On Jan 28, 8:49*am, "Robert Green" wrote:
"DerbyDad03" wrote in message

news:1ff4f72a-4fcd-438c-9bd4-
]On Jan 27, 9:58 pm, "Robert Green" wrote:

stuff snipped

"In particular, why should I bother even taking the tank outside
to test it with hot water if I have a way to inspect the rig and
determine I'm out of propane?"
umm...Not for nothing, but if you run out of propane while the rig is
inside, you've got a problem - namely a leak.

Well, that's certainly one reason SWMBO doesn't like the idea of storing the
tank inside the house. *If the tanks leaks outside on the porch, it's not
likely to cause any trouble. *Storing it inside, where the gas can build up,
represents more of a danger. *I am thinking now of building a small rolling
table for the porch that allows me to conceal the propane tank and scale
within its base.

If you *don't* have a leak and the tank shows empty, then it must have
run out while you were using it and you'd already know it's empty.

I'm going to get out my electric drill and put a sight glass in the tank.
(-" *(Just kidding - I thought I'd mention it just because of some of the
craziness being discussed in other threads.)

I am actually quite happy with the embedded scale method because I want to
make sure I've always got at least enough propane around to melt the steps
so I can get out to more propane. *The reality is that I'll probably end up
doing what Mr. Haller suggested and buying a spare tank. *We've got a crawl
space under the front stoop that will fit a spare tank. *I figure that it's
better to have a spare on premises than risking driving around in icy
weather to acquire a replacement. *Last year, when the city plow dumped a
ton or so of icy snow boulders in front of the house, we were "ice locked"
for almost a week.

As reluctant as my wife is to have a number of propane tanks lying around,
she was very impressed at how well it melted the ice the first time we used
it. *It's a question of balance. *Is the risk of having lots of propane
around more or less than the risk of someone (especially us!) cracking their
heads open on icy steps? *I've taken one bad fall on the ice that
fortunately was buffered by landing on my big butt. *It could have easily
been the back of my head that hit the ground.

--
Bobby G.

"Is the risk of having lots of propane around more or less than
the risk of someone (especially us!) cracking their heads open on icy
steps?"

That one's pretty easy. I don't think we even need a cite for what I'm
about to proclaim.

First off, a couple of 20 lb tanks (and I mean 20 lbs TARE) is not
what most folks would consider "lots of propane".

Second, compare the number of gas grills, smokers, space heaters and
ice melting torches that require small propane tanks, the number of
houses/trailers/workshops that use a large propane tank as the main
source of fuel and the number of people who have a spare tank hanging
around to the number of people who slip on an icy surface. I'd say the
risk is much higher of a fall than any damage from a propane tank.

You just don't hear headlines like "House destroyed by spare propane
tank stored on deck" or "Occupants overcome by propane fumes" very
often. Yes, it happens, but not very often compared to the number of
tanks out there.

However, we often hear about friends and family who slipped and fell
on ice, usually sustaining minor injuries, but sometimes getting
really hurt. Those incidents don't usually make the headlines, but I
think we can all agree that ice related accidents happen more often
than propane related accidents.