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removing the valve from a BBQ propane tank
I successfully devalved a little propane tank today, the kind they don't
want you to use any more. I bled it off for a couple of days, with the tank set at the top of a largish sloped driveway so the gas would run down the hill and diffuse. When it finished hissing I turned it upside down with the valve open for a few hours. Then I took it into the shop and plumbed an air hose to it and pressurized it to 120psi and vented it, then repeated the air venting twice. I tried to get the valve to admit water but it plain didn't work. I cobbled up a chain clamp setup like Ted Edward's, heated the threaded area with a handheld propane torch until the paint barely started to smoke, and turned the valve out easily with a large crescent wrench. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be based on all the horror stories. I filled it with hot water and a little dishwashing detergent for a first cut at de-stinking it (I don't much like the garlicky smell of methyl mercaptan). If anyone has any bright ideas as to how best to get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. I'm going to make a little forge. Grant Erwin |
I cut them open with a cutting disc on a grinder after the water routine. I
leave the water in when cutting . The smell was gone from the two halves after about a week. They make nice planters :')) Randy "Grant Erwin" wrote in message ... I successfully devalved a little propane tank today, the kind they don't want you to use any more. I bled it off for a couple of days, with the tank set at the top of a largish sloped driveway so the gas would run down the hill and diffuse. When it finished hissing I turned it upside down with the valve open for a few hours. Then I took it into the shop and plumbed an air hose to it and pressurized it to 120psi and vented it, then repeated the air venting twice. I tried to get the valve to admit water but it plain didn't work. I cobbled up a chain clamp setup like Ted Edward's, heated the threaded area with a handheld propane torch until the paint barely started to smoke, and turned the valve out easily with a large crescent wrench. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be based on all the horror stories. I filled it with hot water and a little dishwashing detergent for a first cut at de-stinking it (I don't much like the garlicky smell of methyl mercaptan). If anyone has any bright ideas as to how best to get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. I'm going to make a little forge. Grant Erwin |
In article , Grant Erwin says...
I successfully devalved a little propane tank today, the kind they don't want you to use any more. I bled it off for a couple of days, with the tank set at the top of a largish sloped driveway so the gas would run down the hill and diffuse. When it finished hissing I turned it upside down with the valve open for a few hours. Then I took it into the shop and plumbed an air hose to it and pressurized it to 120psi and vented it, then repeated the air venting twice. I tried to get the valve to admit water but it plain didn't work. I cobbled up a chain clamp setup like Ted Edward's, heated the threaded area with a handheld propane torch until the paint barely started to smoke, and turned the valve out easily with a large crescent wrench. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be based on all the horror stories. I filled it with hot water and a little dishwashing detergent for a first cut at de-stinking it (I don't much like the garlicky smell of methyl mercaptan). If anyone has any bright ideas as to how best to get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. Didn't somebody say that bleach is the correct approach? Jim -- ================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ================================================== |
I have an old one that they will no longer fill as well, Let me know how to
make this little forge if you don't mind. I think I'm getting cabin fever already. It's time for a project!!. Searcher1 "Grant Erwin" wrote in message ... I successfully devalved a little propane tank today, the kind they don't want you to use any more. I bled it off for a couple of days, with the tank set at the top of a largish sloped driveway so the gas would run down the hill and diffuse. When it finished hissing I turned it upside down with the valve open for a few hours. Then I took it into the shop and plumbed an air hose to it and pressurized it to 120psi and vented it, then repeated the air venting twice. I tried to get the valve to admit water but it plain didn't work. I cobbled up a chain clamp setup like Ted Edward's, heated the threaded area with a handheld propane torch until the paint barely started to smoke, and turned the valve out easily with a large crescent wrench. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be based on all the horror stories. I filled it with hot water and a little dishwashing detergent for a first cut at de-stinking it (I don't much like the garlicky smell of methyl mercaptan). If anyone has any bright ideas as to how best to get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. I'm going to make a little forge. Grant Erwin |
jim rozen wrote:
Grant Erwin says... get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. Didn't somebody say that bleach is the correct approach? Yep, it worked well for me, after trying a few other things that had very little effect. Bob |
Grant, you still have a web page?
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Grant, you still have a web page?
