Smaller Propane Tanks

[Samsonsworld]

Any issues ditching the 40lb tanks and going with 20lb on an RV, other than how to mount them? I've gotten a year out 40lbs before. I don't use them for heating and its just a LOT more convenient to do an exchange at the grocery store than hunt down a fueling station.

[Samsonsworld]

Gdetrailer wrote:

rhagfo wrote:
Well yes 40# tanks are heavy so step down to 30#. I am a little lost on how hard many find to get propane. Around here about 1/3 of gas stations fill cylinders.

No "gas stations" around my area or even anywhere near where I camp that fill propane cylinders.

Mine neither. I live in an area with 300k people and I bet I can count on one hand how many places refill tanks. U-Haul is the biggest and you get to wait an hour because the same guy doing refills is handling rentals. Not my idea of fun. I usually try to wait until I'm at an RV park that sells it.

It's almost as frustrating as finding a place that actually does trailer inspections.

[Muddydogs]

Bobbo wrote:
What do you do if you are in an area where you must swap tanks rather than refill them, but the swapper is not the empty one?

Don't be so anal about the propane tanks and have owned or swap tanks. You own both tanks so fill or swap as needed. By the time my tanks get old enough that they need inspected I have no issue swapping them out for a nice shinny painted Blue Rhino tank.

[Skibane]

rhagfo wrote:
Well yes 40# tanks are heavy so step down to 30#. I am a little lost on how hard many find to get propane. Around here about 1/3 of gas stations fill cylinders.

You live in a state where only gas station attendants are allowed to pump gasoline.

Gotta give those employees something to do when they're not pumping gas...

[Gdetrailer]

rhagfo wrote:
Well yes 40# tanks are heavy so step down to 30#. I am a little lost on how hard many find to get propane. Around here about 1/3 of gas stations fill cylinders.

No "gas stations" around my area or even anywhere near where I camp that fill propane cylinders.

Used to have a building supply/concrete contractor that filled cylinders, they are gone and out of business for going on 20+ yrs.. I have one Mom and Pop hardware store local to me that does fill cylinders.

One bulk propane supplier, one industrial gas supplier about 25 minutes from my home but both of those places charge more per pound than using a cylinder exchange (in other words, 20 lb cylinders cost them more in labor than what it is worth them for the business).

Did have a grocery store 5 minutes from my home that exchanged cylinders, that store closed due to owner fraudulently mishandling funds and the creditor took them down..

Have multiple stores (like Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply, Rural King) 25 minutes from my home including a couple of gas stations which handle cylinder exchanges..

Some areas also regulate where and who is able to have bulk propane storage and require properly trained personnel at all times to handle the filling which may limit how many places you can find that will do refills.. Folks can get hurt not knowing proper procedures and handling and I would not feel comfortable having any old "gas station" or "grocery store" attendant filling my cylinders.

[rhagfo]

Well yes 40# tanks are heavy so step down to 30#. I am a little lost on how hard many find to get propane. Around here about 1/3 of gas stations fill cylinders.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

No need to go past the second post (reply) to your question by the Mod!

Did that long ago. The 40# are simply too heavy.

Plus - you can purchase extra 20# bottles at reasonable prices at HD, Lowe's, Costco, etc. Handy to have at your home for your BBQ.
(Also, most even have gauges now.).

Note: The "exchange" bottles are usually less than full - and about double the cost of what a bulk supplier charges to fill your bottles.

Whatever lights your burner!

~

[Grit_dog]

Bobbo wrote:
What do you do if you are in an area where you must swap tanks rather than refill them, but the swapper is not the empty one?

I'm still trying to figure out how any of this is a real world issue...
Unless of course, you're LMHS, who would make Hank Hill very proud!

[valhalla360]

Bobbo wrote:
What do you do if you are in an area where you must swap tanks rather than refill them, but the swapper is not the empty one?

