Take the empty tank somewhere that fills it
A swapped grill tank usually holds 15 pounds of propane; a refilled one holds 20, for less. Where to fill, when the swap is right, and the safety rules.
Built from people comparing what a swapped tank and a refilled one actually cost per pound of propane — including the hardware-store staff and propane workers among them who corrected the myths — with the regulations on cylinder dates and disposable bottles checked against the transport regulator, and every retailer named in those conversations replaced with its kind.
You wheel the empty tank to the cage outside the shop, hand it over, pay, and wheel a full one back. That’s how it’s done, and the people behind this page did it that way until somebody weighed the full one.
Refill your own grill tank at a farm store, a hardware yard, a truck-rental depot or a propane supplier instead of swapping it at a cage: you’ll get about 20 pounds of propane instead of the 15 an exchange tank usually holds, for less money. Swap only when your tank is out of date or damaged, or when there’s nowhere near you to fill it.
Two things make this work, and both come up in these conversations. Across eight separate conversations, a refill costs a good deal less than an exchange — around half, many say, though the price varies so much by region that this page prints no figure. And across five, the swap tank isn’t full: the exchange brands fill a 20-pound cylinder to 15 pounds and print it on the label, while a refill station fills it to the 20 it’s rated for. Less money, more fuel. Three conversations also correct the idea that this is a safety thing: every cylinder stops filling at about 80 percent of its volume so the liquid can expand, and at that limit a 20-pound tank holds 20 pounds. The 15 is a business decision.
The first question below is the refill in full — where, how they measure it, and why “federal law” isn’t the reason for the short fill. The second is the date stamped on your tank’s collar, which is where the exchange stops being a rip-off and becomes the right tool. The third is how to know what’s left, whether a bigger tank is worth it, and how to open the valve. The argument about whether refilling is always the smarter buy sits at the bottom with both camps, because some of the people here have no refill point in their area.
Who this page is not for: anyone whose tank is past its date, rusty, or has an old valve — swap it, gladly, and refill the new one after. Anyone who grills once a summer, for whom the inspection a swap includes is worth the few dollars. Anyone with no refill point in reach, which several accounts say is their whole region. And anyone whose propane heats the house from a large fixed tank, which is a different bill with different rules.
The safety rules at the top are the one part of this page the price never touches. The far side is smaller than most pages here: a tank that lasts a third longer for the same size, and a collar date you’ve actually read.
The community disagrees on this one
The argument people have about it: is the refill always the smarter buy?
Refill — you pay for fuel, not for the swap
This side keeps its own tank in date and takes it to a pump or a scale. Their case is that a refill hands you about a third more propane than a swap for a lower price wherever a refill point exists, that you keep a tank you know the history of rather than a stranger's repainted one, and that a detour to a farm store or a hardware yard is worth the trip.
4 independent accounts
Exchange — where the refill is far, rare, or the same price
This side swaps at the cage and doesn't apologise. Their case is that in their town there is no refill point, or the one there is is inconvenient to reach or refuses tanks it doesn't like; that in some regions the price gap is small enough that convenience wins; that a swap takes an expired tank off their hands with no fuss; and that for someone who grills a few times a year, the inspection that comes with every exchange is worth the difference.
3 independent accounts
The decider the argument itself names is local: how far the nearest refill is, what it charges by the pound, and whether your tank is in date. Both sides agree on the arithmetic — work out the cost per pound of propane actually received, not the sticker price — and on the safety rules above, which don't change with the price.
Common questions
Why is a refill cheaper than a swap — is the swap tank really not full?
