Evolv-ing Thread

[SlickWilly]

So once again I'll stray into way off on another topic, propane and propane accessory's (Hank Hill ) I use 20 pound tanks and heaters for heat in my shop and now that cold weather is here and I'm still trying to button up the house, fixing the old storm window and get them up, I've had to get the tanks filled and turn the heat on. I had two tanks filled at one place, none of the fellows was there so the lady at the desk came out to fill the tanks. Today the first tank emptied was too fast, next tank ran 15 min and I noticed the regulator and the hose was frosted over, in 25 years of heating my shop off like this I've never had that happen. I'm no compressed gas expert but that told me liquid gas was entering the valve, the tank had been overfilled..... I shut it down, set the tank outside and took two more tanks to a different place to get them filled. On the way home with the tanks in the back of the Jeep I kept getting a whiff of propane but not thinking too much of it other then "hey they just got filled so nothing to worry about...." When I got home I hooked one up and tested both for leaks with soapy water, no leaks, time to get back to work, lost another three hours.... An hour into work I was getting a headache and feeling like crap, decided to get a cup of coffee and take a break, as I headed to the door I passed by one of the heaters and got a whiff of propane, WTFrank, I tested for leaks? Walked over to the nearest heater and heard a hiss, gas was venting from the safety release valve on the spare tank I just had filled, it was sitting feet from a running heater, YIKES!!!! Danger, Danger Will Robinson! I quickly open all the doors, shut down the heaters, dragged the venting tank outside and got the hell out of there!

What I found was they had overfilled that tank, once the temperature rose inside the shop the pressure in the tank rose and the safety vent opened. I've never had a tank overfilled, never, now two!! After ten minuets in the outside cold air (snow in the air here today) the pressure dropped enough and the tank stopped venting. So now I have two overfilled tanks sitting outside, overfilled at two different places, one filled at a propane company, (thanks Mrs. Hank Hill ) are you kidding me? Ugh I have bad luck..... Not only could it had blown up my shop but I could have been in it! Not happy, no happy at all....

 

[Eskie]

So once again I'll stray into way off on another topic, propane and propane accessory's (Hank Hill ) I use 20 pound tanks and heaters for heat in my shop and now that cold weather is here and I'm still trying to button up the house, fixing the old storm window and get them up, I've had to get the tanks filled and turn the heat on. I had two tanks filled at one place, none of the fellows was there so the lady at the desk came out to fill the tanks. Today the first tank emptied was too fast, next tank ran 15 min and I noticed the regulator and the hose was frosted over, in 25 years of heating my shop off like this I've never had that happen. I'm no compressed gas expert but that told me liquid gas was entering the valve, the tank had been overfilled..... I shut it down, set the tank outside and took two more tanks to a different place to get them filled. On the way home with the tanks in the back of the Jeep I kept getting a whiff of propane but not thinking too much of it other then "hey they just got filled so nothing to worry about...." When I got home I hooked one up and tested both for leaks with soapy water, no leaks, time to get back to work, lost another three hours.... An hour into work I was getting a headache and feeling like crap, decided to get a cup of coffee and take a break, as I headed to the door I passed by one of the heaters and got a whiff of propane, WTFrank, I tested for leaks? Walked over to the nearest heater and heard a hiss, gas was venting from the safety release valve on the spare tank I just had filled, it was sitting feet from a running heater, YIKES!!!! Danger, Danger Will Robinson! I quickly open all the doors, shut down the heaters, dragged the venting tank outside and got the hell out of there!

What I found was they had overfilled that tank, once the temperature rose inside the shop the pressure in the tank rose and the safety vent opened. I've never had a tank overfilled, never, now two!! After ten minuets in the outside cold air (snow in the air here today) the pressure dropped enough and the tank stopped venting. So now I have two overfilled tanks sitting outside, overfilled at two different places, one filled at a propane company, (thanks Mrs. Hank Hill ) are you kidding me? Ugh I have bad luck..... Not only could it had blown up my shop but I could have been in it! Not happy, no happy at all....

And this is why we need a "Oh damn" smiley (well not damn, but we'd never get the right one) as it's not creative, useful, or informative and tough to like. It just sucks. How old are the tanks?

