Refilling 1lb propane bottle

[Ozark mike]

Filling the one lb. bottles is done exactly like mazo kid describes. You don't need a sun shiny day to warm the 20 lb. bottle.
I have been filling my 1 lb. bottles that way for years. When I started I weighed them before and after. I gave that up because they always got a 1 lb. fill. I have a mall spring scale that reads in ounces. The lightest I ever got was 14 oz.
I have a hose adapter to hook the devices that use the 1 lb. bottles to a 20 lb. bottle. I use it on my BBQ grill. It's a small table top BBQ. I also took it to a torch head. I only use these out side.
I have a weed burner that hooks to a 20 lb. bottle. I have a small hand dolly I set the tank on. A bungie cord holds it in place. This lets me wheel the tank along instead of carrying the tank.
Ozark mike. If you have a good solid stand, why not get a burner that hooks to a 20 lb. tank? I have an old fish fryer that is supposed to have a 50k burner but it never worked very well. I replaced the burner with a larger unit. the new burner is 6" diameter with feet on the bottom so it can set on a flat surface, or it can be bolted into a frame.
I paid either $25 or $29 for it. It came with a regulator and hose to hook it to the 20 lb. tank. I'll post a pic if I can find one.
They make these burners in a 4, 6 or 12 inch size. The 4" ones are round 50k BTU, the 6 around 100k BTU, the 12 is 200K BTU.
The smallest can be found for around $15-$20, the 6 " for $25-$35, the 12 is $89 and up.
These don't have any stand, just a burner.
The small one doesn't have feet but can be bolted to a piece of steel for a base.
I can't seem to find any pics. I'll post them after I find them.
Leo

A fish fryer burner would be over kill my casting pot is a homemade bottom pour that holds close to 20lbs of lead that sits on a 3 legged stand. I do not cast ingots just boolits

[44magLeo]

Yes, these will throw a lot of heat if you need it.
The larger heat source will melt the lead quicker, then can be adjusted down to where you want it for casting.
I don't know how much heat that burner you showed in the pic produces. So I can't compare it to these.
I'm very pleased with the one I bought. Looking for the pics I found one like mine for $22.
I'll post them so others may see the options. I found these on Amazon.
The first one is the 4", second 6", the last 10". I misspoke earlier there is no 12 ", it's a 10 ".
If you look close on the 4 " one you can see the bolt attachment on the bottom. It wouldn't be hard to bolt to some scrap stuff for a base.
On the second one you can see the feet. On the last one it doesn't look like it has feet.
Leo

[Ozark mike]

Yes, these will throw a lot of heat if you need it.
The larger heat source will melt the lead quicker, then can be adjusted down to where you want it for casting.
I don't know how much heat that burner you showed in the pic produces. So I can't compare it to these.
I'm very pleased with the one I bought. Looking for the pics I found one like mine for $22.
I'll post them so others may see the options. I found these on Amazon.
The first one is the 4", second 6", the last 10". I misspoke earlier there is no 12 ", it's a 10 ".
If you look close on the 4 " one you can see the bolt attachment on the bottom. It wouldn't be hard to bolt to some scrap stuff for a base.
On the second one you can see the feet. On the last one it doesn't look like it has feet.
Leo

Those could be bolted to my pot stand. I have also thought about those plumbers furnaces. This is what i have used for several years now and is very portable but is starting to get beat up

[uscra112]

I installed piping to distribute propane in my BOL farmhouse, for heat and cooking. A key tool to have is a "combustible gas leak detector". Mine is a UEI CD100A, which is a pro grade tool, and appropriately expensive at $155.000. https://www.amazon.com/UEi-Test-Inst.../dp/B000HHTY7Q

But you can find cheaper ones on Amazon for $35.00. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...l+gas+detector

How well the cheap ones work I don't know, but the CD100A is incredibly sensitive. Even annoyingly so. I found that it would detect the tiny bit of unburned propane that lingered in the air from lighting the kitchen stove for many minutes after, and yards away, unless the kitchen windows and doors were held open.

[Ozark mike]

I do my casting in the yard away from valuables. Ive had all i can take of house fires after i lost everything that mattered to me in the last one. Even the breakers go off when i leave the house now now

[454PB]

This is a bit off topic, but should alarm some people.

Years ago when I worked at a hydro electric plant, we had "bubblers" installed on the dam to prevent ice pressure on the flashboards. A bubbler is simply a piece of 3/8" pipe about 12 feet long that hangs in the water, flowing air, to keep the bays ice free. When it gets down to -25 degrees or so, moisture in the compressed air freezes and stops flowing. Those need to be thawed, so we used weed burners and 20 pound propane tanks to heat them. At -25 (and sometimes colder), a full propane bottle will only flow for a short time before it too ices up and stops flowing.

