M. Stradbury wrote:

I just bought a house with a 1,000 gallon propane tank owned
by the house and property tax is paid on the tank which is
a California-only thing I hear.

They just filled the tank up to 85% (they wouldn't fill further
they told my wife, otherwise it could blow up, they said).

yeah, they don't fill it all the way up.


They told me the price is $1.45 per gallon of propane plus
about a twenty dollar "hazmat" fee whatever that means, for a
total price a bit over a thousand dollars for the fill.

not too horrible a price. no idea what the hazmat
fee might be for. ask them.


They said they "inspected" the system (which was existing), and
they inspected the tank which is on on four-inch thick concrete
slab bolted down by straps for earthquakes), and they charge $100
for that inspection (my wife let them in the house but she doesn't
know what they did).

any time you run a tank out here it costs extra
for inspection to make sure it didn't run out from
a leak or whatever. IMO a scam regulation.

don't run it out! ask the previous owners or propane
company for yearly records to see how much you might
use and check the tank level periodically to make sure
you don't run out...


I never had propane before.
I don't begrudge them anything.

But, I also don't know what's normal.
Is this normal stuff?

sounds mostly routine.


songbird