Author: andrew@agency15.com

It’s one of the most commonly asked questions we get: “How much will my residential propane cost this year?”

The truthful answer, every year, is “we don’t know.”

It’s not a copout: we don’t know exactly how much propane will cost in a given year because propane prices are the product of a complex set of factors (if anyone tells you they know for sure whether the price of propane will go up or down, they’re pulling your leg…to put it mildly).

One of the most important of those factors is demand – which is largely based on weather (not the easiest thing to predict these days, even for the experts). If temperatures in the Northeast U.S. are extremely cold, demand for propane increases – even if the rest of the country is experiencing relatively warm weather (most of the propane consumed in the U.S. is used to heat homes in our neck of the woods). This is one of the reasons why buying your propane in the offseason – like now – is usually a good idea.

Of course demand alone can’t account for the price you pay for propane. Economic and political factors at home and abroad also have a big impact. Then there are dealer expenses – costs we incur to cover requirements imposed on us by local, state, and federal government such as insurance, safety and compliance training, municipal fees, employee background checks, and more (for a longer list, check out Propane101.com).

A budget plan can help

One way to manage the cost of your propane is to enroll in a propane budget payment plan. The Irish Propane Budget Plan divides an estimate of the cost of a year’s worth of propane into 12 level payments, which eliminates wintertime heating bill surprises. Use more propane than expected and we’ll schedule a one-time make-up payment; use less propane than expected and we’ll roll the credit balance forward.

There are no finance or enrollment fees for this service.

Looking for our preseason propane prices in New York State, including our Buffalo and Rochester service areas? We can help. Contact us today to learn more, or to enroll in the Irish Propane Budget Plan!

You’re going to have to take our word for it: heating season 2018/2019 will eventually come to an end here in Buffalo and Rochester.

But boy, what a strange season it was – full of weather ups and downs and seasonal stops and starts…and if you were an Irish Propane Will Call customer, you have the all-over-the-map heating bills to prove it.

Of course, our Budget Payment Plan customers barely felt a bump in the road over the last six months. That’s because our Budget plan takes your annual propane bill and splits it into 12 equal installments. The result? Your payment will be the same every month no matter how much fuel you use – a great help when you’re planning your home finances.

Best of all, there are no fees or finance charges for this service…think of it as free peace of mind.

Other FREE ways to de-stress for next heating season

Having predictable bills will definitely help take the edge off next heating season, but it won’t eliminate all sources of heating season stress. Fortunately, there are two FREE things you can do to make things go a little more smoothly for you in 2019-20:

• Sign up for Autopay – With Autopay from Irish Propane, we will send your statements by email, then deduct your bill from your bank account via Electronic Funds Transfer (ETF) – you can always view your bill online and print it whenever you’d like. You’ll never have to worry about incurring a late payment again!
• Register on our Online Customer Portal – Order fuel, check your account balance, manage your delivery appointments, and pay your bill – all from the comfort of your computer or cell phone. It’s possible with our convenient Irish Propane Online Customer Portal.

Get ready – enrollment for our Budget Plan begins in June! Contact us today to learn about other Irish Propane services that can make your life easier in the months ahead.

You know it’s spring here in Buffalo, NY when Food Truck Tuesdays are back in Larkin Square – and that is just where they are from now through October 1!

Visit “Buffalo’s best dinner party” to come together to celebrate a spring, summer, and early fall of food, music and fun. You can learn about some of the trucks (including 10 exciting new ones) courtesy of our friends at The Buffalo News – or find out about other events happening this summer at the Larkin Square website (we’re especially looking forward to the Block Party on June 1!).

Gourmet Food Truck owners: We’re the food truck propane experts!

If you’re a food truck entrepreneur offering your culinary masterpieces to the lucky people of Buffalo, we thank you from the bottom of our gut! Just make sure you can continue to deliver that delicious food to hungry folks through the long summer.

To do that, you’re going to need propane. Lots of it. And that’s where we come in.

At Irish Propane, we’re food truck propane experts, offering propane tank rental, propane tank refills, and propane safety training and support for your restaurant on wheels.

If you’re just getting started (or just starting to plan) your food truck business, we can help you there, too, with services to help you calculate how much propane you will need to power your appliances day after day, month after month.

Our propane food truck services are available through convenient locations in Buffalo and Rochester. Visit us today to talk more about what you need for your gourmet food truck, or to get a refill for your propane tank!

For the most reliable propane and propane services for your gourmet food truck, trust the pros at Irish Propane. Contact us today to learn more, or to become an Irish Propane customer!

Want an easy way to increase profits and outperform competitors in your commercial construction project or warehouse? Enroll in the Irish Propane Forklift Cylinder Exchange program.

