amerigas vs blue rhino: AmeriGas and Blue Rhino Propane Class Action Settlement

You can’t unilaterally decide to sell smaller quantities of gasoline at the same price and call them “gallons”. Webster defines full as “containing as much or as many as is possible or normal” 20-lb LP cylinders are engineered to safely hold 20 lbs of propane. Any reasonable person would assume that “full”means it has 20 lbs. Agreements that restrict output or other terms of sale also fall in theper secategory.

• Contrary to what’s been erroneously claimed by others, 20 pound DOT cylinders are actually designed to be filled to 20 pounds.
• Aha, they used to put in 17 pounds until 10 years ago; and that was almost 3 pounds less than a full cylinder.
• It’s nice not to run out of gas in the middle of bbq chicken.
• Webster defines full as “containing as much or as many as is possible or normal” 20-lb LP cylinders are engineered to safely hold 20 lbs of propane.

They are refilled from a fork lift propane tank, which is designed to deliver liquid propane. Purchasing a fork lift tank (if you are like me you probably don’t have one) makes it expensive, however. It’s usually cheaper to just get them refilled if you have that available as an option nearby. Locally, I can get mine refilled at B.J.’s for either $9.99 or $10.99 (I can’t remember which it is), and I can get it refilled at a hardware store for about $14.

AmeriGas and Blue Rhino, In the Matter of

To ensure our consumers are properly notified, Blue Rhino clearly marks the amount of propane contained in our tanks, right on the package. From grilling and tailgating to generators and patio heating, AmeriGas Propane Exchange has you covered! We make it quick, easy to swap out a used tank, or buy a spare tank.

In addition to AmeriGas and Blue Rhino, the indirect purchasers also filed a complaint against the businesses that sold them the propane tanks in 2008, including Lowes and Walmart. The documents posted on this site are XML renditions of published Federal Register documents. Each document posted on the site includes a link to the corresponding official PDF file on govinfo.gov. For complete information about, and access to, our official publications and services, go to About the Federal Register on NARA’s archives.gov. Exchange prices vary a lot in my town, from $14.99 at a grocery store to $28.99 at a hardware store and a gas station.

Write this weight on the tank for future use when you weigh with the same scale. In order to get flow IN to a TS2 valve, a magnetic key must be inserted into the indentation to hold a steel ball out of the way. I had posted this information on the Appliances forum in a thread about gas grills.

They apparently started doing this when the price of propane went up with gas prices several years ago. It cost me $14 to fully fill a tank this spring vs. $22 for a tank swap at the local gas station. Blue Rhino apparently has their own proprietary “TS2” valve. The purpose of this is to prevent you from refilling one of those cylinders at your local propane refiller. The tank can only be refilled by them due to some sort of magnetic interlock, for which they have the key. Refill locations fill up and top off customers’ propane tanks—meaning they get the most propane their tank can safely hold.

If they took their tank to an exchange, they’d be giving away that remaining propane, he said. Backyard grillers who found themselves a little short on flame in recent years may have been burned by Blue Rhino and AmeriGas Cylinder Exchange, the two leading suppliers of propane exchange tanks. If you remember from the “Are we out of propane again” post, a 5 gallon tank (a.k.a. as a 20# cylinder) holds approximately 19.88 pounds of propane, which is about 4.7 gallons. At $3.45 per gallon, it would cost $16.22 to fill an empty tank.

Blackstone vs. Camp Chef: Two popular outdoor griddles compared

Unless it’s an oversight, most people don’t let their propane tank completely run empty. This means that exchange customers have to guess when their tank is almost empty. When one tank runs out, don’t swap it out at a gas station or whatever. Instead check with your local U-Haul, Ready Rents, and other places that refill propane tanks. Usually it will be significantly cheap to refill, plus they fill the entire tank vs. swapped thanks that usually come out of the box with ~15lbs in a 20lb tank.

A propane tank for a house prices between $four hundred and $seven-hundred for a 100-gallon tank and $1,200 to $1,800 for a 500-gallon above-ground tank. When you are ready to get rid of an unwanted or expired propane tank, it’s important that you do it the right way to keep everyone safe. Propane tanks can’t be thrown away in your regular trash pickup, but we’re here to make disposal easy.

