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Cutting ends out of propane tank

O

Old Bob

Member
I have a propane tank I want to cut the ends out of. What is the safest way to do this????? Thanks in advance
 
Let someone else do it while you are gone LOL! OK, now the real answer- When we do that at the shop, we have the guys from the utility company bring their "sniffer" and check for gas residue. Have done several that way without any problems. Dale
 
Up till now I've unscrewed the valve and thrown them in the burning pile, but I was just up at a scrap yard a couple weeks ago, and I saw a whole pile of 20 pounders with holes cut in the bottom with a torch. I find tons of these things, and nobody will take them unless they're cut in half. I suppose there's easier, safer money out there, but 50% of the tanks never even make any noise when thrown in the fire.
 
How big a tank? The fact that you're asking total strangers how to do something that could be potentially fatal concerns me. Propane is heavier than air; valve out/tank inverted will get most/all of the gas out. I've opened up several with a torch after letting them set for a few days and filling them with water. I DO NOT advocate you doing it. The biggest I've cut into is about 500 gallon and I've made fish cookers out of about a dozen 100# tanks.......3 of which are pictured.

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My father in law and I have made two smokers (BBQs)out of them. We ran a hose from the truck's exhaust into it for several minutes; Then started cutting with fingers crossed. We had removed all plugs / valves/ etc days before. I'm not legally resposible for this response!
 
Take the valve out, poke a dozen or so of the round dry ice pellets inside, and commence to cutting. The dry ice will sublimate into carbon dioxide, which will not support combustion, so you should be OK to cut it any way you want to. This also works well on gas tanks since it leaves no residue in the tank.
 
I have cut the ends out of some gas tanks by filling them with water. Then starting to cut with water in them. The gas tanks were 5000 gallon tanks. The propane tank that I am going to cut is 1100 gallon. Just wondered if someone else had a better way. Kind of like putting it on the burn pile first. I am not looking to hold anyone responsible. I guess our society has made us afraid of giving an opinion. Any better suggestions will be welcomed. Thanks
 
OK, it's a 1100 gallon tank, your gonna need more than a few dozen pellets to fill that thing up. Even so several pounds of dry ice typically doesn't cost that much when bought in block form and can easily be broken down small enough to put in through a large pipe port.

Another thing that can be done is to rent a bottle of nitrogen and turn it on into the tank. Like CO2 nitrogen won't support combustion and will serve the same purpose.
 
O.K., I can't stand it anymore. What are you building? You're making something out of those cupped ends, aren't you!
 
Cutting a propane tank open is A LOT safer than cutting a gas tank open. Take all the fittings out and let it sit out in the open and all the propane will have evaporated. Wouldn't be a bad idea to rinse it out with steam/hot water before cutting but no need to throw it in a fire.
 
Old Bob, On my pit it was made from a old underground 150 gal. Butane tank. It had been open to the elements for a couple of yrs.....
1...Filled with water and flushed 2 or 3 times and fille to the top a 4th time.
2...I drilled a 3/8 hole at the line where I was going to cut. I left one end cap in place, No need to change it if I needed a end plate anyway. Make sure the end where you drill is at the low end!
3...start cutting around the end cap as you start cutting down you will need to roll the tank the opposite direction so yo can keep the max amount of water in the tank. After you have cut about 1/3 or so around, do not worry about the remaining water just keep cutting, that is how I did mine where were times that the gunk in the bottom of the tank mad some noise but nothing came of it. After you get to the 1/3 cut point the DRY Ice thing might just be the ticket, to help keep any chance of explosion from happening, at that point on. Hope this helps.
Later,
John A.
Just take away one of the 3 Items needed for fire or explosion, take the O2 out of the tank is what is needed Hope this helps, jas
 
Take the valve out, and turn the tank over so the open end is on the bottom.

Propane is heavier than air. Even if all of it doesn't run out, enough of it will that the air-fuel mixture inside won't be combustible.

Once the tank has been "emptied" you can safely cut it however you want.

If you really want to be sure, just take the cutting torch and poke the flame into the open hole. Trust me, it will NOT explode.

At worst, if there's any fuel left at all, you'll get a quick puff of flame, after which the tank will be completely devoid of fuel and safe to cut.
 
This tank is almost 20 feet long and probably 3 1/2 to 4 feet in diameter. We are going to use it for a culvert. The gas tanks that I cut we made feed troughs out of them.
 
I had a 600 gallon underground fuel oil tank
removed and a State Certified person has to
remove one in Wisconsin. They filled it with
Nitrogen, before cutting a hole in it to insert
a suction hose to be sure any last bit of fuel
was removed.
 
I would fill it with water and cut, but being 1100 gallons.... That would take a quite a long time to fill... You could set it in a field, then use the end caps to sight in your 30-06.... Put enough holes in the ends, then Spark up the torch, if ventilated enough any remaining gas will just burn off, without pressure it won't explode...
 
>At worst, if there's any fuel left at all, you'll get a quick puff of flame, after which the tank will be completely devoid of fuel and safe to cut.


Of course, I'd be devoid of something too when the puff comes..... ;)

--->Paul
 
All the propane will be out of the tank long before the smell disappears. With the valve removed, point the hole down and run a line from an air compressor into the tank. The fuel will be gone in a few minutes.
 
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