Unless you are running a generator or some other really heavy propane use, a 20# tank will last at least a couple weeks. We are usually 4-6 weeks often more on a single tank.

Unless you are staying in remote areas for extended periods of time, it's really not an issue. Just switch to the 2nd tank and when you get back to civilization, fill the empty tank.

[LMHS]

"What do you do if you are in an area where you must swap tanks rather than refill them, but the swapper is not the empty one?"

I run multiple tanks. I have 3 swappers for my bus. I have one for the truck camper. I doubt the truck camper will ever have two empty tanks at the same time.

The "swappers" are the back-up tanks to my own tanks. So I use them when my own tanks are empty. At this point in time, I have 8 of my own tanks and at least 3 swappers not counting what is on the truck camper (not sure since part of my tanks are in storage). I built my "RV" so it's not like most RVs. I use LP for heating/cooking/dryer which runs on one LP manifold system and I have an LP generator which runs on a second LP manifold system. All the tanks have gauges added to them so I can see which are empty and which are full. They also are on manifolds with shut-off valves so I can open up to 4 tanks on a single manifold and still have one (usually a swapper) as a backup for when the 4 tanks finally empty.

All my LP appliances are residential so they are all energy efficient, which RV appliances are not required to be because they are not made to be used all the time like residential appliances are, so no energy saving regulations are followed.

In my current location, legally I can only transport 3 tanks inside my jeep. When I have 3 empty, I take them to be refilled.

[jjj]

I ditched the big tanks years ago when they were going out of date. I swap the smaller ones out when they are getting close to expiration date and get ones with a better date. Never had a problem. I also carry a few extras in the truck bed.

[Bobbo]

What do you do if you are in an area where you must swap tanks rather than refill them, but the swapper is not the empty one?

[LMHS]

I typically refill all my tanks. BUT I used to often stay for a month or more in a small town in GA that had no place that would refill a 20LB tank. We could only do tank swaps. It was weird but not a big deal since I have always had one tank that was a "swap" tank (one that I typically would either refill or swap). I ended up with two swapped tanks and two owned tanks during the years that I was going there. I could refill all my tanks when I went back home.

I currently have "several" 20LB tanks of which two are "swappers" (Tanks that I have gotten at whichever tank swap outfit is locally). I always paint my owned tanks a very different colour (Rustoleum light turquoise for the last 10 years) and the "swappers" get painted white so I can easily and quickly tell which I will swap (I have gotten old rusty tanks at swaps). I treat the swappers like my tanks in that I keep them clean, rust free and paint them every few years as needed. I tend to remove the wrapper as it holds moisture which accelerates rust. I don't even worry about the age of my turquoise tanks. They are in such good condition that the tank fillers always say how good and clean they are. I keep the swappers because I don't always keep all my tanks filled. I have found a few times when I needed to swap a tank out because I ran out of LP when the tank fill is closed.

The truck camper has one swapper and one owned tank. I figured the tank that came with the camper could be the swapper and I added one of my tanks to the camper when I set up a dual tank system.

[Grit_dog]

This thread reads like a Progressive Insurance TV commercial about becoming like your parents....

[Skibane]

Samsonsworld wrote:
Guys, I don't look to spend more money than I have to but I also don't look to spend more of my time. There is a trade off. By my calculations, its roughly $7 more per tank to exchange when you correct the volume. I'll use 3 tanks per year, tops. That's not much money and saves me a LOT of time considering I'm at the grocery store every week anyway.

The folks at my grocery store have a hard time keeping the full and empty tanks separate.

Typically, they'll just pick one up, and then say "Yep! That feels full!", and put it in my shopping cart.

I have gotten tanks that way which weren't anywhere near full, even after taking into account that fact that exchange tanks are never more than 75% full to begin with.

I like supporting my local propane guy, rather than some large corporation like AmeriGas or Blue Rhino.

He puts the tank on a scale while refilling it, right there where we can both see it - No concerns about underfilling.