Propane delivery driver.

if it rains a lot where you are at, I would recommend getting a 7/16 stubby wrench to carry in your pocket,

LP freezes, and if you have to open a spit valve in the rain, sometimes they will freeze open, and it will be hard to get the spit valve to close back shut.

just don't over tighten the valve.

 

I got burned really bad once. The tank I was filling was set by a complete moron and was clear over on the other side of the house and took every inch of hose to reach. I knew that it was going to come back all twisted so I just had the nozzle laying on the ground, letting it do its little dance and avoid "knots". I had it just about reeled up when it happened, and to this day, I have no idea HOW it happened, but the nozzle caught on the bumper and opened up, right at crotch level. Missed my lil johnson by not much and my thigh caught the brunt of it.
If anything like that happens to you, get that piece of clothing OFF. IMMEDIATELY! If you don't, the liquid will soak in and burn you as it is vaporizing. Unfortunately, nobody had ever given me that little tidbit of advice and I had 2nd degree burns. I kid you not, I had a blister on my thigh that was 2" in diameter. Not a good way to get a week off work....
I never felt unsafe in the years I delivered, but just know, the stuff is no joke. Homes and people get blown up if leaks aren't handled properly. If you have doubts that maybe the tank was out and maybe a thermocouple was still open but the pilot went out, shut the tank off, even if you have to go back after hours to relight everything. That open thermocouple could cause a basement to fill with vapors.....In walks the home owner after work with a cigarette hanging out of his or her mouth and....BOOM.
Also keep an eye out for homeowner "improvements" or modifications to gas systems. People are idiots and I've seen all kinds of off the wall things. Galvanized piping, flex lines all joined together, running off cylinders with just a gas grill regulator, etc, etc. If it looks sketchy, call it in and let someone else make the decision.

 

^^This. X100. You should always have a 7/16th wrench. In terms of level of importance, I'd put it right beside dog treats.

Also, while I'm thinking of it, if you are having issues getting a water heater to light, you can "trick" it by heating the thermocouple with the gas valve in the "on" position. Just be aware that you can also lose your eyebrows by doing it. Or so someone told me.

 

I want to thank everyone for the stories and advice. It is very much appreciated!!

 

this is the reason I carry a highlighter now, sometimes dispatch will give you a ticket all ready filled up, with how many gallons a customers wants,

customer only wanted 50 gallons in a 100 gallon tank, didn't really pay much attention to the ticket, after I found the house finally, filled the tank up, thought it was odd they had hooked the regulator into a BBQ TANK!

customer calls dispatch back pissed because the tank had been filled completely, but the d.a. had hooked up a BBQ tank into his main gas line! what a d.s.

so now when I get a LP ticket from dispatch I will look over it and highlight any notes, or how many gallons the customer wanted.

 

and just to add to what wingnut was talking about getting burned,

when loading out of the bulk tank or unloading your truck back into the bulk tank take your time,

you have a spit valve on the hose, let it release all the LP out before you unhook it.

if you remove the hose too fast, it can pop off and let a lot of LP out at once and it will burn your arm or face.

just take your time, even if it takes forever haha.

 

I had a blind dog take a duke on my hose, when I got back from the tank it was squatted over the hose taking a watery runny diarrhea duke on my hose. the old lady came out and I asked if she had any water I could get the duke off my hose before I reeled it back in. she came out with a gallon of water and starting watering the grass, and I said look its not on the grass, its on the reel, and she about puked when she seen it.

I don't think it was a inside dog.

notice when you go around someones house where the outerdoor water spigot is at, because you might need it one day to get the dog poo off you shoes, unless you want the cab of the truck to smell like a poo all day.

today one of the guys came in , and he had got dog duke all on the back of his company coat, and didn't want to take it home to wash it, lazy bassturd.

when I first started, I rode with another driver, and I am not saying be mean to animals, because I was told if you think a dog will be aggressive don't chance getting out and getting bit,

but they had beware of dog signs, and the guy got out and shut the gate behind him, I handed him the reel, and a small dog ran up on him, and starting trying to take him down to the ground, and he punted the dog like a football. he had bite marks on his leg.

another guy at work didn't even know the people had a dog, until they let it out while he was filling up the tank, and it bit him on his way back to the truck.

if a dog tries to chase you don't run, yell at it, or whatever, because if you run, it will probably try to jump on you and bite you.

I had a problem with two dogs at the same house trying to get too close to me, being aggressive, one day I got fed up with it, and once I was far enough away from the truck, I sprayed a little LP, they ran, cornered them on the porch , and hosed them with the LP hose, I went out there the other day, and one dog put its tail between its legs when it saw the truck and ran away from the house, the other ran to the front porch and laid down when I got out.

 

one time I went to put the copy of the ticket on the door, and a woman came out in a t-shirt, and she had like a moth hole in it where her titty was , and she didn't have a bra on.

and one other time, I was riding with another driver, houses not too far away from the road, and we got into a construction zone (out in the middle of nowhere) we were waiting where the flagger was holding the stop sign and a fat lady came out on the porch I guess to look and see what was happening. and she had a see through shirt on, and both of her titties were visible from the road.

then a car pulled up behind us, and then pulled into the driveway where the fat woman was posted, a guy got out with a 32 pack of booze, and walked on the porch, pointed at the door, and followed the plump woman back inside. and I have a witness because I was with another driver,

it doesn't matter what road you are on, eventually you will be waiting in a construction zone....

 

one more story and this isn't mine to tell but I thought it was funny enough to share,

another driver had to take a duke and couldn't make it back to town,

so he ran in the woods, and was taking a duke and looked up and there was a game camera (a trail camera used to take photos of wildlife)

I said what did you do then?

he said he just got up and went on the other side of the tree opposite of where the game camera was.

whoever has the photo probably is on tv somewhere swearing they saw bigfoot.

this didn't happen in a propane truck,

but one time I drove out of state, and parked on the shoulder of the road next to a no dumping sign,

and it looked like someone had threw a turd out.

probably took a duke in a bucket or something and threw it out.

 

That is what I was doing in summer of 1996. You go figure as there were lots of propane tanks to
be filled by railcar. I dont ask when, but where? Always there is a propane tank that needs filling.