Propane tank fun

[Hobie]

Before I shoot up a couple of 12+ year-old tanks, are there any other uses or ways to cheaply salvage them?

[Rusty]

You cut them in half and make nice little bar b que grills out of them.

[jnyork]

Take 'em to your local propane distributor and get them recertified, they'll be good for another 12 years. About all they do is inspect for corrosion and restamp the date. Otherwise, they make great 300 yard gongs for .22 rimfire. Just hang 'em up and bang away! Fun!

[TedH]

Make sure they're full and shoot them with some tracer rounds.

Actually I think they tried that on Mythbusters and it didn't work until they broke out the mini gun.

[Dan 444]

Just shoot 'em with one of your 35 Rem's.

Dan

[adirondakjack]

Since a 12 yr old tank won't have that nasty new automatic shutoff valve, they won't recertify it, so yeah, just shoot em. Now, if ya wanted to get real tricky, build ya a little fire out of newspapers and twigs, put the tank just a little uphill from the fire (propane is heavier than air, will pool...), a few feet so nothin bad happens prematurely, and shoot the tank from a safe distance, preferably many yards and/or behind cover. Ya got ya a miniature MOAB, the gas escapes readily from the bullet hole, finds the fire......

Speaking of propane, I was enrote to FL a couple weeks ago, passing through Charlotte in heavy traffic, and ended up alongside a big straight truck with a mounted propane tank, you know the kind, 20 ft long, 6 feet in diameter, and the driver was puffing a cigar! I wanted to drag his sorry butt out of the truck and beat him senseless..... I know, nothing is gonna happen while he's driving, but when he gets out of the truck, walks past the vent valves, etc.....

[AJMD429]

Speaking of propane, I was enrote to FL a couple weeks ago, passing through Charlotte in heavy traffic, and ended up alongside a big straight truck with a mounted propane tank, you know the kind, 20 ft long, 6 feet in diameter, and the driver was puffing a cigar! I wanted to drag his sorry butt out of the truck and beat him senseless..... I know, nothing is gonna happen while he's driving, but when he gets out of the truck, walks past the vent valves, etc.....

Yeah, reminds me of how often I look up while pumping gas, and see some idiot with a cigarette in his mouth, talking on his cellphone, and pumping gas. To add insult to injury, the rest of us will pay for that guy's injuries, and whatever 'disabilities', real or imagined, he has for the rest of his life, plus 'unemployment'.

[mikld]

Some fellas cut them in half and use the bottom for smelting lead, on a turkey fryer burner...

[JReed]

You can turn one into your own gas forge. What ever you do make sure they are properly vented.

[Sixgun]

Yea Hobie, not really good for much. It takes too much work to make anything useful out of them.

You might as well just write the owners name on them (someone you don't like) and toss 'em out the window, preferably near a police station. ---------------------Sixgun

[Hobie]

I love all the ideas...

These do have the new valves. I was told, but don't know, that recertification is more expensive than a new tank. True? BTW, I have two and they are both near to empty.

[Sixgun]

Hobie,
I just remembered something else. I had 4 of the old style tanks and took 'em down to the local Home Depot several months ago and traded them for 4 new ones on their propane tank exchange when you buy propane. I even told the guy they were the old style and he told me they expect that to happen.--------------Sixgun

[TDF]

Little more practical than fun, but I used my old propane tank as an air tank. Used the connection from an old grill I was gonna throw away. Just unscrewed it from the pressure regulator, drilled a larger hole through it, and screwed a female air hose connection to it. Have a double ended male end (bought two ends and screwed them together cost a couple bucks) that I use to connect the tank to my air compressor hose and charge the propane tank. Works great, handy and has a handle on the top to carry it around with. But I hate to throw things away.

I'm sure this is incredibly dangerous for some unknown reason and therefore nobody should copy me.........How's that for a disclaimer.

TDF

[Hankster]

Saw someone build a WHEELBARROW out of one one.... used it for the WHEEL!! Took the valve assembly out, and drilled a hole in the bottom 180 degrees opposite, and welded a large washer to support the hole on the bottom side, ran a shaft thru it! Said it NEVER got stuck in soft stuff, floated right over, and never went FLAT!! LOL!!

[BenT]

The gas marts around here have the LP tank exchanges. That's how I upgrade mine . I go exchange it. The clerk is suppose to verify it's a good tank but they don't. Tanks need to be inspected every 5 years around here.When it's time for a new inspection,they won't refill them, I exchange them .Then I have one that can be refilled again.

[20cows]

I'm making a wood burning stove out of one. I cut a door in the side, vent to stovepipe in the top and so on...

[Grizz]

They make good water seperators on a fuel tank. Put a drain cock on the bottom, an outlet about 2/3 up the side, and the fill fitting on top, and you should never have water in your stove oil again. As long as you don't let the water level get up to the outlet fitting.