 

[tiburonfirst]

 

[SlickWilly]

And this is why we need a "Oh damn" smiley (well not damn, but we'd never get the right one) as it's not creative, useful, or informative and tough to like. It just sucks. How old are the tanks?

The oldest tank I have is six years old, one of the reasons I have alwsy gone to the place that only sells propane is they check the tanks and won't fill them if they have gone past the date due for inspection, the other place doesn't care and doesn't check, they'll fill a tin can if you pay them. When I need to get a new tank I take it to one of those exchange places, you may not get a brand new tank but it will be good for some years, it's cheaper and you're also getting a filled tank. I've never felt the need before but now I'm going to build a small enclosure outside the shop and keep the spare tanks outside from now on, that won't keep an overfilled tank from venting once it comes up in temperature but it's one less inside. I'll be having a chat with the owners of both places, they need to know what their employees are doing, could cost them one hell of a lawsuit, they need to make sure who ever is filling them is well trained. It's rattled my chain, I've been using these for many many years like this and never had a problem then two from two different places in less then a week, what are the odds? Like I've said before, you don't want to stand near me in a thunder storm.....

I use to have two 100# tanks outside that were piped inside the shop, ran one and when one went empty I go out, turn a couple valves, switch them over, call the company and they would swing by and fill the tank. After a few years they told me I wasn't using enough to make it worth their while to drive out to fill one tank, if I wanted to keep them I'd have to also pay a delivery fee. It was cheaper for me to buy some 20's and get them refilled.

 

[mikepetro]

 

[dwcraig1]

 

[awsum140]

Willie, we use a Bug Buddy for "auxiliary" heat in the house. The insulation of the house, layout and size of the house let us run it on low and it will keep the whole house warm. I use 20 pound tanks, too, and always go to the local propane/oil service near by. They are very professional, check the tank dates and weigh each tank carefully as they fill them. I stand right there and watch every time. Plus, they are less expensive than the pre-filled stuff and always give a full fill, I've found the pre-filled stuff always a little on the low side. I have found the younger staff members are not quite as thorough but even they are very careful and the place is quite popular for propane tank fills with RVs and numerous 40 and 100 pound cylinders being filled all the time.

I keep all the tanks outside, none in the house other than the one pound bottles I use for soldering. A plastic garbage bag takes care of keeping them protected from the weather. I do want to build an enclosure for the "in use" tank and a separate one for the spares. 100 pounds of propane can produce a really "nice" bang if something goes wrong so keeping everything outside and a little away from the house just seems prudent.

 

[tiburonfirst]

always give a full fill

isn't the safety cut-off line for propane fill at 80%?

 

[SlickWilly]

Willie, we use a Bug Buddy for "auxiliary" heat in the house. The insulation of the house, layout and size of the house let us run it on low and it will keep the whole house warm. I use 20 pound tanks, too, and always go to the local propane/oil service near by. They are very professional, check the tank dates and weigh each tank carefully as they fill them. I stand right there and watch every time. Plus, they are less expensive than the pre-filled stuff and always give a full fill, I've found the pre-filled stuff always a little on the low side. I have found the younger staff members are not quite as thorough but even they are very careful and the place is quite popular for propane tank fills with RVs and numerous 40 and 100 pound cylinders being filled all the time.

I keep all the tanks outside, none in the house other than the one pound bottles I use for soldering. A plastic garbage bag takes care of keeping them protected from the weather. I do want to build an enclosure for the "in use" tank and a separate one for the spares. 100 pounds of propane can produce a really "nice" bang if something goes wrong so keeping everything outside and a little away from the house just seems prudent.

I have a propane salamander to bring the temperature up quickly and I use a couple of the dual burner radiant type heater to hold it. The salamander won't run once the tank is about 2/3 empty but the others will run a tank almost empty so I rotate them to get all I can out of each tank. I have to have the tanks I'm using inside, the radiant heaters mount to the tanks.

Back when I had the outside tanks I had just one big salamander that would self ignite when turned on, I set it in the corner and at the ceiling above it hung a box fan, both were plugged into an outlet I wired to a wall thermostat, I could set the thermostat and forget it, when the temperature dropped both would come on, the box fan moved the hot air around the shop, it kept it very nice and warm. That was back when I worked as a mechanic and did side jobs at home, I could be under a car and the heat would come on and off without me having to crawl out and tend to it.

