The Gas Man Cometh

There are so many good things about living in a very small town in South Dakota, one of which is how nice people are. Of course there are a few bad eggs everywhere but on the whole your genuine South Dakotan grows up with a "you-betcha" attitude and an innate kindness. I often think there is more Aloha in this state than in Hawaii any more.

Winter is coming.

My little house has a gas furnace coupled to a heat pump. The system is very energy efficient using heat exchange until the weather gets below 20 degrees, then it is all gas. I cook and heat water with propane too. I last filled the tank in mid February and was down to about 25%.

So far the weather has been much better than I expected. Sunday it was 60 degrees and I enjoyed the sunshine on my front porch. Today it is cloudy and chilly with a mean wind. By Monday we are forecast to have snow on the ground. I have been watching my propane levels and dithering.

The prospect of snow made up my mind. This morning I called and within half an hour my tank was full.

There is a fine line between filling too early, gas is more expensive if you buy less than 150 gallons at a time; and filling too late, you do not want to run out. Running out leads to all sorts of humbug, line pressure check testing etc.

Kent, the gas man (shown at right - click to enlarge) tells me letting your tank run out is actually dangerous, most gas explosions happen with empty or near empty tanks. I learn something new every day.


Y'all come back!