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Old 03-24-2020, 11:11 PM   #1
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Propane Tank Refurbish Report

My propane tank was rusty and needed a refinish. No one in my area would touch it as far as sandblasting or painting it, so I took on the project rather than spending $1500 on a new tank. I will post links to some of the useful things I used. I spent a lot of time considering different options and methods for restoring the tank. I considered using a rust converter, rust remover, sanding and grinding options. I also considered leaving the intact paint as is and just addressing the rusty areas. In the end after lots of trial and error, the best solution by far was using an abrasive wheel from harbor freight.

The wheel was made of a very tough plastic attached to my angle grinder. This did, by far, the best at removing rust and paint but not removing good metal. Prior to this, I tried scraping the rust, then I tried sanding with an orbital sander. These did very little. I also tried a pneumatic scaler. This was actually pretty good at removing the layers of scale rust from the tank, but it leaves behind rusty metal. On a separate note, I refinished my house battery cages for the batteries under the van and the scaler was great at this.

I decided that I would rather get the tank down to bare metal rather than try to use a rust converter. I felt that this would be the best option for longevity of the finish. Once I had the vast majority of the rust off I washed the surface with a degreaser and dried it off with a heat gun and then wiped the surface down with acetone. Once this was finished, I immediately put a couple of coats of Rustoleum clean metal primer (for bare, painted or lightly rusted metal) and let it dry overnight. Then I began top coating with Rustoleum Stops Rust Satin Protective Enamel. In my research, these seemed to be the best options for my situation.

Put on 2 light coats a few minutes apart on the top 3/4 of the tank and let it dry for a week to let the paint cure. I then turned it over and painted the bottom 1/4 with 2 light coats. I repeated this process 4 times so that the tank has 8 total coats and always allowed time for the paint to cure between coats. This process worked very well and I did not have any problems at all with coverage, adhesion or quality of finish. It took a very long time to do the painting (about a month because of the dry times. I had no problem with the tank laying on the finished side and damaging the surface because I allowed the cure time. If I had a way to hang the tank, I would have been able to shorten the painting time dramatically.

I installed the tank this weekend. It is a very tight squeeze to get the tank back in but managed it with the help of a floor jack rigged with a board with edge strips to keep the tank from rolling off. I probably have 20 hours into the tank restoration. If I knew at the start what I know now I could have it done in half the time easily. There was a lot of trial and error in my process. I hope this helps someone else shorten the learning curve of restoring a SMB propane tank.

Wheel for removing paint and rust: https://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-...eel-94017.html

Scaler for removing rust: https://www.harborfreight.com/compac...ler-96997.html

Before, during and after pictures:
Attached Thumbnails
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Old 03-24-2020, 11:30 PM   #2
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Looks great! Thanks for sharing your lessons learned!
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Old 03-25-2020, 10:06 AM   #3
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Huge differance,looks great!
Am looking at using some Eastwood products for similar projects under our van.
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Old 03-25-2020, 11:24 PM   #4
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Thanks! I'm glad to have this project behind me and always satisfying to get it done!
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Old 03-26-2020, 07:00 AM   #5
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How many abrasive wheels did it take to do this? You didn’t completely evacuate the tank, correct?
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Old 03-26-2020, 08:41 PM   #6
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Only one but just barely. It wouldn't have done much more. My tank was in pretty rough shape though.
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Old 03-28-2020, 08:41 PM   #7
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Great time to replace the valve, regulator, and regulator cover.
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Old 04-02-2020, 01:26 PM   #8
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I did the one on my 1991 Ford SB in similar fashion. Came out get. A word of caution to those contemplating sand-blasting. Any propane leaks combined with sparks will be a cause of great distress. And the end of project.
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Old 04-04-2020, 08:09 PM   #9
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Burn off the propane through a heater or grill. Fill it with water to displace the propane. Drain it. It will still stink of odorant, but can't burn.

I used a twisted cup style wire wheel on a small angle grinder. Worked great. Few coats of paint and the new parts detailed above installed with gas pipe thread sealant and all is good.

RV rated propane regulators have 312 psi rating not 350 like others.
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Old 01-26-2022, 07:49 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pntyrmvr View Post
Burn off the propane through a heater or grill. Fill it with water to displace the propane. Drain it. It will still stink of odorant, but can't burn.
Questions.. What is the purpose of filling with water after the propane has been burned off? How do you ensure all of the water is out of the tank prior to refilling with propane LPG? What happens given the leftover water that remains on the inside walls of the tank?
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