Oftentimes, what automatically pops into our heads when we think of a fireplace is an image of a real burning fire and authentic, real firewood.
But these days there are a whole bunch of options when it comes to a home’s fireplace and fireplace installation.
If you are a homeowner who is thinking about either installing a new gas fireplace or upgrading your current gas fireplace, you may be confused and overwhelmed with the different types of gas fireplaces that are out there on the market. So Star Tex is here to provide a thorough and simple breakdown of the different types of gas fireplaces that are available that will hopefully make selecting a gas fireplace easy and hassle free.
Before we explore the different kinds of gas fireplaces that are available, let’s first take a step back and go over the difference between wood fireplaces and gas fireplaces.
The biggest difference between wood fireplaces and gas fireplaces has to do with venting and how they operate.
Gas fireplaces ignite immediately and their heat output can be 100% controlled by a thermostat. Wood fireplaces, on the other hand, require someone taking the time to ignite them and then additional time is required before the room that they are in actually gets warm. A damper is what controls the heat that wood fireplaces give off.
When it comes to gas fireplace installations, there are three different venting options:
Here are some additional helpful things to know about gas fireplaces:
If you are a homeowner in Waco, Burnet, Gatesville, Lampasas or College Station, Texas and need propane for your gas fireplace, know that you can count on Star Tex Propane. Our highly trained and professional team has been providing propane to members of the community for over 30 years and we’ve got more than 900,000 gallons of propane storage in our facilities.
Contact us today to learn more about our propane delivery options and to start receiving Star Tex’s friendly, responsive and reliable services.
So you have made the switch to using propane to power and fuel the majority of equipment and appliances throughout your home or commercial business. Or maybe you suddenly have more appliances around your home or business that are using propane on a regular basis. Either way, you may be at a point where you are wondering if the propane tank you currently have is big enough for all the jobs it has and you may be asking yourself which propane tank size is right for you and your specific needs.
There are a few factors that influence what size propane tank you need. These include:
Propane tanks come in a range of sizes. Below are some common sizes and a brief outline of what they can power.
It is important to note that a 150-gallon propane tank will never have 150 gallons of propane in it at a time (and the same goes for a 250-gallon tank, a 500-gallon tank and so forth). Propane tanks should never be completely full. In fact, a completely full propane tank is dangerous. There needs to be extra room in a propane tank to account for expansion (propane is a liquid and liquids expand when heated).
Propane tanks that are above ground can typically be about 80% full. Underground tanks can safely be filled a little more than 80% since they are protected from high temperatures by the ground’s insulation.
Star Tex Propane’s Tank Monitoring
If all of this sounds confusing and if worrying about how much propane is in your tank isn’t something you want to think about, you are in luck! Star Tex Propane can do the worrying for you with wireless tank monitoring.
A wireless tank monitor is a device that goes directly on your propane tank and sends up to the minute reads of your fuel levels directly to Star Tex Propane. This allows us to know exactly when you’ll be in need of your next propane delivery.
Star Tex Propane’s Tank Services
Wireless tank monitoring isn’t the only propane tank service Star Tex Propane offers. You can count on us for:
If you are in the Central Texas area, contact Star Tex Propane today to join our long list of happy propane customers!
Households and businesses in Burnet, Waco, College Station and many other communities throughout Central Texas trust the Star Tex Propane team for their fuel needs. We are proud to offer the region’s most dependable, reasonably-priced propane delivery.
With over 900,000 gallons of propane storage and more than three decades of delivering it, our team has a comprehensive understanding of this vital fuel. Here is a rundown of what propane is made of and where it comes from.
Propane is a flammable hydrocarbon gas used in a variety of residential and commercial functions, from grilling to super-efficient water heaters, indoor space heating solutions to stunning outdoor fire pits.
While propane is used in a gaseous form, it can be compressed as a liquid for transportation and on-site storage in tanks and cylinders. Propane has no natural odor, so producers generally add an agent to it to make it smell like rotten eggs or skunk spray so you can more easily identify a gas leak.
While propane and natural gas function similarly in many homes, they have key differences. Propane is denser than natural gas. It generates more than double the heat per cubic foot of natural gas. Propane also contains no methane (the primary component of natural gas), which is a potent greenhouse gas.
Nearly all the propane used in this country is domestically made. About three-quarters of American propane is a co-product of natural gas production. It comes from the same wells that extract natural gas (along with butane, ethane, pentane and other products). No additional drilling needs to be done.
Some propane is produced during crude oil refining. During the stabilization phase of the refining process, heavier hydrocarbons fall to the bottom, and lighter hydrocarbons, including propane, rise to the top.
An increasing amount of propane is coming from renewable sources.
The conventional propane described above already has a low carbon emissions impact — but it’s becoming even greener with the advent of renewable propane.
Renewable propane is molecularly identical to conventional propane, but it comes from organic and recycled products like those used for biodiesel. These feedstocks include:
Many renewable propane feedstocks are waste products that would otherwise end up in landfills. Renewable propane from domestic, non-rendered, used cooking oil has a carbon intensity (CI) score of roughly one-quarter that of conventional propane and roughly 15% the CI of Texas’s grid electricity. *
Though not widely used today, renewable propane’s production is growing each year.
When other fuel companies fall behind, Star Tex Propane gets customers the propane they need. We offer no-stress, no-fee Automatic Delivery to our customers. We’ll analyze your home’s fuel usage and develop a schedule that ensures you never run out. And you can qualify for a propane discount just for enrolling!
Interested in our Automatic Delivery service? Become a Star Tex customer today.
*Source: Propane Education & Research Council
For more than 30 years, the Star Tex Propane team has been the propane delivery company of choice for homes and businesses in Central Texas. We’ve prioritized responsive services, dependable deliveries, high-quality fuel and rigorous safety processes. Overall, we want our customers to have the best experience possible.
With that in mind, we have redesigned the Star Tex Propane website to meet the needs of current customers as well as Lone Star families looking for a reliable home comfort partner. We’ve designed every aspect of our new site to make life easier for you and to improve your customer experience. We hope you like it!
As you look around our new site, you will notice:
Please be sure to bookmark our website and check back in regularly. We’ll be updating the site frequently with useful tips, new blog posts, special offers and more.
And don’t hesitate to drop us a line to tell us what you think of our new and improved website!