[fatlazyless]

Lowe's Gilford has the 25-gal, 200-lb tanks(when full) and appropriate regulators, compression flare fittings, and 3/8" soft copper tubing for do-it-yourselfers who want to rig up a propane system that puts out enough pressure to run a kitchen stove and maybe a small propane heater; something like a 15k btu heater. These are the tanks that see a lot of use out on the islands, and can occaisionally be seen being towed behind a boat, floating in the water while loaded full of propane, for a return trip back to someone's island home.

The car repair business which used to be an Irving Gasoline, across from the Meredith Ford, has a big propane tank outside, and it will fill up a 25-gal tank, that's in the back of a pickup truck.

If you look closely at the collar on a 100 gallon-400-lb propane tank, it has the date of manufactor stamped into it, plus any re-pressure test, re-certification stamps. Every ten years, the steel tanks are supposed to get retested by undergoing a pressure test to make sure it has no new pin hole leaks or cracks in the steel or the welds. Chances are pretty good that your 100 gal, Q tank was originally fabricated in the 1970's and just gets a retest every ten years. The stamped dates on the upper collar, underneath a coat or two of paint will display that info.

In some U.S. states, the delivered propane gas business is a regulated utility, much like the electric utility or the natural gas utility, and has to apply to the local state public utility board for any price increases and surcharge increases etc, but here in New Hampshire it is pretty much considered a private business as opposed to a public utility.

Amerigas, based in Pennsylvania, is the largest truck delivered or bottled propane company in the country, and it pays a lot of attention to any state that may want to start regulating its' business like it was a public utility.

I heard that Amerigas-Laconia no longer has a service dept and no longer does any propane service like installs or 'heat off' calls and now just does propane delivery. Is that correct? They used to have a pretty busy service dept. Wonder what happened?