Old Coleman Stove Fuel Tanks -- how to get rid of 'em?

[John Albert]

Hello all -

I had an old - VERY old - Coleman camping stove in the basement. My parents bought it in the late 50's or early

60's, and it was probably used only a few times and then put away. It been down in the basement ever since.

It ran off "BernzOMatic" 14.4oz tanks, two of them.

I took the tanks out, and took the rest of the stove to a scrapyard and got rid of it, but I still have the tanks.

Even after fifty years, the tanks still have fuel in them. I can open the valve, and you can hear and feel the gas coming out.

I tried taking them to a place that recycles propane tanks, and they won't take them. They said it's NOT propane in the tanks, but something else.

I want to get rid of these safely. I could hide them in the trash, but am a little uncomfortable about doing something that might put others in danger.

Any way to safely empty these? Perhaps just take them to where there's little chance of an open flame, open the valve, and let them drain on their own?

Suggestions welcome...

Thanks,

- John

[John Albert]

This is a followup to my original post above.

I went and took a closer look at the tanks. It says right on the label "propane".

Remember, these are 40-50 years old, perhaps they're putting something different into those tanks now.

Still wondering how to get rid of them...

[Lab Lover]

You can't use them for a torch or lantern? Seems a shame to toss perfectly good propane bottles.

[Steve F.]

A secluded location, a fire, and a .22 or larger...

[Ralph Mowery]

Many towns have an internet page for giving away free things. I have given away several things that were still useful but not needed at my house. Possiably Cregs list on the internet. I think you could also use them for the propane tourches. Maybe a free ad in the local news paper ?

[Stormin Mormon]

I think your idea is good. Take em out, and release the gas. Propane is bio degradable.

[Stormin Mormon]

Use them in the cook stove, and cook your next couple meals. Are they different thread than now days?

[Stormin Mormon]

Fire, and get a safe distance. they should have safety vents. A couple 14.1 ounce tanks from the fifties ought to fit a modern Buddy Burner, or propane torch. We're only talking five bucks worth of gas, but even so.

[philoÂÂ]

From the Coleman website

Basically: If you do not have a recycle center that will deal with them... they say to just let the gas out then throw the cylinders away.

[Thomas]

A secluded Barren location. Been there, done that. Be far away so you have time to dodge chunks.

[micky]

Sometimes after enough time, propane will lose a couple protons and change to 2-4-hexo-methyl-heptane.

This is an intermediate substance that will lead to a chain reaction, where the final product is lead and about 100 kilotons of TNT/gram of explosive power.

This is considered a hazardous substance. Wrap it in newspaper and put in the trash.

Or read the other answers.

[micky]

Freecycle.com will refer people to the local webpage. Mine is a yahoo site.

Ugh. My ISP keeps bouncing yahoo mail and after about 2000 bounces, Yahool stops writing me. I added another address to Yahoo, but I can't use it until I verify it and following their instructoins accomplishes nothing. There is no way to write or call Yahoo afaict. They seem to have a place to file complaints. I did that weeks ago and now it's one of 3000 complaints. No one else seems to have complained about the same things, although I clicking "verify" has yielded different results over the weeks.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'd take the tanks, put a light bit of grease on the threads. Screw the tanks one at a time onto a propane torch. Light the torch, and use it to help warm the house. When the torch no longer runs, put the tanks in the household trash. Unless you're concerned about the methyl heptane, and then you might not want to.

[The Daring Dufas]

OMG! You scrapped a vintage Coleman Camp Stove instead of putting it on Craigs List or eBay? There are folks who would have bought it from you or gladly taken it off your hands. o_O

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I have a valve core tool that I use to remove the reusable Schrader valve cores out of the cylinders. The valve on the side of tank is a safety valve and works as a pressure release. I don't have a setup to refill them right now so after removing the valve cores I'll either put them on a drill press and drill a 1/2" hole in them or place them between a couple of bricks and puncture them with a pickax. The recycler has no problem with them then. My friend LM has a metal shop and when he gets rid of scrap, I can toss them in the pile after opening them up. The pickax is the easiest but my pal has a big arbor press that I can affix a chisel point to that will punch a hole in and mash one up, it makes it quite easy. His arbor press looks a lot like the one in the picture below. ^_^

TDD