u/icecubesat

Contracted with a local Florida propane company to install a new 250-gallon aboveground tank to service a new standby generator. On install date, the company shows up with a dark green tank. After unloading and placing it, they told me they didn’t have any 250-gallon white aboveground tanks, so they bought this one, which they will have to come back and paint white, because a dark tank is unsafe in the sun. The dark green tank they delivered is a combination aboveground/underground tank in a ready-to-bury configuration.

Later, I called the tank manufacturer and asked them if letting the propane company paint the tank will void the manufacturer’s warranty. They informed me that it will void the 5-year paint warranty. Understandable, since it would not be their paint anymore. I also found out that the company sells the same aboveground/underground tank in either white or dark green. Either can be buried, but only the white one can be used aboveground as-is in warm environments.

I’m now in a back-and-forth with the propane company, trying to get the tank exchanged, because I know painting the tank is going to void the tank warranty, their paint job is not going to be the same quality as a factory finish, and I don’t feel like I’m getting what I paid for. They admitted it’s their usual practice to buy whatever aboveground/underground tank is cheapest, and then paint it for aboveground installs, so they can “pass that savings on to the customer”.

My questions for the community:

1. Has anyone else had a similar experience when buying a new aboveground tank, where an installer wants to paint it instead of delivering a tank that’s the proper color to begin with?
2. Is it common practice in the industry for an installer to paint a new dark-colored tank, originally intended for direct burial, instead of just ordering the proper colored tank?
3. Are dark green ready-to-bury aboveground/underground tanks really so much cheaper than white tanks, to the point that it would offset the labor to paint them?