LP Tanks - Questions for Mobile Food Operators

Hey, folks
 
It's been a little while.  I hope everyone had a great holiday season!
 
What do you all do in terms of LP?  As far as I can tell, the majority of you use 2 100 lb. tanks.  What do you do when it comes time to fill them up? 
 
I ask, because I'm looking into propane delivery.  I think it's one of those time-saving measures that could be very helpful.  I'd rather not lug the trailer to a filling station or hall the tanks around a couple times a week.  If I can find economical delivery, that would be great.
 
I've spoken with a couple large propane companies, and I seem to be getting the run-around.  They probably don't want to deal with a small guy.  I don't know.
 
Thanks,
Steve
 
 

Steve,
 
I had a 125 gal tank set at my trailer. No local company would fill my bottles on their own. Got rid of the 125 gal because of the additional costs...fuel surcharge, delivery charge.... was adding on about .30 gallon.  I fill my 2 #100 bottles about every 2 weeks, it's not as convient as picking up the phone and calling for gas, but it saves $$... and is only a block away.
A full #100 bottle weighs about 175 lbs.

Chef,
 
Thanks for your response, as always.
 
Besides the extra expense, you've hit the issues.  The tone I've received from the local outfits has been less than helpful.  After posting this, I found a company up the street that fills LP bottles.
 
Now, I'm a pretty strong guy, but I'm not sure hernia is really in my vocabulary.  How high do these tanks need to be lifted?  Is it a pain in the tail to attach them, or is it just like the backyard grill? 
 
I'm also considering getting the smaller 40 lb. bottles.  I could keep 5 or 6 lying around the property where I'll be stationed.  That would probably last a while.
 
Thoughts?
 
Steve

I have 2 30 # bottles, i fill them every week, i run a 115,00 btu fryer, 2 burner stove, and a flattop grill, i usually start the grill @ 7:30 a.m and the fryer @9:30 they are both on till 4:00p.m the 2 burner hot plate does get used sparingly though, and I usually have a 1/2 tank left. if i'm doing an event for the week end of course i'll fill both up friday nite before. never gone thru more than those 2 tanks and i've done one event that will go 5 hrs fri, 14 hrs, sat, and 10hrs. sun... so unless you got some hellishly big equipment going on, 2 of those 40pounders should go you at least  A week 

We use one 20lb BBQ tank (I have 4 more sitting around as we also use them on the RV). We don't use a whole lot of fuel to do what we do. We have the 20# BBQ tanks filled at the local "filling" station. Or we can do a tank swap if need be (can't do that with a 30# or 40#... especially ours... it's welded to the RV). When we lived in NC, we were running a 100 lb tank for the RV and we would either take it into town to get refilled or get the bottle truck to fill it when they were out filling my Mom's 250# tank.
 
Unless you are out in the boonies, there should be no reason why a bottle truck can't fill a 100# tank as a home delivery service. I do know that they are citing "insurance" as reasons to quit filling the 20# and 30 # tanks in the RV parks (in some states the bottle truck will drive thru the RV park and fill portable, permanent mounted to RV and stationary tanks). I don't know of why they would be refusing to fill a 100LB tank. Nor have I heard of this. Could the dealers misunderstood the size tank involved? A 100 # tank will not require the adapter nozzle that the 20/30# tanks require.
 
According to Google Maps, you have a Blossman Propane in Leesburg. I don't know what their delivery radius is, but they should deliver to 100 # tanks. Also Amerigas and Suburban have both filled our tanks for us in various states (when we had bigger tanks). The Suburban in NC even painted their logo on our privately owned 100# tank. At any rate, you should be able to get a truck to deliver to your location. Another suggestion would be to see who's truck drive by you while working and call that company. You might want to check with nearby campgrounds/RV/mobile home parks that stay open thru the winter. See if they are getting "home delivery" on the "local's" tanks and who is doing it. Perhaps you can get on a route.

Thanks, guys!
 
Lorna - I tried Suburban!  They even deliver to the property where I'll be working.  The place does some steel welding, and they use gas.  The rep from Suburban told me that they will fill my bottles at their office.  I say f that.  Their office is about 40 minutes away.
 
I spoke with another company in Leesburg, which is 12 miles away.  They guy gave me some runaround about how a guy in another town was more "in my area".  I called him and have yet to get a callback.  I also tried Propame Taxi and did not get a return call.
 
It is unreal to me how some folks do business, and I hate to say it, but I've seen this sort of shadiness in blue-collar businesses often.  Sometimes the customer service just flat sucks.  Where I worked we could never, ever have gotten away with just not calling someone back - no matter who it was!  That way of thinking just doesn't register in my brain.  It's dumb business.
 
As it turns out, I may go with the two 40 lb. bottles.  There is a lumber yard a couple blocks up the street that refills propane.  I'll probably save a ton doing it this way.  I figure I might even buy a few extra bottles and keep them filled to just swap in and out as needed.