Propane bottle refill

[Jim K]

is it really his?

Jim K

[pcb1962]

I've no idea how much a tank of propane is worth, but flexible hose is easily available up to 50m lengths, eg

[pcb1962]

OK, just seen further down that it's 200m, so not feasible

[Tim+]

Sounds like it would be easier to move the tank closer!

Seriously, if your neighbour has the kind of property with a 200m garden (with a road), I'm surprised he worried about a bit of leftover gas.

Tim

[newshound]

If you do a "top to top" connection, but chill the recipient tank so that it is significantly cooler than the source, propane should distill over as vapour and condense in the former as liquid. The transfer rate will depend on cooling capacity of the "chiller". It's probably breaching any number of regulations. My gut feeling is that a "freezer" would work, a "fridge" would not be so effective. It's trivial to estimate the transfer rate by weighing the filled cylinder.

Not really a serious suggestion, just a statement of principle. You

*really* don't want to spill liquid propane and then get a vapour cloud explosion.

This was propylene rather than propane, but the principle is the same.

[bert]

In message , Bodgit writes

Pressure is a parameter of propane not the tank. It will be the same on the bottle. You will need a pump of some sort. You can get them but I'm a bit out of touch with LPG now so can't suggest a source.

[bert]

In message , harryagain writes

ISTR they are liquid filled from the bottom If so there is a connector.

[news]

Yes this was my understanding, at least with the bulk tank used for refilling hot air balloons.

The propane bottles in my Land Rover have a float of some sort to prevent filling more than 70%. While one can easily decant propane just by using gravity other than weighing I don't see how to stop overfilling but this does not overcome the necessary forward pressure for the check valve in a vehicle.

As newshound says you can transfer vapour between tanks by having one warmer than the other, I never tried it (excise offence) but with suitable adapters one could use gas from 47kg bottles to fill the vehicle cylinders over night, the 47kg bottle wrapped in an electric blanket, again there is a need to get round the filler check valve.

AJH

[Dave Liquorice]

Tenant farmer? In which case I'm surprised he hasn't simply put the forks of a front loader under it and moved it closer...

If bulk LPG is 3/4 the price of oil a full tank is not far short of £1000...

[Adrian]

Roughly 55p/litre, and a full tank is nominal 1200-1400 litres, but with the same 80% fill caveat as mentioned elsewhere.

'course, what also hasn't been mentioned yet is the tank rental fee that's being paid... Normally about 15p/day. And that includes tank maintenance - and SHOULD include pipework maintenance. Unless they've bought the tank off the supplier. In which case, it's their own fault the pipework's f***ed...

[Weatherlawyer]

For a liquid or near liquid transfer a gas pump would be handy. But why does he need it to be liquid?

His supply is handy and near enough. If he gets a few bottles at a time he could manage with whatever pressure the gas enters the tank at.

BTW someone mentioned residual air in the gas bottles. There won't be any, it will be residual propane unless it comes from his connector whatever bodge he comes up with.

[John Williamson]

If he fills the bottles with gas just using a pipe between the top of the two containers, he'll be lucky to get half a kilogramme into a 47 kilo bottle. The only way to fill them to near capacity is to make sure the gas inside the bottle liquefies, and that needs more pressure than you can easily get from a gas only tap at the top of the source container, that is, you either need to heat the source (risky) or cobble together a pump to compress the gas into the receiving bottle. (Even more risky)

Correct.

[Gazz]

Yup, calor can be cnuts like that, tried to charge me the road rate for a fill of gas for my motorhomes tank the only time i ever got a fill at a calor depot, bloke wouldnt believe my tank was a vapor take off tank purely for the heating and cooking appliances, despite it being red, indicating a vapor take off tank, not black that denotes a liquid take off, having a visible POL valve with a vapor regulator, and the engine being diesel.

jeysus, i assume he's only just started this, he'll soon regret it when he compares the price of the gas in those bottles (i think it's about 32 litres of liquid gas in them, allowing for the ullage space etc,)

So, who owns the tank? him or calor,

if calor then he is renting the tank, and now cant use it so should be able to persuade them to renew the pipework to allow him to continue to buy 500 quid or so of gas every few months off them???

If it's his tank, then as others have said, why not pick it up and move it the other side of the road, then connect it back up using a length flexi hose, he already has the regulator needed on his 19 kg bottles as the POL valve is universal on all propane bottles/tanks, where as butane can be many different types and sizes, (actually, i did hear once that flo gas used a slightly smaller thread in the POL style valve onthsir propane cylinders, but they gave away the regulator to fit when you began renting bottles from them)

OR, is the pipe deffo corroded under the road? i.e. could he cut out the corroded parts of the pipe, hoping that the length under the road is sound and either put in new lengths of steel pipe, or flexi pipe just to allow him to use the gas in the tank he's paid for.

obviously pressure test the pipe run and locate the leaking parts first,