Out With the Old, In With the New - a Propane Odessy

It is ever amazing to me how long some things last. But, as with everything, eventually malfunction will happen. Such was the case with our buried propane tank. It must have been buried in the 40's or 50's (there is a plate on the cap that may give the date, but it isn't readable, do I hear "onion skin" paper?) and finally a leak started about a year ago. I was assured by the gas company that the leak wasn't dangerous, but it smelled terribly!  We ran out of gas a couple of weeks ago, a perfect time of the year for that to happen as we do use the gas for our logs in the fireplaces. In the meanwhile I had contacted a number of propane companies to determine prices to buy a new tank, get gas and have it buried. It is astounding how the prices vary. It pays to shop around!


I had to hire a person to dig out the tank with the gas representative present. The tank was dug out; it took about a hour. What was pulled out of the ground was something that looked like a submarine. It was gigantic!!!! The 1000 gallon tank itself was intact, but the leak had occurred near the tank's top. The photo is on this post.


I decided to relocate the tank as it was in our yard and I wanted it farther away. So a longer trench had to be dug, additional line was laid, a hole for the new tank was dug. May I interject something here? MEN: We women understand that it is fun to drive those machines to get work done. But really is it necessary to drive all over the place to do it? Our yard looks like a war zone. If I had not been there they would have used the Bobcat to fill in the dirt over the gas line. I insisted that part be done by hand, and I helped with that.   The new tank was placed, covered, connected, tested for leaks and we are now the proud owners of a new propane tank...to the tune of $3,400, not including the gas. The gas will be delivered Tuesday.


For documentation purposes: the gas line goes from the northwest corner of the house, straight back to the tank that is now buried beside the tractor garage, a distance of about 80'. There are no turns or curves in the line.


All in all it went well and it took seven hours to compete.