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Bob Engelhardt wrote:
jim rozen wrote: Grant Erwin says... get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. Didn't somebody say that bleach is the correct approach? Yep, it worked well for me, after trying a few other things that had very little effect. Bob Bob, how much bleach did you use? Did you pour in some bleach and then fill with water, or what? Grant |
Searcher wrote:
I have an old one that they will no longer fill as well, Let me know how to make this little forge if you don't mind. I think I'm getting cabin fever already. It's time for a project!!. I am making a forge which will be a lot like Ron Reil's freon tank forge which you can see online at http://www.reil1.net/minifor1.shtml although he doesn't give many construction details. I'm going to be working out of the book "Gas Burners for Forges, Furnaces & Kilns" by Michael Porter. This book has great content but could have used a little editing. See Matthew Dockrey's forge construction page: http://www.cyphertext.net/~gfish/forge.html Here's another freon tank forge construction page (very similar to propane): http://fredlyfx.com/freon.htm And another: http://www.kd5bwd.com/blacksmithing/...nk_forge_2.htm Don't miss Jason's forge in the dropbox: http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...files/ftmf.txt http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf1.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf2.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf3.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf4.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf5.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf6.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf7.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf8.jpg http://metalworking.com/DropBox/_199...iles/ftmf9.jpg that oughta get ya going -- Grant |
Grif wrote:
Grant, you still have a web page? My domain is tinyisland.com - if you poke around there you'll find some stuff I did. It isn't very current. - GWE |
Grant Erwin wrote:
I successfully devalved a little propane tank today, the kind they don't want you to use any more. I bled it off for a couple of days, with the tank set at the top of a largish sloped driveway so the gas would run down the hill and diffuse. When it finished hissing I turned it upside down with the valve open for a few hours. Then I took it into the shop and plumbed an air hose to it and pressurized it to 120psi and vented it, then repeated the air venting twice. I tried to get the valve to admit water but it plain didn't work. I cobbled up a chain clamp setup like Ted Edward's, heated the threaded area with a handheld propane torch until the paint barely started to smoke, and turned the valve out easily with a large crescent wrench. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be based on all the horror stories. I filled it with hot water and a little dishwashing detergent for a first cut at de-stinking it (I don't much like the garlicky smell of methyl mercaptan). If anyone has any bright ideas as to how best to get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. I'm going to make a little forge. Grant Erwin Wonder : Think skunk. Tomato juice ? Or Lemon - might be one acid or another... Martin -- Martin Eastburn, Barbara Eastburn @ home at Lion's Lair with our computer NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder |
Grant Erwin wrote:
Bob, how much bleach did you use? Did you pour in some bleach and then fill with water, or what? I didn't take the valve off, so I didn't pour in much - maybe a cup. Sloshed it around a bit and let it sit overnight (I suspect that the sitting overnight wasn't necessary). Poured it out (and rinsed?). Did not fill with water. Bob |
Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I didn't take the valve off, so I didn't pour in much - maybe a cup. Sloshed it around a bit and let it sit overnight (I suspect that the sitting overnight wasn't necessary). Poured it out (and rinsed?). Did not fill with water. I tried the bleach last night. I did have the valve off, so it was easy to pour in 1-2 cups and then fill the tank with hot water. When it was half full I plugged it and picked it up and sloshed it as violently as I could. Then I removed the plug and filled it the rest of the way with hot water. It foamed orange out the top. This morning I poured out the solution. It was all orange, like slightly diluted orange pop. No smell anything like the mercaptan. Nor did the orange look like rust, although it may have been, bleach I believe being an oxidizer. At any rate it wasn't enough to worry about. It looks like the bleach works. When it gets light out I'll blow the tank out with an air pipe and then let it dry in a warm place until I'm ready to cut it open. I now feel like I've dialed in the process. I might even shoot a photo of how I clamped the tank to remove the valve, it worked real well. Grant |
HEY, I ain't afraid of nothin but you guys are scareing me. At a certain
