Date:         Mon, 9 Dec 2002 15:16:07 -0800
Reply-To:     H R <harald_nancy_vw@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         H R <harald_nancy_vw@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Is propane more dense in cold weather?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Robert,
Well, I don't have any propane-ology credentials, but I can tell you something.
4.2 gallons in your little propane tank? That's the most incredible thing I
have ever heard. Better stand back, far back, because it's going to blow.
Just kidding, of course. ;-)
There is no way they put 4.2 gallons in there.
Propane expands 1.5% for each 10 deg. Fahrenheit temperature rise.
So if your tank holds 3 gallons at 70 deg. F, then at 40 deg F,  Seattle temp,
it holds 4.5% more. As it gets cooler, it contracts a little.
Take off 20% for expansion, and you're somewhere around 2.7 gallons.
Basically the expansion/contraction of propane due to temperature change
is negligible.
In practical experience, I filled my propane tank in mid-winter at
sub-freezing as well as mid-summer Arizona heat, and I have not noticed a significant difference in quantity.
One thing I did encounter was minimum propane filling charges in California,
at $5.00 min., even when I got only 1 gallon. That's why I installed a second
propane tank.
Harald
'90 westy

Robert wrote:
Hello propane professors-
Here is a question for you: is propane more dense in cold weather than warm? Dense enough at 40 degrees F to fill the standard Vanagon Westfalia propane tank to 4.2 gallons?
I have been filling my pair of Westy propane tanks year round for six years, and never has anyone put in 4.2 gallons of propane. I'm well-read on all the safety warnings about not filling a tank more than 80%.

I watched the attendant fill the tank, and he stopped filling when gas began venting from the 80% valve.
This is a 3 gallon tank, and filling it 80% is about 2.8 gallons. How did they get 4.2 gallons in the tank? I told the manager and they said the meter was recently calibrated. they proved they reset the meter before filling my tank.
I notice nothing unusual about my stove or heater functions.
Then another employee told me that the fuel is denser in the winter and so the tank holds more.
News to me. I expect either dire warnings from you to either let out the excess, or that this 76 station is in big trouble.
Robert
1982 Westfalia




---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now