General Info

After more than a half century in the fuel oil business, Casey Fuel has added a new product and has become Ridgefield's only hometown deliverer of propane. The family-owned company spent many months researching the market, including surveying its customers, and began quietly providing propane deliveries a little over a year ago. "We didn't want to overmarket ourselves, " said Shane Casey, president of the company. Clearly, Mr. Casey said, there is a market, and it has been growing. Most new homes are now equipped with gas stoves, preferred by many gourmet cooks. More people have pools and are heating them with propane. Propane generators, which are easier and cleaner to maintain than gasoline or diesel models, have become more popular. Propane fireplace units are being installed in more houses both for heat and for ambiance and propane hot water heaters have long been in use. Even propane furnaces are being used to heat smaller homes and cottages. A furnace, for instance, burns cleaner and quieter, and has fewer moving parts to wear out. Propane can also sit in a tank for a year or more and its quality will not be affected, as often happens with generators, which only use propane when there is a power outage. Unlike fuel oil, propane is not sold on a strict per-gallon rate, and the price depends on the quantity delivered.