percentage of fuel to air it becomes self explosive. Somthing like 20 to 1. If you wanted to purge that tank an inert gas such as nitrogen or co2 or argon. Definitly not compressed air. Steam is a good purge and used in oil refinery's to prep line for work. The mercaptan is a carcinogen. Get a MDS and check it out. Those tanks are better sent to be recycled the benefit is not worth the risk. "Randy Zimmerman" wrote in message news:QamDd.740099$%k.141076@pd7tw2no... I cut them open with a cutting disc on a grinder after the water routine. I leave the water in when cutting . The smell was gone from the two halves after about a week. They make nice planters :')) Randy "Grant Erwin" wrote in message ... I successfully devalved a little propane tank today, the kind they don't want you to use any more. I bled it off for a couple of days, with the tank set at the top of a largish sloped driveway so the gas would run down the hill and diffuse. When it finished hissing I turned it upside down with the valve open for a few hours. Then I took it into the shop and plumbed an air hose to it and pressurized it to 120psi and vented it, then repeated the air venting twice. I tried to get the valve to admit water but it plain didn't work. I cobbled up a chain clamp setup like Ted Edward's, heated the threaded area with a handheld propane torch until the paint barely started to smoke, and turned the valve out easily with a large crescent wrench. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be based on all the horror stories. I filled it with hot water and a little dishwashing detergent for a first cut at de-stinking it (I don't much like the garlicky smell of methyl mercaptan). If anyone has any bright ideas as to how best to get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. I'm going to make a little forge. Grant Erwin |
Tomato juice is reported to knock down the smell, according to my bulk
tanker drivers. RJ "Grant Erwin" wrote in message ... I successfully devalved a little propane tank today, the kind they don't want you to use any more. I bled it off for a couple of days, with the tank set at the top of a largish sloped driveway so the gas would run down the hill and diffuse. When it finished hissing I turned it upside down with the valve open for a few hours. Then I took it into the shop and plumbed an air hose to it and pressurized it to 120psi and vented it, then repeated the air venting twice. I tried to get the valve to admit water but it plain didn't work. I cobbled up a chain clamp setup like Ted Edward's, heated the threaded area with a handheld propane torch until the paint barely started to smoke, and turned the valve out easily with a large crescent wrench. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be based on all the horror stories. I filled it with hot water and a little dishwashing detergent for a first cut at de-stinking it (I don't much like the garlicky smell of methyl mercaptan). If anyone has any bright ideas as to how best to get the stink out of the tank I'd like to know about it. I'm going to make a little forge. Grant Erwin |
Tim Williams wrote:
This morning I poured out the solution. It was all orange, like slightly diluted orange pop. No smell anything like the mercaptan. Nor did the orange look like rust, although it may have been, bleach I believe being an oxidizer. Oh, undoubtedly. Once you open it to air, there's nothing to protect the metal. Propane is a hydrocarbon, but with its boiling point, tends not to stick around too long. ;) I get the same orange juice appearance from leaving water sit in soup cans too long, although it's usually a bit chunkier than the colloidial suspension you must've had. I did some Web research this morning. It appears that methyl mercaptan dissolved in a 5% bleach solution does indeed turn red/orange/brown colored. So it wasn't rust. And to put the (unneeded) cap on it, there are a lot of official-looking Web sites which say methyl (or ethyl, or butyl ..) mercaptan can be deodorized with a 5% sodium hypochlorite solution, better known as household bleach. So my method of pouring in 1-2 cups of bleach, plugging and sloshing thoroughly, then unplugging and hot water rinsing is about as good as you can do. - GWE |
Tim Williams wrote:
"Grant Erwin" wrote in message ... I did some Web research this morning. It appears that methyl mercaptan dissolved in a 5% bleach solution does indeed turn red/orange/brown colored. So it wasn't rust. Hmm, interesting. I sit corrected! Unless... did they do it in glassware or say, a propane tank? G Tim Tim, I've seen about every kind of rusty water there is. This actually was the wrong color. It's pretty clearly a chemical solution. I'll know when I cut the tank open this week. I might do another bleach rinse because after 24 hours it still smells faintly like skunk/garlic. Grant |
On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 16:40:54 -0800, Grant Erwin
vaguely proposed a theory .......and in reply I say!: remove ns from my header address to reply via email Tim, I've seen about every kind of rusty water there is. This actually was the wrong color. It's pretty clearly a chemical solution. I'll know when I cut the tank open this week. I might do another bleach rinse because after 24 hours it still smells faintly like skunk/garlic. "methyl mercaptan is produced as a decay product of animal and vegetable matter." |
Speaking of skunk smell, I was in the company van at about 0200 this morning
and was unable to swerve enough to avoid running over a freshly dead skunk. Since the skunk smell followed us to our destination and back to work, it seems some scent is splashed/thrown onto the van, flashlight inspection did not reveal any pieces. I was not interested in a close up exam as my eyes were beginning to water. How much time till smell fades in Philly area in winter? John H. |
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