[AJMD429]

Dumb question How would one be sure there wasn't some PROPANE left in the tank before going to drilling or cutting on it...????????

I would think that even at 'zero' pressure, there is still a fair amount of propane gas in the tank.



Ironically, my 'safety concerns' above are what would probably lead me to just take it out back and SHOOT it...

[20cows]

Joe, if you remove the valve and blow it out with an air nozzle, there's nothing left in enough concentration to cause any problem at all.

[Alan Wood]

Word of warning here. I have read somewhere that the odorant tends to collect as a goo in the tank. If you open it like some have suggested make sure it is outside!

[Hobie]

Word of warning here. I have read somewhere that the odorant tends to collect as a goo in the tank. If you open it like some have suggested make sure it is outside!

I would think it would be outside all the time... Then again, I've seen some odd things.

Might try the exchange thing. Seems our locals are better trained or something.

[KCSO]

The bottom 1/2 makes a good lead melting pot.

[prebans]

Trade 'em for an empty welding gas tank. Have the tank cleaned out/pumped out/etc. so it's full of NOTHING. Double check that the tank is truly empty.

Now check it again.

After checking it a third time, chop the top off of the tank. Drill a hole toward the bottom that'll fit a fuse. Find a bowling center and buy a damaged house ball for a buck or two

Add gunpowder, tamp in the bowling ball, and light wick.

Run.

Mike

[adirondakjack]

Speaking of propane, I was enrote to FL a couple weeks ago, passing through Charlotte in heavy traffic, and ended up alongside a big straight truck with a mounted propane tank, you know the kind, 20 ft long, 6 feet in diameter, and the driver was puffing a cigar! I wanted to drag his sorry butt out of the truck and beat him senseless..... I know, nothing is gonna happen while he's driving, but when he gets out of the truck, walks past the vent valves, etc.....

Yeah, reminds me of how often I look up while pumping gas, and see some idiot with a cigarette in his mouth, talking on his cellphone, and pumping gas. To add insult to injury, the rest of us will pay for that guy's injuries, and whatever 'disabilities', real or imagined, he has for the rest of his life, plus 'unemployment'.

You ain't lived until you're first on the scene of a propane truck rollover, the driver is still in it, alive, and the truck is burning. Talk about a hot decision. We're both still here, even though while helping him out of the cab I wasn't so sure that would be the case, (he's back driving) and the truck totally incinerated, burning the roadway with it.....

When they finally arrived, the fire department did the prudent thing. The blocked the road at a respectable distance and let it burn.

[AJMD429]

You ain't lived until you're first on the scene of a propane truck rollover, the driver is still in it, alive, and the truck is burning. Talk about a hot decision. We're both still here, even though while helping him out of the cab I wasn't so sure that would be the case, (he's back driving) and the truck totally incinerated, burning the roadway with it.

I hope/think I would do the same thing under the circumstances (...especially if I didn't have time to actually think about what I was doing...!), but I know one thing for sure - if I did, I'd have to change my pants immediately afterwards. . .

[Nath]

Fill them with water to may shure they are empty!

They do make neat little stoves, a friend made one for our camp in the woods, worked well.

Nath.

[piller]

Speaking of propane, I was enrote to FL a couple weeks ago, passing through Charlotte in heavy traffic, and ended up alongside a big straight truck with a mounted propane tank, you know the kind, 20 ft long, 6 feet in diameter, and the driver was puffing a cigar! I wanted to drag his sorry butt out of the truck and beat him senseless..... I know, nothing is gonna happen while he's driving, but when he gets out of the truck, walks past the vent valves, etc.....

Yeah, reminds me of how often I look up while pumping gas, and see some idiot with a cigarette in his mouth, talking on his cellphone, and pumping gas. To add insult to injury, the rest of us will pay for that guy's injuries, and whatever 'disabilities', real or imagined, he has for the rest of his life, plus 'unemployment'.

A lit cigarrette or cigar will not ignite the gas. I used to work for a subsidary of Enron and we had a Crew Chief who chain smoked and in over twenty years there was never an accident in that natural gas facility. An open flame or a spark are totally different. If you want to prove it, take a coffee can 3/4 full of gas and throw a lit cigar or cigarette into it. You will hear a little hissing noise and then the cigar or cigarette will get wet. It all has to do with the temperature and oxygen plus the vapor pressure of the gas not being able to ignite in the burning tobacco. Paper and wood or twigs, on the other hand, are readily ignitable by a cigarette. Yes, I was at pucker factor 10 the first time I saw the Crew Chief smoking around the Delaval and Cooper-Bessemer natural gas compressors, but after a while, I came to accept it. An open flame in the yard would get you fired on the spot, but not a lit cigarette.