Amerigas Only Puts 15 Pounds Of Propane In A 20 Pound Tank! False and deceptive trade practice Bel Air Maryland

 Here's the issue for me. It's not 80% of or20lbs. It's 80% of the total tank volume. It is definitely made to safely hold 20lbs....with an adequate margin for expansion. It IS a gimmick to only put in 15lbs. And in tiny print, to boot.

I'm not sure how many are aware of this but, the 20lb tank has already been designed to safely hold 20lbs. Propane tanks are designed to hold the amount they display with the 20% already accounted for. If you go to any refill station they will actually refill the tank to approximately 20lbs.

The tanks are equipped with an overfill protection device that would prevent any additional flow of gas into the cylinder. If the tank was designed to only take 80% of 20 then they would automatically stop at 15lbs when getting refilled and no one would be able to fill them any more than that. However, any refill station is able to fill them with 20lbs. As I've mentioned, they are designed to hold the 20lbs we expect with the 20% room safety accounted for. 

With that said, companies that say they can only refill or give an exchange with only 15lbs, are just trying to take advantage of the 80% rule. Instead of going for an exchange it's better to go somewhere that can refill it for you. 

Please do your math. Some basic math - around 5th grade level should be good enough.  What size is the tank that you are speaking of? There is no way that a 20 lbs tank (that actually holds about 18 lbs by FEDERAL LAW) is 4 gallons short. Propane weighs approximately 4.24 lbs per gallon. Generally you get about 4 to 4.2 gallons which is just over 17 lbs. Who uses both the standard and metric system together besides you? Celcius is metric and gallon is standard. That probably also explains why you have no idea how much a 20 lbs tank is actually supposed to hold, and you have no idea how to figure it out. 

 Any propane tank is only filled to 80 percent capacity to allow for air.  To fill a tank to 100 percent is nonsense.  It will pop off and release gas or explode.  I worked for a propane company and all companies have to comply to State Regulations regarding the percentage of fill. Don't like it don't use it.

 Because of the expansive propertys of any Liquid petroleum gas or Propane. The most allowed by law in any vessel used to carry it,,, the maximum allowed is 80 percent... hence the 15 or 16 gallons in a 20 pound tank. Common knowladge for a lot of people.The measurment is used by all propane filling companys,, not just one. So calling this a ripoff is actually incorrect,, as the vessel is 20 pound not the actual volume.

Comments in regards to this complaint are correct to some degree. Propane weight can vary even though it is said that propane weighs 4.2 lbs, this weight is based on industry stated average. The so called "domestic household" propane has a specific gravity range of liquid anywhere from the average of 0.505 to 0.514 sg and the gas composition can varied which can cause the weight per gallon to vary roughly anywhere from 4.2 to 4.3 lbs per gallon. Each loads of propane comes from different sources throughout the country can vary, so unless you can validate the weight of propane by some "approved" means, you're playing a guessing game. Generally as a rule of thumb you subtract 42% (providing you're in the specific gravity range .505 to .514), from the water capacity  of the cylinder For example, if the "WC" stamped on the cylinder states "45" this means cylinder capacity is 45 lbs of water that it can hold, therefore as a general rule of thumb 45 lbs x 42% = 18.9 lbs of propane the cylinder can hold, so if the weight of propane is 4.24 lbs per gallon, this means it can hold roughly 18.9/4.24 = 4.5 gallons of propane.

Meant to say 20 to 100 pound tanks
Stacey

Yes bottles are filled on scales regardless if they are 20 or 100 bottles
Tanks are filled with a pressure gauge on the truck and the tank
You did not get ripped off
Stacey

You are transposing Gallons and Pounds which makes your numbers confusing, but I think this is the following.

-Home Depot gives you 15 pounds at your 4.1 lbs/gallon that gives you 3.65 Gallons at Home Depot.

-You state that BJ's gives you 4.6 gallons which with the same calculation of 4.1 lb/gallon gives 18.96 pounds.

-By your statement a Standard Propane tank holds 20 lbs, and they only fill it 80% full. This is 16 lbs max.

So by this calcuation BJ's is
A)Overfilling their tanks by almost 3 lbs - Very Dangerous
B)Are the ones with "false advertising" by overstating the amount you get
or
C)You are using wrong calculations where in reality they are the same(or very close)

So just based on the liability issue you can remove A, this leaves B or C.

Home depot says you get a net weight of 15 lbs, do you?

You say that is low, but if they advertise its 15lbs of propane for 17.49$ and that's what they deliver, then they didn't do any deceptive advertising.

Plus you said they fill them 80% full. 80% of 20 is 16, so 15 is ~80% full.

You math is a little screwy too.

"At 25 degrees celcius 4.6 pounds of propane SHOULE net out to 18.906 pounds meaning Amerigas tank exchange program is shorting the total capacity of the tank by almost 4 gallons or just about 21%."

I'm assuming you meant 4.6 GALLONS of propane should equal 18.906 pounds.


"Home depot pricing on the exchange is $17.49 or very similar to what I paid at B.J.'s this morning with one major difference. At B.J.'s I recieved 4.6 gallons while at the Amerigas kiosk I would have only recieved 10.9 gallons for the same price"

This doesn't make any sense. Are you saying B.J. gave you 4.6 gallons, and Home depot have you 10.9 gallons? cause last time I checked, 10.9 > 4.6

Unless you meant one of those was lbs?