Propane for propane tanks (Bay Area)

[Jenn Frederick]

I'm starting this thread b/c last week, Romy and I ran out of propane in our small propane tank that mounts underneath the bus on the passenger side. When we bought our bus in 2006, it still had propane in there, and we ended up using it all up. We use it mainly for a small Northstar catalytic heater we installed in the back area, to warm up the bus when we winter camp. We never had to deal with propane before, so we were kinda confused on where to go and fill it up. Some gas stations have propane, but we ended up going to a place called Kamps Propane in Hayward off Depot Rd, which only specializes in propane, like for RVs or BBQ tanks, etc. They charged $15.99 for the first 5 gallons, no matter if you filled up only 1 gallon or all 5, and then $3.60 (or something close) for each additional gallon. We weren't sure how large our tank was, so we filled it up there. We ended up filling only 2.3 gallons. I think our tank is max 2.5 gallons, so it was basically empty. The man working there said that we could've brought another tank with us and got up to 5 gallons for $15.99. Moral of the story is, next time we need to fill up, we can bring another bus propane tank with us and split the cost! Because I think it was kind of expensive for just the 2.3 gallons we ended up taking.

Can anyone recommend a good gas station or other propane place they've gone to for the next time we need to fill up the tank? Hopefully the replies will benefit any one else who is in need of refilling their propane tank and doesn't know where to go.

[Doug Samba]

I think you can by adaptors on amazon or ebay that allow you to refill from a larger tank at home. This way you can use the tank exchange program that most safeways or hardware stores have.

[Jenn Frederick]

Jeff,
These places that you've gone to, were they gas stations or dedicated propane businesses? Do you remember where any of them were or what they were called? Thats awesome that you've had such great experiences. I guess the place I went to just sucked! :-P

Jeff Soldout said:

I've had 2 or 3 places refill my tank even though the most propane it's needed was about 1 gallon, because I've been learning about how much I use based on how long I'm out (about 1 gallon per 5 or 6 days).

Anyway, none of the places has charged me such a minimum as you experienced, and one place that put in a little over a half gallon just charged me for that small amount.

It's been real easy to get it filled wherever I asked, btw.