Propane tank: How to empty?

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

Brian, I sandblasted and painted mine without even emptying it. I emptied it later to change a valve.

Wow, really? You’re braver than I. Anyway, I need to take it somewhere to have it done and I’m sure they wouldn’t touch it full.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

I bought a used Westy tank a couple months ago. Assuming I empty it can I grind/cut the existing mounts off and weld new ones on? Or am I just asking to blow s*&@ up?

It's never recomended to weld on any pressure vessel. At a minimum, if you do, I'd have it hydrostaticly tested prior to purging and refilling.

[SteelheadJones]

What type of company does hydrostatic testing?

[gahamby]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

What type of company does hydrostatic testing?

Check with your local dive shop or fire extinguisher supplier.
Or your local supplier of propane and propane accessories.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by gahamby

Check with your local dive shop or fire extinguisher supplier.
Or your local supplier of propane and propane accessories.

Agreed, I use to have scuba tanks hydro'd at the dive shop until I found out they sent them to the local fire extinguisher shop. It was faster and cheaper to take them there in the first place.

[SteelheadJones]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[gahamby]

https://www.ebay.com/gds/How-to-Tran...5245456/g.html

try this, apparently once you have transferred all the propane you need to fill the empty with an inert gas/air.

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by gahamby

https://www.ebay.com/gds/How-to-Tran...5245456/g.html

try this, apparently once you have transferred all the propane you need to fill the empty with an inert gas/air.

Thanks. Missed that it my research (a how-to on EBay: who knew?). Sounds like more than I want to mess with, so unless I can find a local dealer that is able to do it for me, I guess I’ll just be cooking all my meals for a week in the van to use up the propane :-)

[gahamby]

Could be worse. Work on some new recipes.

[pugslyyy]

Propane is non-toxic and I've always just vented it to atmosphere on the rare occasions that I've needed to empty a tank to remove it from the vehicle. It's really not practical to empty a tank and recapture the propane, since it needs to be stored as a liquid and comes out of the tank as a gas.


Remember that propane is heavier than air, so it runs downhill - it can pool in the bottom of a bucket, inside a sewer, etc.


When it comes time to refill the tank you need to tell the attendant that the tank has been open to the air so they can purge it before filling.