years ago machines I serviced use 1 gallon cans of liquid stored in the base cabinet of the machine.
Ditto machine can weighing unit.
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I REALLY DONT UNDERSTAND why the OP doesnt just keep a spare tank, and swap it out when needed.......
I mean you gain nothing weighing the tank when its empty doesnt matter its still empty and must be changed...
just run till empty and change
You missed "Lazy". Our trailer has the bottles inside of a plastic housing. In order to check bottle levels on a daily basis, I would have to remove the housing which takes a little time. Opening the top panel and pointing the laser down into the opening is easy.
Lazy.
RonB
...
How does that answer Bobby G's question, which was...
"How can you tell how much propane is left in a tank?"
I always have a spare tank on hand but it has never once told me how much propane is left in the other tank.
Your suggestion may indeed solve the problem of running out and it is most assuredly employed by countless propane users. However, it doesn't answer the question that was asked.
om...
either way it doesnt matter. when the tank is empty it must be changed....
.com...
How does that answer Bobby G's question, which was...
"How can you tell how much propane is left in a tank?"
My error. When I said "dial" I meant the dial type pressure gauges. What I was trying to say was: "If the scale idea fails, I am back to the dial-type pressure gauge which a lot of people claim does not give enough advanced warning of an empty tank." I don't expect the scale method to fail, though.
-- Bobby G.
OP poster could run the torch flat out from full tank to empty, and note the time.
or store a spare tank under a overturned garbage can. i did that years ago with some spare gasoline
or build a ventilated secure container of some sort close to the house for easy tank swap.
while OP is concerned about weight of tank, he may not realize the weighing unit and scale will make moving the unit heavier.......
if OP concrete areas need replaced i would suggest a new whatever with imbeded PEX line to warm the areas when needed
gregz wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.or g:
they used to sell these liquid crystal magnetic stickers to put on the side of the tank,and the temp difference would show you the level of the propane.
too bad they can't make a tape of the LC stuff and it could be applied to tanks of different sizes.
There were enough negative comments about pressure gauges on the Amazon site to make me seriously worried about whether a gauge would be helpful
Yep. I had to eliminate some potential solutions because of the "horse around" factor. Today, in the auto parts store, the 18 year old clerk said "next in line" and someone cut in front of me. She said no, the "old guy" was first. I looked around for a second and then realized she was talking about me!!!! )-:
That makes sense when you depend on propane for more than clearing occasional ice from the steps four months of the year. I might get an adapter to allow me to run my small emergency cook stove from the big tank - I even think that the fittings that came with the torch will allow me to do that. I'll have to look.
-- Bobby G.
I think they do. The next time I visit my sister, I am going to stop by the huge Suburban propane center that's on the way. If anyone knows, they should. They've got every size of propane tank up to railroad car-sized.
The problem, IIRC, with the temperature method is that it only works after you've fired off enough gas to cause a temperature drop in the tank. I think the scale idea's going to work out just fine, though.
-- Bobby G.
r
if your home has natural gas you could install a outdoor gas outlet commonly used for gas grills and get a longer hose for the torch, no carrying tank at all........
I had some of those at least 20 years ago. They worked well except at temperature extremes. They also weren't weather/UV hardened so didn't last long.
Lazy is just the lazy way of saying "efficient." (-:
-- Bobby G.
Lazy.
RonB
I was on your side for a while, but I gotta disagree with you here. ;-)
If you've got the device out on the icy porch, it's because you are about to use it right?
A small additional amount of water in an area that you are about to torch - and I assume dry up - won't make any difference.
In fact, it will melt the ice before you even put the torch to it, thereby saving propane. Do the math. ;-)
re: "In particular, why should I bother even taking the tank outside to test it with hot water if I have a way to inspect the rig and determine I'm out of propane?"
umm...Not for nothing, but if you run out of propane while the rig is inside, you've got a problem - namely a leak.
If you *don't* have a leak and the tank shows empty, then it must have run out while you were using it and you'd already know it's empty.
-snip-
Uh-- is your range safety officer wife really letting you bring a 40lb propane tank into the house? Anything over a pound is a no-no as far as I know.
Jim
Well, that's certainly one reason SWMBO doesn't like the idea of storing the tank inside the house. If the tanks leaks outside on the porch, it's not likely to cause any trouble. Storing it inside, where the gas can build up, represents more of a danger. I am thinking now of building a small rolling table for the porch that allows me to conceal the propane tank and scale within its base.
I'm going to get out my electric drill and put a sight glass in the tank. (-" (Just kidding - I thought I'd mention it just because of some of the craziness being discussed in other threads.)
I am actually quite happy with the embedded scale method because I want to make sure I've always got at least enough propane around to melt the steps so I can get out to more propane. The reality is that I'll probably end up doing what Mr. Haller suggested and buying a spare tank. We've got a crawl space under the front stoop that will fit a spare tank. I figure that it's better to have a spare on premises than risking driving around in icy weather to acquire a replacement. Last year, when the city plow dumped a ton or so of icy snow boulders in front of the house, we were "ice locked" for almost a week.
As reluctant as my wife is to have a number of propane tanks lying around, she was very impressed at how well it melted the ice the first time we used it. It's a question of balance. Is the risk of having lots of propane around more or less than the risk of someone (especially us!) cracking their heads open on icy steps? I've taken one bad fall on the ice that fortunately was buffered by landing on my big butt. It could have easily been the back of my head that hit the ground.
-- Bobby G.
re: "Is the risk of having lots of propane around more or less than the risk of someone (especially us!) cracking their heads open on icy steps?"
That one's pretty easy. I don't think we even need a cite for what I'm about to proclaim.
First off, a couple of 20 lb tanks (and I mean 20 lbs TARE) is not what most folks would consider "lots of propane".
Second, compare the number of gas grills, smokers, space heaters and ice melting torches that require small propane tanks, the number of houses/trailers/workshops that use a large propane tank as the main source of fuel and the number of people who have a spare tank hanging around to the number of people who slip on an icy surface. I'd say the risk is much higher of a fall than any damage from a propane tank.
You just don't hear headlines like "House destroyed by spare propane tank stored on deck" or "Occupants overcome by propane fumes" very often. Yes, it happens, but not very often compared to the number of tanks out there.
However, we often hear about friends and family who slipped and fell on ice, usually sustaining minor injuries, but sometimes getting really hurt. Those incidents don't usually make the headlines, but I think we can all agree that ice related accidents happen more often than propane related accidents.
with two 20 pound tanks on site you dont need the weighing unit.
begin with 2 full tanks, run first one out and swap, get first tank filled.
this elminates altogther the weighing unit, which adds weight to haul around.......
this is what the vast majority of people do for gas grills...
store tank outdoors in a secure spot.
when propane leaks its heavier than air, and will act like water.
so make certain theres free air space under the spare tank
you can buy a screw on gauge if you want, it may give you a idea of how much gas is in the tank, but it really doesnt matter if you have a spare tank on site
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