Bulk LPG suppliers install a gas tank on your site and fill it from a tanker, so you stop handling cylinders altogether. It suits users who would otherwise need many 48 kg cylinders: restaurants and hotels, lodges, farms with brooders or crop dryers, factories with process heat and estates with gas piped to each house. This page covers above ground and underground tanks, how supply contracts work, telemetry, site approval and when bulk beats cylinders. Send one free, no-obligation request and bulk suppliers in your area quote you directly.
Who moves to bulk
Bulk becomes worth a look when cylinder changes are frequent enough to cost time, when theft of cylinders is a problem, or when the site needs gas in one place for several users. Typical sites are hotels and lodges with many rooms on gas water heating, restaurants and canteens, poultry farms heating brooder houses, farms drying crops, factories with ovens and burners, and residential estates that pipe gas from one tank to each unit with a meter.
Above ground or underground
Most tanks stand above ground on concrete saddles inside a fenced area, where they are easy to inspect and fill. Underground tanks are buried with only the cover and fittings showing. They suit sites where looks or space matter, such as an estate entrance or a hotel garden, but the installation is more involved. The supplier sizes the tank from your expected use, and decides where it can go after the site assessment.
How a bulk supply works
The details differ by supplier, so read the agreement. Common points:
- The supplier usually installs a tank it owns, and you pay for the gas you use.
- A tanker fills the tank on site, and you are billed per kilogram delivered.
- Telemetry on many tanks reports the level so the supplier can plan fills.
- The agreement sets the term, minimum use, who maintains the tank and what happens when it ends.
- Pipework from the tank to your appliances is a gas installation with its own certificate.
Site approval and when bulk beats cylinders
A bulk tank needs a safety assessment, and the municipality's fire department may need to approve it before it is filled. The site also needs an access route a tanker can use in all weather. The pipework is installed by a registered practitioner; see gas installation and gas compliance certificates. Compare the bulk offer with a delivered round of 48 kg cylinders: weigh the gas price, the contract terms and the time and risk of handling cylinders.
What to include in your request
- Describe the site and the access for a tanker
- List what runs on gas and how often
- Give your current cylinder use per month
- Say if you prefer above ground or underground
- Ask for contract term and minimum use in writing
Bulk LPG & Gas Tanks for different clients
- Homeowners: large houses or smallholdings where cylinder changes have become a weekly chore
- Complexes, estates and body corporates: estates piping gas from one tank to every unit with a meter per house
- Restaurants, takeaways and bakeries: busy restaurants, hotels and canteens that never want a cylinder change mid service
- Guest houses, lodges and venues: lodges and hotels heating water for many rooms from one tank
- Farms and smallholdings: poultry brooders and crop dryers with heavy seasonal gas use
- Factories, warehouses and workshops: factories with ovens, dryers and process burners running on every shift
- Campers, caravanners and event hosts: resorts and holiday parks supplying chalets and a central kitchen
- Gas installers, plumbers and dealers: installers and engineers planning reticulation from a new bulk tank
Frequently asked questions
What does a gas tank cost?
Who owns a bulk LPG tank?
Do I need approval for a bulk LPG tank?
Do you supply bulk LPG?
Bulk LPG & Gas Tanks by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Mthatha
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Mahikeng
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Kimberley
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg