For most homes, propane is a significant source of energy that can power anything from your heating systems to your home appliances and even your lighting. Its efficiency, environment-friendliness and cost-efficiency make propane an excellent fuel option. Many industrial settings use propane as their fuel of choice.
Homeowners can also reap the benefits of using propane, as it can increase your appliances’ and heating system’s efficiency. When using propane as an energy source for your home, you need to accurately determine the current amount of propane you have left, when you need propane next and how much you need.
Luckily, Foster Fuels offers customers a new way to get their propane tank refilled right when you need it!
What Are Automatic Propane Refill Programs?
Most fuel companies offer two options to homeowners for refilling their propane tanks. The first is the most common “will-call” method, and the second option is the “auto-fill” method.
The will-call method places the responsibilities of monitoring tank gauges and calling the fuel company for a refill directly on the customer. While this method works for some, others have difficulty checking their tank gauges or forget to look. Ensuring your tank runs on a proper fuel level is essential to maintaining your tank’s effectiveness.
Auto-fill programs aim to take the burden off the homeowner’s shoulders and eliminate the guesswork that typically comes with propane tank refills. An auto-fill program puts the responsibilities of monitoring and refilling customers’ propane tanks directly on the fuel company.
To efficiently track and monitor tank levels and plan deliveries, most fuel companies rely on computer programs to keep track of how much fuel a given customer has left in their tank and when their tank needs refilled.
These programs consider many variables entered by the fuel company, such as the date of most recent delivery, average usage for that customer and average use for similar-sized homes in the customers’ area. Many programs also take seasonality and local weather conditions, like winter snowstorms, into account.
After companies enter these variables, the program gives a date for when the fuel company should refill a customers’ propane tank. Companies then schedule their deliveries around these dates.
5 Benefits of Automatic Propane Refill Programs
Here are five main benefits of using an auto-refill program instead of relying on the will-call process.
1. No More Scheduling
With auto-fill programs, the days of calling to schedule an appointment to get your propane tank refilled each year are gone. Instead, fuel suppliers keep their own records of when a customer will need their next tank refill and plan deliveries, so you always have a proper fuel supply.
Many companies also have additional delivery opt-ins for customers to choose from, like calling a few days before delivery to confirm that they should still come or to deliver the fuel even if nobody is present at the residence when they arrive.
2. Peace of Mind
Auto-fill programs provide customers with peace of mind, knowing they’ll never run out of propane. Auto-fill programs keep tanks from getting anywhere near empty by refilling them once they reach a certain threshold.
Customers who enroll in these programs no longer have to worry about checking and monitoring their tank gauges, as the fuel company takes care of this task. Enrolling in an auto-refill program means one less thing homeowners need to do to maintain their property, giving them more time for other priorities.
3. No More Waiting
If not enrolled in a propane tank refill program, homeowners must call their fuel company to inform it that they need a propane refill. From there, the company and the customer work to schedule a delivery date. Turnaround times from call to delivery in the busy fall months can be a week or even more. This process is fine if customers make the call before running out of propane, but it could leave clients without fuel for quite some time if they wait until they ran out to call.
Propane tank auto-fill programs get customers on that delivery list far in advance so they won’t get stuck in a waiting period without propane.
4. Correctly Filled Tank
When will-call customers schedule a propane delivery, they must also know how much propane they need to fill their tank based on how much propane they have left. This number can be difficult to calculate. An auto-refill program eliminates the guesswork.
The computer program used to monitor and track deliveries will tell the company when to deliver the propane. This program also calculates how much fuel to deliver based on the time of the last refill and the customer’s average usage.
5. Cost Savings
Enrolling in an auto-fill program can also save you money by avoiding the fees associated with a will-call delivery. Many fuel companies require a leak test if the tank is empty before being filled, which costs an extra fee. Companies also typically charge a fee for expedited delivery, which customers may need if they are out of propane. A propane auto-fill program helps customers avoid these unnecessary fees.
Foster Fuels Automatic Propane Refill Program
Foster Fuels offers an extensive automatic propane refill program to its Virginia customers. It’s free to register for the program, and the only expense out of your pocket is the cost of the propane.
Foster Fuels’ propane automatic refill program uses experienced and well-trained drivers to monitor our customers’ tank level and fuel usage along a specified regular route. Our experts will refill the tanks if necessary and record how much fuel a customer has left in their tank for future reference.
Sign Up For Automatic Propane Refills With Foster Fuels
Foster Fuels is a family-owned and operated business that has supplied fuel across Virginia since 1921. We carry a deep commitment to customer service and have forged continual improvement in our processes and services through innovation and hard work. Our commitment to customer satisfaction is made apparent through our propane auto-fill service, which we designed with our customers in mind.
When it comes to monitoring and filling your propane tank, Foster Fuels does all the work for you with our automatic propane refill program. Now that you know the benefits, check out Foster Fuel’s auto-fill program on our website today and learn more about how and why you should sign up!
If you have any questions regarding our services or our company, get in touch with us online today or give us a call at 800-344-6457.