 

[SlickWilly]

isn't the safety cut-off line for propane fill at 80%?

That's my understanding but I'm no expert. I know you want gas coming out, not the compressed liquid.

ETA: Should have read you were responding to "full fill", I believe that's what he meant, full = 80% and not half filled like some places do, I've been cheated like that before.

 

[MadOzodi]

Reading about the battery issues this morning has fried my brain for the rest of the day...

w00h00, so much for accomplishing anything for work!

 

[Eskie]

Yeah, it's nice when the vendor weighs it right in front you so you know you got a proper fill. And check the expiration date each time. I much prefer that to the Lowe's exchange system (leave old, get one of their's full) even though I'm sure it's safe. I just know how I treated my tank not the exchange one.

 

[SlickWilly]

Reading about the battery issues this morning has fried my brain for the rest of the day...

w00h00, so much for accomplishing anything for work!

Put it out of your mind and later idea's will pop in your head, I promise. When working on cars with a hard diagnostic problem for a long period of time I'd get brain lock, I'd walk away for a while, take a break and come back at it. It clears the clutter from your head, time to clear out the chaff, when you come back fresh you'll quickly zero in on the problem area, it always worked for me.

 

[SCOTT-3]

There has got to be a way to make a decent drum roaster with inexpensive parts. I’d have thought you would have come up with one Mike. You seem quite resourceful in that way.

Here you go two home made roasters one air one
oven roaster conversion which i use weekly for 1kl roasts, all at low cost build, have a glance at Homeroasters.org forum.

 

[SlickWilly]

Yeah, it's nice when the vendor weighs it right in front you so you know you got a proper fill. And check the expiration date each time. I much prefer that to the Lowe's exchange system (leave old, get one of their's full) even though I'm sure it's safe. I just know how I treated my tank not the exchange one.

Yeah it's a lot cheaper to get them refilled, it's only $10 around here, catch a sale and it's less. I only exchange when I have a tank they won't refill anymore, when I get one I tell them which one I want, I won't let them give me an old nasty looking tank or one that's been repainted. I look for one that looks new, roll them on it's side and look at the bottom for signs of being repainted, never had any problem picking the one I want. I guess one of these days I should learn how they are coded or dated, I'm sure I can google it or ask the guys at the propane dealer. If I have time today I'll be making a run taking these tanks back to them, wish I had a pickup, not thrilled at the idea of having them inside the Jeep again, guess I could use my trailer, think I will.

 

[SlickWilly]

View attachment 698839 Here you go two home made roasters one air one
oven roaster conversion which i use weekly for 1kl roasts, all at low cost build, have a glance at Homeroasters.org forum.

Nicely done! I love it, a fellow tinkerer!

 

[mikepetro]

Nicely done! I love it, a fellow tinkerer!

Notice he has a Variac hooked up, it is important to make sure you have the full 120v available for these rigs.

I even use a variac with my Hottop roaster. 110v vs 120 can make a big difference in the amount of BTUs generated by an electric burner.

 

[tiburonfirst]

checking in with a need for battery advice

in this case though it's a lap top battery. as you know i upgraded to windows 10 due to taking my son's reject he had bought a new battery but was not able to get a charge. i got a new adapter and things seemed well with one caveat - right from the beginning the battery stopped accepting a charge once it reached 82%. and it kept losing a bit day by day. i'm now at 54% and it won't budge is this battery failing? anything i can do?

 

[awsum140]

When I said "full fill" I meant the 80%/20 pound mark. The pre-fills just seem to have a tendency to only fill to eighteen pounds or less. Over a season that can account for a few extra tanks. When we first started using the Big Buddy I tracked how many hours of use I got out of a tank and the pre-fills always came up short by a few hours compared to the "professionally" filled ones.

There's a difference, too, between vendors. I tried another place, at first, and had wildly varying results from tank to tank as in up to four hours of difference and that was with the same guy "filling" those tanks. It sure didn't give me a warm, fuzzy, feeling.

 

[awsum140]

Tibs, just a guess but I'd suspect a sub-par quality battery and would look for another, OEM style, replacement from a reliable source.