Refilling 1 pound propane canisters

[Wildthang]

Did you guys know that there is a nifty little adapter to refill the 1 lb propane canisters from a 20 lb tank? I was totally unaware of this! I would think this would be much more economical than buying the canisters, and would be a good addition to the prep planning.
So if you were using a Coleman camp stove in your house for cooking, it would be much safer to use 1 pound canisters than the larger 20 lb tanks for the outdoor grill. And with the adapter, you wouldn't have to worry about going to the store for more canisters. So. I am buying a couple of the MacCouplers as soon as I can! Before trying this, read and understand all of the safety tips because this could get dangerous with a little stupidity in the mix. BUt in a SHTF situation, this will be a handy thing to know!

http://www.survivallife.com/2013/05/...epper-part-ii/

[Rick]

We have talked about it but it's been a while. No harm in revisiting it. Lot's of new folks in that time.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...t=propane+tank

[randyt]

I recently ended up with my granddads hand operated propane pump. It's a pump with a cant hook handle and two hoses. One hose goes on the small tank and then the other hose goes onto the bulk tank. In the old days we weighed the small tank (usually a hundred pound cylinder) on a grain scale. Anyhoo the gas was turned on and the handle pumped back and forth until the tank was 80% full, that's when the balance arm on the scale went thunk.

wanted to add that it's illegal to transport a refilled disposable tank. On the other hand there is a 1 lb refillable tank available, believe it's made by manchester tank.

[Rick]

I recently ended up with my granddads hand operated propane pump. It's a pump with a cant hook handle and two hoses.

Probably because it's so old. If you look around in antique stores you can probably replace it with a good can hook handle.

[randyt]

Actually I misspoke. It's not a cant hook handle, it's a peavey handle. LOL

[Rick]

Man! You made me waste a great subtle joke. Dang it!

[randyt]

ya know Rick, growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional LOL

[Rick]

True dat...

[nell67]

Was gonna post a thread on refilling 20lb cylinders vs. exchange. I have ALWAYS exchanged the tanks,but the prices really suck,ranging anywhere from $17.99 to 23.99(no kidding, I called this week when my boyfriend decided to take his yard sale finds 7 tanks @ $5 for each tank, so I called around to find pricing on refilling tanks,prices were $17 -26 to refill,really?? $26 to refill a tank?? yep Ferrellgas quoted that price.told them about it too, morons.
So he suggests I call an RV sales business in Memphis Indiana (little dot on the map really) and they priced it at $3.25 a gallon. he refilled those tanks total of (30.4 gallons) for a little over a hundred bucks with tax. Pulling out of their lot,he wondered out loud if they refiled the little 1 pounders as well,I doubted it, so this proves me wrong, thanks Wildthang. LOL

Another thing,Have you noticed that exchange companies (Blue Rhino, Amerigas, etc.) only refill their tanks to 15 lbs now,but they still charg the same (or more) than when they actually filled the darn things completely to 20 lbs!

[crashdive123]

Missing subtle jokes is Rick's pet peavy.

[Rick]

See that! Yes! That's what I'm talkin' about.

Nell - Take a look at your tank. On the neck should be a stamp that says something like TW - 16.6 lb (could be 17 or anything close depending on manufacturer). The TW stands for tare weight. That's the weight of the tank completely empty. A 20lb tank is designed to hold 20lbs of propane so a full tank should weigh 20 lbs + the tare weight. About 36-37 lbs. A tank can actually hold about 24 lbs of propane but it isn't filled that full to allow for expansion. When you have a tank filled the scale should be set to 37 pounds for a 20lb tank. That's easy to watch if you stay with the tank while it's being filled.

If you look on the neck of the tank you'll also see a month and year stamped in it. That's the date the tank was made and the tank is good for 12 years from that date. Beyond that it's supposed to be re-certified before it can be refilled. Recertification is only allowed in 5 year increments so I think it's easier and less expensive just to swap out tanks. That's the only time I change them.

Also, if you buy a brand new tank then it's full of air and has to be purged the first time it's filled. That can add another few bucks to the actual cost so I just swap them instead of buying a new tank.

If anyone is interested, a pound of propane weighs 4.7 pounds. So a 1lb tank should weigh just over 1.5 lbs. I don't know if those tanks have tare weights on them or not. I've never thought to check.

