cutting a old 100# propane tank

Husker44A

Well-known Member
So, guys and gals. The wife thinks she wants a turbo patio heater. You tube has A LOT of videos on these cool heaters amd very effientient stoves. Ive seen people make these with 100# Lpg tanks. I found one at the local salvage yard that has the valve OPEN and I would assume its been open for years. Not saying that the propane is still.in the tank and valve is messed up amd valve open. The wife dont want to cash in my life insurance yet. So,HOW would a guy cut this tank without loosing my life. I have heard that LPG soaks into the steel like water in a sponge. Ive thought about setting it a long ways away and pokin a hole into with my 22-250. Then fill with water and cutting with a bandsaw. OPINIONS PLEASE !!!!
 
If it was me I would remove the valve from the tank. Then I would put it on a brush pile and light the pile up and leave the area. Make sure the valve end points in such a way that when and if it turns into a rocket it can fly in a safe direction. Done that many times with gas tanks and propane tanks
 
Open the valve and make sure all the gas is out, unscrew the valve and fill it with water and let set a couple of days, drain it and fill it again. That is what I did when I turned one into an extra gas tank for my truck years ago. Welded a two inch fill pipe and drilled and threaded a drain fitting in it.
 
I've cut a bunch of them. (disclaimer: not saying this is safe or that you should do it) I just remove the valve, fill them with water and stick a torch to them. They make wonderful fish cookers; pictured are 4 in use last Fall at the same time........(never could find a commercial burner that would put out enough heat, 'though I'm sure they're out there; best I could find when I started making the things was 170,000 btu and I needed a lot more than that, so I build my own burners).
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NO UFO's but have had a few tank that seemed to become a rocket or sound like it was a blast furance
 
That's exactly what I did with the gas tank off of a stock car that had a drip at the outlet.

I was on a slab outside of my shop. I barely touched it with a torch. When the smoke settled and the dust cleared, I was laying on the hood of the stock car in the shop, the gas tank was a flat piece of tin, my torch was busted, and the roll of solder I had sitting on the tank landed in a gutter on our house 50 yards away.
 
I prefer to fill the tank with an inert gas like CO2 or Argon before welding. Even better is to get someone else to do it. The local propane company sends old tanks out to be water cut before disposal
 
Granted. But ever since whenever I see someone come near ANYTHING that's had any kind of gas in it with an open flame I have this urge to be about 100 yards away with my fingers in my ears.
 
Another propane tank (500 gallon this time) filled with water and safely carved open with an acetylene torch..........
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Many years ago when every farm had a trash pile and or fire pit, ever see an "empty" spray paint can go off???!!! Now multiply that a couple hundred times!
 
I have welded on old fork truck propane tanks, I take all the fittings out and stand them upside down, propane is heavier than air so in a couple of days it's safe to weld.
 
LP "soaking" into steel is utter nonsense! It's in the same category as flat earth and tinfoil hats.

The smell of the odorant (Ethyl Mercaptan) will linger for a long time after the propane is long gone. Your nose is very sensitive to it which is why they chose it.

Propane is a vapor at atmospheric pressure and filling the tank with water will displace any remaining gas. Cutting it with the bandsaw will work fine.
 
I cut a couple of them. It's not too hard to fill with water and I didn't take off the valves. Just have to keep letting the air/gas escape. I put a strip of tape around them as a guide and used an abrasive wheel on a hand grinder.
 
It is the odorant (mercaptan) that clings to the steel inside, not the propane itself. Fill it with water and you are guaranteed there is no propane inside. If you want to get rid of the smell (I always feel better about cutting them if they don't smell like propane) add a little bleach to the water and it will kill off the odor after that soaks a bit.
 
The compressor tank that I posted a pic of, in the post above this one, was an old propane tank. An old man that went to our church delivered propane, and also repaired their delivery trucks. He said to fill it with water before making any sparks, but to expect tiny pockets of propane to pop as you weld on it. "It takes years for the propane to seep into these "pores" and it will take years for it to seep back out", he said. I followed his advice, and it would occasionally sound like a muffled .22 short going off. I know this disagrees with the "tinfoil hat" post (no disrespect intended) but it is what I experienced. Personally, I wouldn't fool with it today, but 40 years ago I felt like I couldn't afford to waste a nickel on anything.
 
made a little stove from a 20 pounder tank. valve was removed, then tank turned upside down a couple days, then a long tipped lighter used to double check. door was cut with a chopsaw blade in a old craftsman saw, chimney and back vent hole also.
It's been tested with frying bacon and eggs, works good enough for camping and might end up in a little trailer/shed.
RN
 
Goose:

35 years ago the gas tank on my '76 Malibu Station Wagon developed several pin-hole leaks. Removed the tank & thoroughly washed it out with soapy water (Ivory Liquid Dish Soap [wetting agent]), then used Oxy/Acet torch to Silver Solder the pin-holes. Coated the inside of the tank with a good tank sealer & Fiberglassed the outside of the tank. Tank was still working good when I sold the car 8 years later. No problems!

Doc
 
Gosh, that's real slick looking.

Johnsonville that make bratwursts and the like has a huge semi that looks like a grill, and opens up as a grill that people can walk up stairs, pass by, get their brats or whatever. I saw it, or one at the grand opening of some store during the summer a few years ago. Like your 500 gallon propane tank mobile grill, very slick setup. Might be a money maker...build them, sell them.

Mark
Here it is, Johnsonville mobile grill
 
Mark......too many people in the business to consider building/selling them (check out 'barbecue grill' on ebay, highest first). Lots of rednecks around 'here' have got something similar. When cooking for fewer people, I use this...
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