It's not, and that is the whole trick. Across eight separate conversations, taking your own empty tank to a place that refills it costs a good deal less than swapping it in the cage outside a grocery store or petrol station — several accounts put it near half, though prices vary so much by region that this page prints no figure. Then the part five separate conversations say, and one person confirmed on a scale: the swap tank isn't full. A standard grill cylinder is rated for 20 pounds of propane, and a refill station fills it to that — about 4.6 to 4.7 gallons, which is as full as the valve allows — while the big exchange brands fill theirs to 15 pounds, which they print on the label. So a swap costs more and hands you a quarter less fuel; one person noticed the difference as about five pounds on a bathroom scale. Two things people get wrong about this, corrected inside these conversations and confirmed outside them. First, the 15 pounds is not a safety rule. Every cylinder is filled to about 80 percent of the space inside it so the liquid has room to expand in the heat, and the overfill valve required on US grill cylinders since 1998 stops the fill there automatically — but a 20-pound cylinder at that limit holds 20 pounds of propane. The 15 is a business decision; the label states the weight, which is how you know. Second, there is no federal law limiting what a retailer may put in an exchange tank; two conversations repeat that one and it isn't true. Where to fill: six separate conversations and a dozen single accounts name the same kinds of places — farm and feed supply stores, truck-rental depots, hardware stores with a large outdoor tank, warehouse clubs with a metered pump, RV and camping suppliers, and the local propane company that also fills home heating tanks, which two conversations say is often cheapest of all. Some fill by the gallon on a meter and some by weight on a scale; one correction here says weight is the more accurate measure because propane's density changes with temperature. Watch that the scale is zeroed with the hose attached, one caution says, and that you're charged for what went in. Two honest limits. Not every store that has a cage does refills, and one grocery employee admits they hand you an exchange when you ask for a fill because they ship the empties away; and in some regions, several accounts say, there simply isn't a refill point within reach — for them the swap is the tool, and the argument at the bottom of the page is theirs.
My tank has a date on it. Does it expire, and what do I do with an old one?
The tank doesn't expire; its certification does, and that changes what to do with it. Across six separate conversations: a stamped date on the metal collar marks when the cylinder was made or last requalified, and in the United States a refill station will not fill it once it's twelve years past that date until it has been requalified — after which, under US rules, it's good for another period — five years after a visual inspection, twelve after a pressure test — with a new stamp. This is where the exchange earns its keep, and the people here say so plainly: the cage doesn't care what date is on your tank. Swap your out-of-date, rusty or old-valved cylinder for one that's in date, pay the swap price once, and then refill that one for years. Three conversations add the arithmetic: having your own tank requalified can cost close to a swap, so for an expired tank the swap is usually the cheaper route to a certified one; one person had an old tank re-valved instead, and another found a hardware store that would swap an expired tank free if you paid for the fill. Two corrections worth carrying: the tank you get from a cage is not new — it's been inspected, stripped and repainted, and the date on the collar tells you how much life it has left, so choose one with a recent stamp — and it is unusual to be handed a tank that's already out of date, because the exchangers requalify before they refill, though two cautions say it happens. A gentler point from one argument here, and this page agrees with it: the exchange includes an inspection of the valve and seals, and a refill doesn't. If you grill once a summer and the tank lives in a shed between, swap it, so somebody looks at it; if you use and refill it regularly, keep an eye on the collar date, the rust, and the valve, and it's fine. Never let anyone fill a tank that's out of date or has an out-of-code valve — these conversations don't say how to recognise one, and the fill station will tell you; one account calls it careless, and the refill stations that do it are the ones to avoid.
How do I tell how much is left, and is a bigger tank worth it?
The hot-water trick, from three separate conversations: pour a cup of hot tap water down the side of the tank and run your hand down after it. The metal above the liquid line warms at once; below it, where the liquid propane is soaking up the heat, the steel stays cool. Where warm turns to cool is your fuel level. A bathroom scale works too, if you know the empty weight stamped on the collar. On running out mid-dinner: one person's fix is simply a second 20-pound tank, kept full, so you swap between your own two and refill the empty at your leisure; two conversations keep two or three for the same reason, and one account fills several in one trip so the refill place is a monthly errand and not a weekly one. On bigger tanks — 30 or 40 pounds — the people here disagree, and it turns on your body and where you live. One side buys the larger tank for fewer trips and a lower price per gallon at the meter; the other points out that a full 30-pound cylinder is heavy and awkward, that some counter staff won't handle one, and that a large tank has to be transported with real care; several single accounts say the same of the much larger cylinders. Keep the 20 if you're lifting it into a car boot; go bigger only if you can move it easily and your refill place will take it. Two conversations mention the way out of propane altogether — a natural-gas line to the grill, if the house has gas, or an electric grill — at the price of the installation. And one small mechanical note, argued about here and settled on the side the valve mechanics support: open the tank valve all the way, slowly. One account learned mid-grilling that opening it fast can trip the safety inside the valve and choke the flow, and another says opening it only partway can wear the seat and leak.
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