Our solution was to have two tanks and burners, one in use on the bubbler, and the other to heat the propane tank itself. Sounds scary, but it worked....for a while.

[Ozark mike]

Yeah ive had propane tanks freeze when using high volumes in cold weather rather common with rosebuds and weed burners

[bangerjim]

Propane boils at -45.6°F, so using it at cold temps is rather dodgy in small tanks. And the action of rapidly using (boiling) the stuff in a small tank creates additional cooling and compounds the "freezing " problem and low gas output.

The relatively low boiling point of propane is why it works well for cold weather home heating/cooking use when extracted from 500 or 1000 gallon LARGE volume tanks in the back yard. And that is why butane is NEVER used in cold climates as it boils at 30.2°F....a great temp for BIC lighters to work out of your pocket!

[Mal Paso]

Also why propane tanks are horizontal, to increase the surface area of the liquid propane for better recovery.

[GregLaROCHE]

During an Alaskan winter, I went to light a weed burner. I lit the match, opened the valve and the flame of the match got sucked into the jet. Luckily, it being so cold nothing ignited.

[Ozark mike]

During an Alaskan winter, I went to light a weed burner. I lit the match, opened the valve and the flame of the match got sucked into the jet. Luckily, it being so cold nothing ignited.

I bet that was a butt puckering experience

[GregLaROCHE]

You bet’cha.

[jmorris]

I have filled some and have the adapter but generally use the adapter and whip with one of my 20lb tanks vs filling them, if my needs are not “handheld.”

[dave 45-90]

Also why propane tanks are horizontal, to increase the surface area of the liquid propane for better recovery.

Yep And hi output burners use vaporizers Air to air or liquid. Since you are using liquid, the surface area of the tank becomes a mute point . If it won't flow, pump it to the vaporizer. A good example is corn dryers attached to storage bins to bring moisture to 15 percent or lower
***On a side note: I would never refill a propane bottle. Thru my personal experience, propane can and will kill. Water content can rust bottles from the inside out. It doesn't take much C3H8 to take the side out of your house.. Since it's heavier than air, it lays on the floor till it finds an ignition source. You won't even smell it

[fiberoptik]

I can’t smell anything anyways. Lost all sense of smell in a karate tournament in Okinawa back in 84. Couldn’t even smell tear gas!


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[dkf]

I've been refilling lbers for years. Pounder in freezer for at least a few hours, 20lb in the warm for at least a few hours, attach adapter and bottle to 20lb, turn 20lb upside down and turn valve on as fast as you can to full open. The fuller the 20lb is the better. I've gotten completely full (weighed) pounders that way.

You can buy brass and aluminum caps with o-rings (ebay) that screw onto pounders. This way if you get a leaky valve, the cap will seal it.

[uscra112]

Hmmm. The mere fact thatthere's a market for those gizmos ought to tell us something.

[dragon813gt]

Why would anyone store any propane cylinders in a house to begin with? It’s propane and they should be stored outside. Problem solved and if they leak they aren’t a hazard.

[megasupermagnum]

I tried filling these one winter for ice fishing, as I was sick of hauling around my 20 pound tank in the sled. While it works, and I didn't die, filling disposable 1 pound propane tanks is right up there as one of the most foolish things I have ever done in the name of saving a dollar. Those tanks aren't even good the first time. That same year someone fishing near me had a refilled tank that started spouting off while on a heater. He was ok, except short some hair, but that was enough for me.

Even before this incident I hated the 1 pound tanks. They are better off being known as 3/4 pound tanks, as they freeze before you use it all. I surely would not haul one in a car. I ended up buying a proper refillable 11 pound pancake tank. There are 5 pounders too. Don't bet your life over trying to save that $60 it cost for a proper refillable tank. This is coming from a guy who thinks OSHA is overrated, routinely loads reloads over max, and races motorcycles. Don't refill disposable propane tanks, it's amazing they are still allowed to be sold as they are new.

While I still use propane for my ice fishing heater, there are other options for stoves. Coleman makes (or at least made recently) one that can run on plain gasoline, which at the moment is cheaper than propane.

[craneman]

Do yourself a favor and get the Flameking refillable bottles. They are reasonable to buy. You can get the kit that comes with a stand for the 20 bottle and a fill valve with a Deadman switch. I have been using them for a number of years for our Boyscout cook stoves. When I was first researching filling my own came across several articles where people had the non reusable tanks rupture while filling causing some horrible injuries and at least one death as i remember.
My .02
Todd