Buying propane from a bulk propane dealer

If you’ve been harmed or cheated by a company, we’ll help assess the facts and build a plan of action. I had that filled a few times and exchanged it out another time with another company because I couldn’t find a place to fill tamks. BR tanks are under the same standards as any other tank.

Blue Rhino accepts any brand of tank, so all you have to do is drop your empty tank beside the display, have a store employee swap your tank for a full one or two, and enjoy the rest of your day. Prior to its suspension, Ferrellgas was offering a double-digit yield, higher than AmeriGas’ current 9.4% yield and much higher than that of other energy MLPs whose fundamentals are stronger. Nothing like hitting up the swapper place and hearing that they are out.

Editor’s Note on AmeriGas and Blue Rhino Propane Antitrust MDL:

It seems like Blue Rhino sells at a lot of gas stations around here, so I’ve been using them more lately. That seems funny, I never click “About” unless I am an unhappy customer trying to get a hold of someone to resolve a problem. If you prefer to have a Blue Rhino with a standard OPD valve , simply check the valve.

Contrary to what’s been erroneously claimed by others, 20 pound DOT cylinders are actually designed to be filled to 20 pounds. If your using Blue Rhino, your just lining the already rich pockets of corporate America. As for this new ‘magnetic valve’, I have only seen a few up in MA over the past 10 years. Simple solution – don’t prepay when you get your tanks filled. This is simply because the OPD will close and prevent the tank from being further filled.

In Settlement with FTC, Trade Associations Agree to Change Rules and Adopt Antitrust Compliance Programs

If you pay for 20 lbs don’t get 20 lbs, you are getting ripped off and that company is unscrupulously profiteering out of your wallet. With the price of gasoline falling like it has now may be a good time for me to check the bulk prices and consider filling my tank again. You wouldn’t go to your local gas station and expect last month it cost me $30.00 to fill up my car, this time it should cost the same $30.00, not $45.00. You may be entitled to get back up to a $12.50 check from this AmeriGas & Blue Rhino Propane Settlement if you are eligible!

Aha, they used to put in 17 pounds until 10 years ago; and that was almost 3 pounds less than a full cylinder. The sad part is very few people even know they are buying an exchange tank that is only 75% full. The cost is minimal.Filling a propane tank today got us 4.7 gallons at $2.99 per gallon, for the princely sum of $14.05.

Propane Tank Disposal Made Easy

If the tank looks rusty, but still has the proper valve on it, then I exchange the tank for a nicer one. It’s nice not to run out of gas in the middle of bbq chicken. A propane cylinder should be marked with it’s water capacity in pounds, and also the tare weight. A common 20 pound cylinder might be marked WC 47.8 TARE 18.0. A tank so marked can safely be filled with a full 20 pounds of propane, if the OPD allows.

I’ve gotten tanks home before and using the very inexact weight gauge on my Weber it tells me I have a half full tank and it certainly seems to run out faster. I go to Lowes or someplace like that because I have faith that it’s a tank in decent condition and it’s actually full. Also from what I have seen, they all take each other’s tank.

At that same Shell amerigas vs blue rhino was one of the exchange tank systems, in this case, Blue Rhino. I have no objection to that company, but know that what Blue Rhino offer is convenience — not a great price on fuel. One other thing you should know about Blue Rino is that they don’t fill the tanks to their designed capacity. They will tell you that they can only fill to no more than 80% capacity and this is a true statement. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not provide legal notice to the public or judicial notice to the courts.

There was no allegation in the complaint that the parties agreed in any way on the pricing of the lesser-filled propane tanks. Walmart was free to negotiate prices or any other price element with the parties. Yet, there is no allegation that Walmart tried but was unable to re-negotiate the price of the tanks with each of the parties. They claimed that they were doing an incredible service to customers by not having to raise the price. After complaints, they do now list that the tanks are filled to 15 lbs, but very few people are going to realize this. ” Ask 20 people who exchange a blue rhino vs amerigas tank, and I’ll bet 18 of them don’t realize that the tank is under filled, even if they do read the “notice”.