd at 70% (move in day) to January
3rd to drop to 59%, and it was, as I said, quite incremental. It didn't

just
suddenly go from 64 to 61. In fact, you couldn't see the movement except
over several days. And, it had not bottomed out and stayed at 59% for a
week. Does that sound like a sticker?

For comparison purposes, this is in central North Carolina. Prices I was
quoted for propane ranged from $2.249/gallon (price I paid at closing),
$2.049 from the fluke who owned the tank, $1.999 from a competitor for "on
call" if they "took over" the tank, $1.899 for autofill if they took over
and $1.699 for autofill if I owned the tank.

So, does anybody know how a propane gauge operates, and am I the only

person
who thinks I should be able to use the delta percentages to derive
approximate delivery gallons?

Oh, to add insult to the injury, not only does North Carolina have the
highest motor fuel tax in the southeast, and one of the higher income tax
structures, there is a 3% sales tax on electricity and natural gas, but

fuel
oil and propane buyers pay the full 7%. That's another rant, though.

Thanks for your replies