THE TRUTH ABOUT PROPANE

          Thrifty Propane is the only propane company that sells pure HD5 Propane 100% of the time. Our customers know the difference, and we prove it to you with a standing affidavit of product quality.

          Unlike gasoline or heating oil, which is the same from coast to coast, "propane" varies widely in quality and "commercial grade propane" can have as little as 0% propane if it can hold a flame. Such "commercial grade propane" may burn up to twice as fast as pure HD5 propane. In other words, not all "propane" is the same. There are in fact four (4) main grades of propane: HD5 propane, HD10 propane, Y-grade field condensate, and "commercial grade propane." HD5 propane, the best propane, must consist of no less than 90% propane molecules and no more than 5% propylene. HD10 propane, the second best, sold only in California, can have up to 10% propylene, because they do not have access to the propane pipelines carrying HD5, so must permit a mixture of refinery byproduct and railcars of HD5 to bring it up some standard of usability. So-called Y-grade field condensate are liquids pulled off at the site of a natural gas well that are then fractionated. The natural gasoline is sent to gasoline blenders. The remaining propane, butane and ethane mix which is beginning to hit the market now as a fuel product sold to home owners, burns much faster than HD5. So-called "commercial grade propane" can have anything in it, including water, so long as it is capable of holding a flame. So called Y-grade and "commercial grade propane" vary in quality from day to day: neither is reliable and both burn quickly.

          The only propane fuel with consistent quality is pure HD5 propane. The only dependable way to get pure HD5 propane all of the time is to purchase propane from the TEPPCO pipeline, which is the only federally regulated pipeline in the area. Propane on the TEPPCO pipeline has to be the same for every purchaser, so that every purchaser gets the identical product from the pipeline, since propane can only  be pushed up the thousands of miles of pipeline from Mt. Belvieu, Texas to Selkirk, New York only in large masses of 50,000 barrels (2,100,000 gallons) each. The only way for everyone to get the same quality of propane, "fungible" propane, is to require that all the propane on the TEPPCO line be the same material. The only standard that can be used to measure whether the propane is the same is HD5 grade in ASTM 1835.

          Only a propane marketer that buys its fuel exclusively from the TEPPCO pipeline can say it only sells HD5 propane, since that is the only grade of propane permitted on the TEPPCO pipeline. However, many propane marketers obtain the fuel they sell as propane directly from the refineries in the Northern parts of the country. They truck it out of the refinery, take it by barge from the refinery, or ship it by rail from the refinery, not using the TEPPCO pipeline because TEPPCO would not allow them to put this material in their pipeline. What they sell is gaseous by-product of the refining process. It is a mixture of all kinds of "light end" materials, including ethanes, butanes, propylenes, benzines, and isobutanes. The refineries need to get this material out of their processing plants in the Northern states, where there is no salt-dome storage, so have no place to store it and no place to separate it out. The large marketers agree to take away as much of this byproduct as the Northern refineries produce. The makeup of this byproduct changes from day to day: the marketers never know what they are getting, and they sell it, untested, directly to you as "commercial grade propane." So called "commercial grade propane" is a mixture of whatever "light ends" come out of the refining cycle. If this mixture holds a flame, ASTM 1835D permits a seller to call it "commercial grade propane." The marketers who get this "commercial grade propane" call it "propane" even though it may not have a single molecule of propane in it. By dropping the words "commercial grade," these marketers claim to be selling "propane." 

         In sum, the only way to be assured that you are buying at least 90% propane is to purchase pure HD5 propane, as defined by ASTM 1835. Thrifty Propane backs up its HD5 promise with a standing affidavit. The marketers that purchase whatever the refineries leave behind each refining cycle cannot tell you what is in their "commercial grade propane," they can only tell you that it holds a flame. Ask them for an affidavit of product quality - they cannot give you one. All "propane" is not the same - only HD5 is 90% propane all the time, the pure HD5 propane that Thrifty sells 100% of the time.