Horizontal vs undermount propane tanks

[user 27148]

I'd like to have one if the price is fair.

My last comment was for you.

 

[Camper]

Too heavy to ship.... thanks anyway.

 

[user 27148]

Too heavy to ship.... thanks anyway.

You bring up a good point, which I will also add that I have no idea about shipping a used propane tank. I just tried looking up "shipping used propane tank" and have not had a successful hit yet on the proper shipping of propane tanks, specifically used tanks.

I'm still going up to this place on Saturday, although if anyone wants a tank, have your shipping lined up beforehand (I don't want to pick up a tank for someone then have a shipping hassle then a predictable conflict). If anyone wants to share their shipping knowledge of used propane tanks, please do.

This place is two hours away from me, so I want to do this in one trip.

Also, note. Some tanks have mounting brackets on the top, then some have the mounting brackets on the bottom. All of the valves/gauge ports are the same, or I won't pick it up (meaning it will have; a fill port, relief valve, sight gauge/needle gauge, vapor output not liquid, and 80% filled valve commonly called a "Fixed Liquid Level Gauge").

Any questions, just ask.

 

[user 29855]

I'm in Santa Cruz, California, and just found a guy with a bunch of used ASME RV tanks. As mentioned already, ASME tanks are permanently mounted and don't need recertification. So, cleaning up the paint and remounting them makes for a wonderful addition to the van life.

It's good to understand what a person is doing when they install propane though; Understanding regulators, hardline and hose options, appliance regulators, additional options like shutoff valves and pressure gauges, and so on. It's also very important to understand the safety needed for proper venting, understanding CO2, having safety sensors, and so on.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in a used propane tank, let me know. We can figure out shipping and whatever other costs would be associated.

I'd be interested. How large are they? I'm in Berkeley and wouldn't mind driving over the hill to pick one up. What price?

 

[user 27148]

I'd be interested. How large are they? I'm in Berkeley and wouldn't mind driving over the hill to pick one up. What price?

I only know what I was told, and that info does not sound like it came from an expert (I mean that respectfully). He said that he only had one tank in the 35"x12" range, but it looks like there are more in the photos. If you want to exchange phone numbers, I can call or text with detailed info when I get there on Saturday (sizes are stamped on the plates, btw). When I'm there, if you want a tank after getting the info on it, I will pick it up, and you can pay for it when you come to Santa Cruz (no, I'm not worried about getting stuck with an extra tank). I already plan on picking up more than one tank, as I can double up on my truck or can put one on the next truck I build.

Edit// I think the price is about $100 a tank, but I will let you know. They look to be in varying conditions and sizes, so I think that would be reflected in the price.

Let me know.

 

[user 27148]

Well, I picked up my tank.

There were only two other tanks that were viable, but they were both frame rail mount (not top or bottom mount). They weren't pretty, but just need painting, and are otherwise good. Their sizes were 13" round by 56" long, which is about 30 gallon 120lb range. The tanks had both vapor and liquid ports, which I would *guess* you could fill smaller tanks from the liquid ports, but what's the point of that? The rest of the standard RV propane ports were there.

Since the frame rail mounting was unexpected, I did not pick those tanks up, but I'm still on the area and can if someone is interested. These tanks look about 100lb empty, so would be expensive to ship.

Any questions, just ask.

I haven't looked at these photos yet, but here they are.

 

[LargeMarge]

re -- reasons to avoid a frame-mount tank
.
We prefer five-gallon 20# bottles.
Advantages:
* portable -- one can go to the picnic-table or campfire
* divisable one -- a couple-three can go to town with our caravan chums for a re-fill while using the others in camp
* divisable two -- one can be loaned to a caravan chum
* replaceable if damaged or out-of-cert
* modular -- our standard load in the rig is two, and we have room for many more in the toy-hauler I fabricated on a similar commercial chassis.
.
Disadvantages of a permanent mount:
* to re-fill, the entire rig travels to a propane station
* at the propane station, the entire rig needs a ballet to get in position.

 

[Freelander]

I have both a frame mounted 16 gal tank and portable 40 lb, (9 gal) tank, I can use the portable to fill the main tank. I wait until the main tank is below 1/2 way before using my hose to refill the main tank.

 

[user 27148]

Here is how my propane project turned out. I put an anchor tag of #propane, so it should bring you to that part of the page. If that doesn't work, just scroll to the bottom 16 photos on the page, or look at the whole page if you want to see my rig, too.

https://ethanboyle.keybase.pub/FinalBuild.html#propane