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the high price of propane

updated sun 5 oct 03

 

Pamela Regentin on fri 3 oct 03


So, now that you know the cost of your propane, do you know how many gallons it takes to do a firing and therefore what the cost of the firing is? Getting really business-like, how many pots in the firing, etc. etc.

Also, I was told that a 500 gallon tank of propane should be kept at least 50% full to keep enough pressure for firing. Do you do this?

I'm amazed at the difference in propane cost across the country. 98 cents/gallon in WV, $1.69 here in Oregon and $1.96 in FL? Wow.

Pam



"But now, O Lord, thou art our father;
we are the clay, and thou our potter;
and we all are the work of thy hand."

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wayneinkeywest on fri 3 oct 03


This thread piqued my curiosity.
I don't handle the house bills. My partner does, so I
had little clue as to what we pay for propane.

Our original agreement with the company was for
$1.89 per gallon, for a year. (2002) Our next agreement
was for $2.39 per gallon for 2003. We just got the=20
agreement for the coming year (2004), and YAHOO!
the price has dropped to $1.96 per gallon. I feel=20
like I just hit the lottery! That means a savings of about=20
$170 for the year. =20

There's another 200 pounds (almost) of porcelain!

Ahhh, life is good!

Wayne in Key West

Louis Katz on sat 4 oct 03


In some places I think (its been 20 years since I bought propane in
California) unless you get a special license you end up paying the
motor vehicle fuel tax on propane. Ask your propane dealer about this.
This is probably more likely to be a problem if you use small bottles
for Raku and take them to a filling station.
Louis

>

wayneinkeywest on sat 4 oct 03


Pam:
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering the prices charged for
transport these days. Propane, gas, heating oil, clay (:>)
all cost money to ship.
The price of a gallon of regular in Miami is $1.69, the price here for the
same gallon, 155 miles south, is $2.04.
The price of 100 pounds of porcelain in Miami (including sales tax): $47.00.
The same here, after transportation: $92 and change

It all depends on where you live. Living closer to the supply of an item
(such as in a port city) insures that your transportation costs are less.
Conversely, your prices for food are probably going to be higher, since food
is not generally commercially grown near port cities.

As potters, we may have done ourselves a disservice by scattering as we have
throughout the world. Were we all in one place, imagine the
prices we could command for our wares were they to be sold thousands of
miles away. (think Old Silk Road, and the caravan routes)
To paraphrase an old problem: "How many pots can dance on the back of a
camel?"
Wayne in Key West


> I'm amazed at the difference in propane cost across the country. 98
cents/gallon in WV, $1.69 here in Oregon and $1.96 in FL? Wow.
>
> Pam

Klyf Brown on sat 4 oct 03


So how do you account for my paying $1.85 (bought yesterday) in
New Mexico when we are one of the largest gas production states in
the union? I am very near some of the production fields. This is a
product that if enough is not being bought in the summer months, they
burn it off into space to keep the flow going.
The bottom line is that they charge that much cause they can get away
with it.
Klyf in New Mexico, state symbol: the gouge.

>It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering the prices
charged for
>transport these days. Propane, gas, heating oil, clay (:>)
>all cost money to ship.
>It all depends on where you live. Living closer to the supply of an
item
>(such as in a port city) insures that your transportation costs are less.
>