Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 17:03:00 -0400
Reply-To: Paul Borghese <paul98@PRODIGY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Paul Borghese <paul98@PRODIGY.NET>
Organization: Prodigy Internet
Subject: Re: Filling LP tank for the first time
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
If you look at your valve, there is a very small wheel to the right of fill
connector. The propane distributor opens the wheel before filling the
thank. When the tank is filled (I believe at 80%), propane will start
shooting out the small side nozzle, again to the right. This tells the
operator that the tank is filled to the correct specification.
The wheel is turned the opposite direction to close the nozzle and stop the
flow of propane, money exchanges hands and you drive off into the sunset
assured that your tank is at 80%.
While I am not a propane expert, I seem to recall that the distributor can
not even begin to fill the tank unless the wheel is opened. It is usually a
situation where we both stare at each other wondering why no propane is
entering the tank until one of us remembers the wheel. Once the wheel is
opened the propane flows. At 80% it starts shooting out the side.
To overfill the tank beyond the 80% maximum, the operator would need to
continue filling while propane is shooting out the side! The entire system
is a safety mechanism to prevent overfill.
Take care,
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: John Fried <john@DATAKNIGHT.COM>
Newsgroups: groupstudy.vanagon
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2000 4:04 PM
Subject: Re: Filling LP tank for the first time
> Pardon me for jumping in, but how can you tell how full/empty the
> propane tank is? There is no gauge or indicator that I can find.
>
> John
> '85 Westy
>
> Sean Garrett wrote:
> >
> > Be careful here, some service stations will overfill your tank. Until
you
> > get a handle on how much it will hold I would only put in 2 dollars of
LP
> > the 1st time (if it is truly empty). Overfilling your tank can cause
some
> > minor problems operating the fridge (in my experience). I don't think
that
> > two many people will agree with me, but I have a theory about overfilled
> > tanks and their casual impact on fridge operation. It wont hurt to just
put
> > in a little and not more than 80%. Most idiots that fill these tanks
will
> > shut off the gas after it has reached the recommended 80% level.
> ---