Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2017 02:02:25 +0000
Reply-To: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: update on propane project
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I bought two propane items that may be of interest. Propane Refill Adapter and a high pressurehose with acme nut at one end and ¼ inch at other end.
Both items come with the 1 inch acme nut that fitson a standard bulk tank. I prefer theacme nut to pol (put on left). The fitting on my westy tank requires a 1 ¾ acmenut. The acme nuts on the two devicesare different colors and the hose is high pressure rated. The adapter has 1 inch threads for standardthrow away propane tanks.
Thedirection for using the adapter to fill the small 1 lb canister suggest coolingthe tank in the freezer. I would go abit further and suggest venting the canisters before putting them in thefreezer by pushing the Schrader valve open with a wooden stick. When I used a 20 lb tank that was ½ full Iwas able to fill the disposable canister to about ½ full. The one thing to watch out for is that thereis no check valve in the adapter so you must remove the canister from theadapter before removing the acme nut from the tank.
I used thehigh pressure hose to top off my westy tank and check the connections to makesure it would work on the road when I run out of propane for the fridge. When I attached the bulk tank to the westytank I could hear the click of the check valve in the westy open and could onlyhear a small flow of propane over about 10 minutes until both tanks reached thesame pressure.
The one thingI would add is that everything works better at a warmer temperature so pick awarm day. Wind is good too. Might want to wear gloves and some eyeprotection.
For thoseof you who are interested in the science of propane I would start out by sayingthat the pressure of propane increases 5 fold from the coldest Midwesttemperature to the highest Midwesttemperature. So if you had propane inyour tires in the winter with 30 psi than in the summer it would be 150psi. This can be used to your advantageto move propane from one tank to another. The Refill Adapter allowseasy transfer of propane from the bulk tank to a 1 lb. canister. The small canister fits easily into thefreezer and when cooled can be filled and or overfilled if you are not careful. If you shake the canister after you havefilled it and you feel no liquid moving than it is overfilled or empty. If you can not tell the difference than youshould not be filling canisters. I haveused the small canister to top off the westy propane tank when I am concernedabout running out on a trip as the pressure of the small tank does a better jobof opening the check valve of the westy than the bulk tank it was filledfrom. The reason is that you are ableto cool the canister and fill them to a higher capacity and take advantage ofthe pressure difference.
Gary