Compared to conventional forklift tank refilling, our cost-effective propane tank exchange program is:

1. More productive – Traditional refilling can take 15 minutes or more every time for each tank. With our cylinder exchange, your workers will simply return their tank, grab another, and get back to work.
2. Safer – With tank cylinders, all filling is done at our facilities rather than yours – which means you wont have to deal with safety risks or compliance issues. And with lightweight aluminum cylinders, your technicians won’t hurt themselves moving tanks.
3. More economical – Aluminum tanks won’t corrode on the inside, so there will be no more fuel injector-blocking rust to reduce your efficiency or cause equipment breakdowns.

Propane: A fuel-forward solution for your forklift fleet

Still using diesel fuel, gasoline, or electric to power your forklifts? Then you’re missing out on some great propane benefits, including:

• Less downtime – With cleaner burning fuel, your equipment will spend less time in the shop.
• Lower operating costs – Propane’s efficiency and lower cost means a better bottom line for you.
• Fewer emissions – Propane produces significantly fewer emissions than diesel or gas-powered forklifts—good for your business, good for the planet.
• More durable operation – Propane propane-powered forklifts can be used outside in the rain and snow—something an electric forklift can’t do.

If you need to keep product moving all day, every day in your warehouse worksite, remember: not all forklifts are created equal. To get the best forklift performance, you’ll need the best forklift fuel: propane gas. Get yours from Irish Propane today!

Spring weather can certainly have its ups and downs here in Buffalo and Rochester, with average temperatures dipping into the 40s all the way into May.

If you’re a restaurant owner with an outdoor deck or patio somewhere in our service area, you have to do SOMETHING to cope with that kind variability if you want to get the most from outdoor entertainment space – and the best “something” you can do is to partner with Irish for reliable propane deliveries for your patio heaters.

Irish Propane offers reliable propane cylinder delivery to keep your outdoor heating systems fired up so your customers can feel cozy when they imbibe. We’ll keep the high-quality 20-lb cylinders coming as often as you need them so you can ready for whatever Mother Nature has in store this spring.

For reliable delivery of 20-lb cylinders for your restaurant’s propane space heaters, trust the pros at Irish Propane. Contact us today to set up a propane delivery schedule for your restaurant – and don’t forget to check out our restaurant and bar services at Irish Carbonic!

If you are an Irish Propane “will-call” customer (that is, if you schedule your own propane deliveries rather than using automatic delivery), one of the most important responsibilities you have is to keep track of how much propane is in your tank during heating season.

The question is, how do you do it?

Reading a propane tank gauge is actually very easy: look for a round dial that looks like a speedometer at or near the top of the tank, and simply read the number indicated (see photo).

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that an aboveground propane tank is only filled to 80 percent of its capacity; the remaining 20 percent of the tank remains empty to allow the gas to expand as temperatures change (and underground propane tank can be filled to 85 percent, since the ground insulates the tank to keep temperatures relatively consistent). A “full” 320-gallon tank, therefore, only contains about 256 gallons of propane (for a complete list of capacity conversions for common tank sizes, see the chart below).

The most important thing about monitoring your propane gas gauge, though, is to remember to schedule your propane delivery when the tank is no less than one-quarter full – especially when temperatures are trending down here in Buffalo and Rochester. That will give us enough time to get to you before you run out of propane – a hassle and expense you definitely want to avoid.

If you do run out of propane, don’t panic – call Irish Propane for emergency propane service. We will inspect your propane equipment and perform your mandatory leak and pressure test, then get your tank refilled and ready to go.

How many gallons of propane are left in my tank?

Tank Gauge Reads	60 gal tank	125 gal tank	320 gal tank	500 gal tank	1000 gal tank
80% (Full)	48	100	256	400	800
70%	42	87.5	224	350	700
60%	36	75	192	300	600
50%	30	62.5	160	250	500
40%	24	50	160	200	400
30%	18	37.5	96	150	300
25%	If your gauge reads 25 percent, contact us for a delivery right away!
20%	12	25	64	100	200
10%	6	12.5	32	50	100

For reliable propane gas delivery in our Buffalo or Rochester service areas, trust the experts at Irish Propane. Contact us today to learn more, or to become an Irish Propane customer.

Irish Propane – Proudly serving our Central and Western New York neighbors with safe, reliable propane deliveries in the Buffalo and Rochester metro areas.

Just about any appliance that runs on electricity can operate more efficiently on propane – which means switching to propane appliances will not only save you money, it will help the planet, too.

