Gas bottle safety - or not

[John Gardner]

I read somewhere that if you poured hot water on the gas bottle, you would get water vapor to condense on part of the bottle and show how much gas is in the bottle.  So I tried that today, but it didn't seem to work.

BUT... the water I poured on the bottle, in its safety box, didn't all run out, not because the drain pipe was blocked by debris, but because the outlet through the transom is about 1/2 an inch higher than the bottom of the box, and 2 inches higher than the lowest part of the hose.  The hose which exits downwards into an elbow, and then up to the through hull, had filled with water.  If water gets into the hose, from the sea or otherwise, any gas leakage could not exit. :eek:

I just have room to raise the box 3 inches, and that should cure the problem.  You might want to check yours too.

[Stu Jackson]

John

You wrote:  "I read somewhere that if you poured hot water on the gas bottle, you would get water vapor to condense on part of the bottle and show how much gas is in the bottle. So I tried that today, but it didn't seem to work.""

The idea only works IF the fuel is being used.  For normal propane, if you use the tank, the bottom gets colder because the fuel in the upper half is being used and the old laws of thermodynamics make the bottom colder.  (Please, don't ask me to remember why...!)

Try it at home when you're using your grill.  It should be colder on the bottom, but only when it's running.

Good idea to figure out your drain issue, but it may not be a problem, since you're dealing with gas, not water.  Just undo the droop in the hose and you should be fine.

Stu

[Roc]

I have a MkII and also noticed that the vent hose from the propane locker is not at a correct slope.  Therefore, water does collect.  This would be dangerous because the propane gas wouldn't be vented properly.  Those of you with MkII's should check it out and re-route the hose with a sharper slope.

Roc-

[Freshwater]

Roc -

What did you do to fix the problem?

[Roc]

The hose had a dip in it, which caused the water to collect at the lowest point.  The hose was routed through a couple holes that created the mounting base for the refrigeration unit. I re-cut the holes in the mounting base that allowed the hose to route through straigher (without the low dip) and caused water to exit completely.  Those with a MkII would know what I mean about the wood mounting base that the Adler-Barbour unit sits on.  If you have a low spot in the hose, maybe you just need to shorten it so the extra slack is taken out and the hose traverses straighter with a downward slope.

[dbpaul]

Seems to be a Catalina problem in the propane installation dept for years.

http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=108464




paulj

[Ron Hill]

John ; There are two ways to know how much propane is in your bottle (that I know of) :
1. Weight of the propane + empty bottle weight .  The bottle weight is stamped on the safety guard around the cut off valve.
2. Purchase a fiberglass tank and you can see the liquid in the bottle.  The down side of the fiberglass bottle (so I've heard) is that it is expensive and NON refillable !!

The pressure gage only tells you there is some pressure, NOT liquid propane in the bottle!!

A few thoughts

[Tom Soko]

Ron,
The fiberglass (composit?) propane tanks are definitely refillable.  I bought one recently, and it (obviously) was delivered empty.  The local Ace Hardware store gladly filled it in exchange for a few dinero.  They had only seen a few of them before, and were eager to look it over carefully.  Not cheap, but I think a LOT less than some of the aluminum versions.  I think I paid about $100 for a 10# tank.

[Joe Kern]

Tom is right.  I have refilled mine twice no problems.

What I forgot to do is look at how much liquid is in there when it is full.   Right now in terms of liquid it is about 2/3rds full when I look at it so I am assuming it is something close to full.   Any thoughts from the propane experts out there?

[Stu Jackson]

The newer OPD (over pressure devices) do not allow the tanks to be "completely" filled, but I forget what percentage full they allow.

[Ron Hill]

Supposedly, the OPD float only allows the bottle to be filled to 80% capicity. 
All OPD bottles have a triangular knob vs the old bottles with a round cutoff knob.  The old bottles are not to be refilled - illegal. 
A few thoughts

[John Langford]

Can you revalve a fibreglass tank? Do you have to revalve after a certain number of years as is the  case (at least in Canada) with the aluminum tanks?

[Ken Juul]

I have not heard of revalving.  The metal tanks must be pressure checked every so often.  Forget what the interval is.  I'm guessing the fiberglass tanks would have the requirement also.