[randyt]

A tank should be filled to 80 percent. On the fill valve there is a 80 percent bleeder to set the level or by weight. The reason being is propane is a compressible gas that becomes liquid, very easy to overfill. There is also a relief valve that can pop open if overfilled. I had a near miss years ago. I had filled a few disposable cylinders and gave one to a friend. There's probably 50 cents worth of gas in a cylinder like that. Anyhoo he threw it on his dash with the defrost heater blasting away. The relief opened and spewed gas. As a chain smoker he was extremely fortunate he wasn't smoking at the time.

Rick, did you mean one gallon equals 4.7 lbs?

[Rick]

Buhahahahaha! Yeah, one gallon. I guess 1 pound is still one pound. LOL.

If you want to figure out how much is left in a tank you can weigh it. Subtract the tare weight from the reading and that will tell you how many pounds are left in the tank.

[randyt]

Ok you're good at math, what weighs more a pound of feathers or a pound of lead? LOL.

[Rick]

a gallon....right?

[nell67]

See that! Yes! That's what I'm talkin' about.

Nell - Take a look at your tank. On the neck should be a stamp that says something like TW - 16.6 lb (could be 17 or anything close depending on manufacturer). The TW stands for tare weight. That's the weight of the tank completely empty. A 20lb tank is designed to hold 20lbs of propane so a full tank should weigh 20 lbs + the tare weight. About 36-37 lbs. A tank can actually hold about 24 lbs of propane but it isn't filled that full to allow for expansion. When you have a tank filled the scale should be set to 37 pounds for a 20lb tank. That's easy to watch if you stay with the tank while it's being filled.

If you look on the neck of the tank you'll also see a month and year stamped in it. That's the date the tank was made and the tank is good for 12 years from that date. Beyond that it's supposed to be re-certified before it can be refilled. Recertification is only allowed in 5 year increments so I think it's easier and less expensive just to swap out tanks. That's the only time I change them.

Also, if you buy a brand new tank then it's full of air and has to be purged the first time it's filled. That can add another few bucks to the actual cost so I just swap them instead of buying a new tank.

If anyone is interested, a pound of propane weighs 4.7 pounds. So a 1lb tank should weigh just over 5 lbs. I don't know if those tanks have tare weights on them or not. I've never thought to check.

Rick, as a former warehouse/shipping receiving/inventory control in a factory, I know what tare weight is, I recorded the amount of gas in each tank as it was filled, I know which tanks were completely empty,and which still had some gas in it, ( I never lifted one,as an empty tank is heavier than my medical restriction,sucks) some took 4 gallons to fill,some took 4.7 (completely empty tank), the total to fill them all was 30.4 gallons most of the tare on the tanks are 17 and 18. The thing is,companies used to sell the tanks with 20 lb in them,then cut it to 19,then 17 and in 2009 they dropped the amount in the tank to 15 lb and no one complained that they were being charged the same for less.

[Rick]

Mea Culpa. Just tryin' to help.

[alaskabushman]

I have used an adapter for refilling 1lb propane tanks quite a bit. Where I live the little green tanks are over $6 each so for me, (since my cook stove and hot water heater run on LP gas anyway) its much more cost effective to refill than buy new ones. On a side note, those "lite" propane tanks have a recall issued on them, so if you use one of those clear tanks then follow the directions here:

http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles...20-%20IAFC.pdf

I use those little 1lb green canisters for everything from my coleman grill to torching frozen pipes in winter, so its nice when I'm snowed in to be able to just refill them.

[finallyME]

I seem to have collected a bunch of those little green propane canisters from all my scout campouts. It would be much cheaper, and more "green" for me to refill them. Thanks for the info.

[hunter63]

......
Another thing,Have you noticed that exchange companies (Blue Rhino, Amerigas, etc.) only refill their tanks to 15 lbs now,but they still charg the same (or more) than when they actually filled the darn things completely to 20 lbs!

Glad you brought this up......15# make the exchange price sound better than a true fill.

Had a bad 20 pounder (I refill at a hard ware store), wouldn't take any.....Guy says next time exchange that bad tank...then he filled my other one.
P.S. Have a 1# filler from Harbor Freight, still haven't used it......