Take water heaters, for example: switching from an electric water heater to a propane-powered model can bring a number of benefits that you might not know about. Consider these propane perks:

• Propane water heaters can produce twice as much hot water as electric units in the same amount of time.
• On average, propane water heaters cost 30 percent less to operate than electric ones—up to 50 percent less if you choose a tankless propane water heater.
• Overall, propane tankless water heaters produce about 50 percent fewer carbon emissions than electric water heaters with a storage tank.
• The average household saves about $174 per year using propane vs. electric water heaters, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
• On average, a conventional electric water heater (one with a storage tank) will last about 12-14 years; a propane tankless water heater can last 20 years or more.

As you can see, when it comes to water heating, propane is the way to go.

While installing a propane water heater may cost a bit more up front than installing an electric water heater, the energy savings are significant – a big deal, considering that heating water can account for anywhere from 15-20 percent of your monthly energy bills. Lifespan improvements make the pro-propane argument even more compelling.

Looking for an easy way to save 30 percent or more on your water heating energy bill? Switch to propane! Just make sure you stick with Irish Propane for the most reliable propane deliveries in our Rochester and Buffalo service areas.

Contact us today to learn more, or to become an Irish Propane customer.

Construction deadlines don’t stretch when cold weather hits (if they did, we wouldn’t get anything built here in Buffalo and Rochester!) – which means you need to make arrangements to deal with dropping temperatures if you want to keep your construction project on time and on budget.

That’s where temporary propane heating for construction sites comes in.

The problem is that setting up temporary heating can be pretty complicated – especially when it comes to the logistics of temporary heating safety. Here are just some of the safety considerations when setting up a temporary heating site in New York State:

• General OSHA requirements – OSHA (the U.S. Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration) requires employers to provide safe working conditions – which includes providing heated areas for employees to warm up from the cold. OSHA also has regulations regarding temporary heating devices.
• Heater safety requirements – Clean-burning, efficient propane heaters are often used to create warm areas at a worksite. Some notes on propane heater safety:
  • The size of propane heaters you need will be determined by conditions on the job (how cold it is, the size of the physical space, how well insulated it is, etc.)
  • The area where the propane heater will be used must be properly ventilated per OSHA standards to prevent carbon monoxide build up; carbon monoxide poisoning is a serious health risk that can cause illness or death.
  • Propane heaters should always be kept on level surfaces, preferably on concrete or a noncombustible surface. Heaters should never be kept on wood flooring.
  • All propane heaters must be kept away from combustible materials (paints, thinners, tarps, tents, stored clothing, etc.) and must have a 100 percent safety shut-off valve.
  • Propane heaters must be properly maintained. The Propane Education and Research Council (PERC) offers suggestions for proper treatment of propane heating equipment.
  • Tanks that hold more than 100 pounds of propane should never be used indoors, and no more than three 100-pound cylinders should be connected to one manifold.

As you can see, there are many considerations when it comes to setting up safe temporary heating for your construction project – and that doesn’t begin to touch on the logistics of setting up a system to provide ongoing propane refills.

If you need a temporary heating solution for your next project, call on the experts at Irish Propane. Whether you need a temporary heating system to dry paint, run equipment or simply to stay warm, we will get the job done right, and done safely.

Need temporary heating at your construction site? Trust the pros at Irish Propane. Contact us today to learn more about the many ways we can support your project – we are happy to provide you with a FREE, no obligation estimate on a temporary heating solution!

If you are a keen observer (of course you are – you’re an Irish Propane customer!), you have probably noticed that your outdoor propane tank is never 100 percent full. The question is, why is that the case?

The answer is that not filling your propane tank to the brim is a safety feature that is required by law.

You see, propane expands in the presence of heat – just like water. The difference between water and propane is that propane increases in volume much more quickly than water, expanding to nearly seventeen times the volume of water over the same rise in temperature.

Because they are exposed to the elements, aboveground propane tanks are typically filled to only about 80 percent of their capacity to allow a little wiggle room for the gas to expand (underground tanks can safely hold a bit more because they are not subject to big temperature swings, since the ground acts as an insulator). The extra space is left in the tank to guard against pressure build-up when the temperature rises.

To calculate the working capacity of your propane tank, simply multiply the total tank capacity by 0.8. For example,

Tank size (in gallons)	80 percent capacity (in gallons)
120	96
150	120
200	160
250	200
500	400

When we deliver propane you your home, our drivers use special overfill prevention equipment to make sure we do not add too much gas to your propane tank – one of the many things we do to keep your family safe during our propane deliveries.

For safe and reliable propane delivery to your Rochester or Buffalo-area home, no one does it better than Irish Propane. Contact us to schedule your propane fill-up, or to become an Irish Propane customer today!