Filling Propane Tanks

It not rocket science. I started filling butane/propane tank when I was 8

keep the myths alive

10% valve is slang for underground large containers
15%, above ground large
20% above ground 'small' like DOT 20 lber that holds 5.7 gallons so 80% full is 4.6 gallone or so

ktmrfs

Even the term "10% valve" never has been correct. Fill to bleed liquid point has been to 85%.

Even at 90% fill 5 gallons is actually 4.5 Excellent point sir.

Got GNUS for some folks.
Given enough pressure during fill, it forces the float deeper into the liquid. At 300 PSI the pressure might just submerge the float.

My point being if determination by weight or the liquid valve is not good enough for the vendor, then the vendor is not good enough for me. Many decades ago I brought back filled in Mexico pots to the high Sierra where the temperature was near zero F.

When I opened the (decades prior to OPD) valves, NOTHING came out. It was butane

I poured some clear liquid onto the gravel. I thought it would burn like kerosene. I thought wrong. It went up like White gas. The malamute was not amused.

Hornnumb2 wrote:
I had my 20 pound filled today at uhaul, he simply hooked up the hose and filled to it wouldn't take any more. 4.8 gallons he released the pressure on his hose and that was it...

Sounds like he used the OPD to stop it.

I'll bet if you open the bleed valve liquid propane will come out indicating it is overfilled.

I had my 20 pound filled today at uhaul, he simply hooked up the hose and filled to it wouldn't take any more. 4.8 gallons he released the pressure on his hose and that was it...

D.E.Bishop wrote:
...
I'm not really familiar with the LAWs, regulations and common practices all over the country and I don't care to be. ...

After all, just like speed limits, they are just meant to be ignored or over-ridden by you?

Too many folks spouting too many figures and facts(?) make this too confusing.

I'm not really familiar with the LAWs, regulations and common practices all over the country and I don't care to be. I follow what has been successful for me for my lifetime. I prefer to have my five gallon cylinders filled at a real propane dealers depot. Our local dealer will fill it however you want, by using the spit valve or by using the scale. I'll be honest, I don't remember if they use the spit valve on the Winnie's tank or not.

I always walk with the guy who filled my cylinders or tank back to the office to pay and I noticed that there are several DOT and CalOSHA certificates of training on the wall.

They have been in their current location for decades and I've never heard of an explosion at their depot. It is my practice to get my propane at recognized propane dealers, not at a market or big box store or at a gas station. I don't go to CVA for medical advice, I go to my Doctor, same idea.

As someone trained to fill propane portables, forklifts and road vehicles, I've observed the caliber of training and experience of propane vendor employees varies tremendously. I usually let them do their thing but I observe and step in if they get too far into dangerous territory.

In my observations the guy with an old tech pump and a well worn screwdriver is less likely to struggle than the mega Mart worker with a fancy digital dispenser and vapor recovery setup.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Worthington tanks. Costco. Around 1985.

I’m not that old but I remember doctors, the former Surgeon General of the United States in fact if I remember correctly, pitching a particular brand of cigarettes on the back cover of Popular Science or Mechancs.

I can recall Autolite batteries bragging in their commercials that you would only have to add water maybe as little as e times a year.

Times have changed.

Today we have 10 year limits on recertification and new valves, including pressure relief valves, on 20 pound propane cylinders.

Those 1985 cylinders, if they’re still around, would have had those relief valves replaced at least twice more since then.