The morning news forecast ‘sub-freezing’ temperatures after today.
I’m imagining the submarines down at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor all wearing crocheted cozies.
Johnny, That is one heck of a big cozie! The ones for the submariners would be much smaller.
Growing up we had a 1000 gal propane tank. It lasted all year. It got filled just after the 4th of July.
I keep my Submariner on the watch winder.
Maria changed the tank on the forklift one time but failed to get the connector screwed on right. What a stinky mess that was. The whole place filled up with propane fog because the valve froze open and we could not get it closed.
I have never paid a rental fee on my propane tank. In fact, I don’t even think I ever signed a contract with my supplier. I bought my house in March, 1993, the tank was half full and the next fall I called the number on the tank, told them I bought the house at [insert address] asked them to come fill it up, and they did and I started paying the bill.
For all I know, I might own the tank, as it might have come with the house. I probably should ask about that!
My house has propane which we use for heating, cooking, and hot water. Closest natural gas line is about 600 ft away, and would cost about $6000 to run to the curb. Then I’d have to run a gas line from the street to my house, about another 80 feet, and convert my appliances, probably another $1000. Figured the payback on that with the lower natural gas costs would be just under seven years. Less if I could convince my neighbors to share in the cost of extending the gas main, but that wasn’t successful.
But my house also had evaporative cooling, which I hate. So rather than spend $7000 on the gas line and still having evaporative cooling, I converted to 24 SEER air conditioner/heat pump and replaced the furnace with a 98% efficient unit. Now the propane is only used for auxiliary heat when the ambient temperature is too low for the heat pump (which is about the low 30s for this heat pump). Propane use is much lower now, plus I have air conditioning. A fair amount more than $7000 for everything, but I’m much happier with the AC here in the southwest.
Propane was about $3 per gallon last time I had the tank filled. Next project may be to change the water heater to electric.
Using Google Earth, it looks like the main is about 478 feet from the house. But I know there are people less than 300 feet away who have piped-in gas. I don’t know how much it would cost to get a private line to our house.
I got a bill in the mail for over $200. (They had not received my $169 payment.) I asked about the discrepancy, and the bill reflected the amount the computer said I owed for 100 gallons. I paid the amount hand-written on the ticket at the time of delivery, wrapping my check in the ticket. It looks like ‘the boss’ may have granted me a special discount for letting us run out of gas, and the woman at the propane company gave me a $37+ credit to zero my account. That’s very nice of them! 
And Mrs. L.A. likes to keep the house warmer than I do – even when we’re asleep. So we’re down to 35% already. We’re on the schedule for a fill-up tomorrow or Friday.