Who ever thought those green porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

[Expidia]

I though they had a little round pressure relief valve? Guess not . . .
I'd be real careful about letting one get too hot near a grill especailly when grilling off the end of a boat.

Fillmore Woman Dies After Handheld Propane Torch Explodes At Family Cookout ? CBS Los Angeles

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

I have a Magma grill and the canister never gets hot at all...in fact it actually frosts up due to the pressure drop.

Whoever used the propane torch to light the charcoal probably had it sitting inside the grill for it to get that hot.

 

[Volphin]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

I have a tailgating grill that uses those propane cartridges. It never gets hot at all even after several hours of cooking. Yeah, we have BIG tailgates down here.

 

[coolbri70]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

when learning to solder copper pipes in shop class, 7th grade, teacher told us an empty bottle still had enough gas to blow up the shop

 

[matt167]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Yup. Operator error was the fault of this one. When used Correctly the canister will actually start to get colder from the pressure drop ( many refrigerants are propane based. Same idea ) so when they are being used, blowing up is a non issue.. If you read the back of the label, it tells you the safe operating temps and to keep away from flame or direct heat source.

The other issue with these is, if you refill them with the 20# adapter, if they are overfilled they CAN be dangerous, especially an older canister. The valve is a pressure popoff but I've never seen one go off so I don't know how it works

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Anything to do with a propane cylinder can be deadly, you are dealing with a gas that expands very rapidly and is flammable!

I have refilled them and if you follow the instructions and freeze the tank BEFORE refilling, you have no problems.

 

[matt167]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

The other thought I had was, the propane torch should not be used to light a charcoal grill.. I only cook on a charcoal grill and I light it with a match and newspaper with the help of a chimney starter.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

If you hold it while you are doing it, I don't really see the danger of it. I am sure the person in the story wasn't doing that.

 

[Volphin]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Anything to do with a propane cylinder can be deadly, you are dealing with a gas that expands very rapidly and is flammable!

I have refilled them and if you follow the instructions and freeze the tank BEFORE refilling, you have no problems.

I have never heard of them being refilled... why would you freeze them and what kind of adapter do you need?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Freezing them lessens the chance of expansion of the propane and cuts the chance of rupturing a bottle, propane expands when it is exposed to heat, if the canister is warm the propane will expand when it enters the bottle.

Here is the adapter that I use, but many companies make their own adapters:

Propane Refill Kit - Refill Propane Bottles with Ease!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

I don't see why you would need to freeze the small propane tank to prevent rupture. After all, you are just transferring a liquid from one bottle to another. Only reason would be so that the liquid didn't turn into a gas as it entered the small tank and you couldn't fill it completely.

Too me, it seems like a bad idea to refill these. Unless you weigh the small tank after filling, how do you know you only filled the tank to 85% which is the max you should fill these?

Edit: Apparently what i thought is correct. The freezing of the cylinder is so you can completely fill it. http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/45000-45999/45989.pdf

If you fill when the big tank is under 85?, there is a danger that you will overfill the 1lb tank past the 80-85%

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Sure you can refill them, but they were not designed for that and you are exposing yourself to a lot of random events.
They are filled in an industrial process with the proper equipment, Rube Goldberg is not a useful assistant for a home version.
Freezing the tank increases your chance of overfilling.

Given the minimal cost of these cylinders, (i just bought 3 for 9.99) I am not sure that the cost saving of FIY is worth the risk.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Although they mention a charcoal grill, later in the video they talk about a neighbor reaching below the grill and turning off the grill's tank. Apparently the lighter on the grill wasn't working, they used the propane torch to light the grill, turned off the torch, and laid it next to the grill.

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Reread the response from the fire chief. It wasn't a propane bottle. It was one of those bic lighters you use to light charcoal or propane grills.It was set next to the fire and heated up and exploded.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Reread the response from the fire chief. It wasn't a propane bottle.

Where did you read that?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Sure you can refill them, but they were not designed for that and you are exposing yourself to a lot of random events.
They are filled in an industrial process with the proper equipment, Rube Goldberg is not a useful assistant for a home version.
Freezing the tank increases your chance of overfilling.

Given the minimal cost of these cylinders, (i just bought 3 for 9.99) I am not sure that the cost saving of FIY is worth the risk.

Like I said, I have refilled them for many years now and if you pay attention to what you are doing you don't have any problems, I can't buy 3 for $9.99 around here, and I figured it out, it costs me about $0.75 to refill a bottle, all of my little bottles were weighed when they were purchased and I keep a log on each one of them, they are weighed when I fill them to maintain the 80-85% level, I also have a valve that I can bleed a bit of pressure if I need to, just in case of an overfill. I have worked with propane for so long now, that it is just second nature to fill these bottles.

Just like with anything else, you really need to pay attention to the rules and what you are doing when working with any expanding/explosive gas, they can all kill you if you get lax and loose with them.

 

[rbh]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Just my 02c, but little bottles are for short time use, get the adapter hose for long haul applications from a 10, 20, 30 pound tank.


With the exception of packing it in a ruck, for gas for a one burner.


(beats naptha. LOL)

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

rbh,

Those 10, 20 and 30 pound bottles are damn hard to backpack!

 

[rbh]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

rbh,

Those 10, 20 and 30 pound bottles are damn hard to backpack!

BAAHAHA, no kidding bud!
You remember the tin can rat packs from the 60,70s and early eightys (might have been a CDN thing)
IRPS before they brought those boil in a bag stuff. LRPS was the long range dehydrated crud.

Thank be to Christ and allah and santa clause and easter bunny and WHO EVER GAVE A CRAP, we did not have to eat the Brit Rats, BLECH

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Re: Who ever thought those greem porpane cylinders blow up and kill?

Where did you read that?

Chief Rigo Landeros of the Fillmore Fire Department responded to the scene and explained what he believed happened.

“They lit the charcoal barbeque with the device. They set it on the side of the barbeque,

Charcoal? No need for propane other then a lighter to light the starter fluid