The house I bought earlier this year has gas logs inside a converted fireplace. It's hooked up to a propane tank on the outside of the house. I'd guess it's a 100lbs tank or so, and it fuels nothing but the gas logs. I THINK the tank conveyed when I bought the house — it's not owned by a gas company as far as I can tell. It's an older tank (stamped 6-02).

We turned on our fireplace for the first time last week, and after a couple hours, whatever propane the previous owner left us ran out, so now I'm entering what seems to be the messy and annoying propane market. I'm not all that interested in leasing a tank, as it seems like a waste of money. I don't expect to need much propane — the fireplace is more for occasional aesthetics and maybe backup heat in case our power goes out. Amerigas said they won't deliver gas to my owned tank because I likely wouldn't use enough in a single year to qualify in my area (I live in NC). I expect I'd either need to buy a new tank or get mine recertified anyway.

What's the downside of buying a couple of 20-40 lbs tanks or so and hooking them up to the existing gas line, and taking them to get refilled when they run low, without having to pay for delivery? Will the gas logs work just as good? Anything to be careful of as I'm hooking up a new tank?