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Old 08-11-2007, 10:44 PM   #1
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another propane tank question

I got hold of ( i was given ) a couple of marine tanks aluminium that lay on their side.
Do I need to mount them in a manner so that they are easily removed to be filled or can they be filled while they are attached to the bus.
This may be a duh question but I have'nt tackled propane yet.
cna aynybody tell me the basics
dale

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Old 08-11-2007, 10:47 PM   #2
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Re: another propane tank question

also what is the average size of tank would be appropriate for the bus
these are two 50s is that going to be enough for more than a few days
water heater stove. two people
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Old 08-13-2007, 09:37 PM   #3
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Re: another propane tank question

well it must be a stupid question nobody is bothering reply
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Old 08-13-2007, 11:46 PM   #4
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Re: another propane tank question

Delbertine I didnt tackle that issue yet with my conversion. However since I live in Propane country do we have many Vehicles that are powered by propane. They have underbody tanks that are filled at the gas station. Newer tanks have an automatic shut off so it stops the pump as soon as your tank is at 80% (legal filling limit) older tanks have a little bleeder valve which you open when you fill your tank, as soon as you see propane escaping from that valve (misty vapor) the tank is at 80% and you have to manualy shut off the pump. These tanks work great if you have access to a propane fueling station which is no problem up here but could be quite the task to find one in other areas. If your stuck There is a adaptor hose which will screw on to your fill valve and to a regular portable propane tank. Connect the hose turn the bottle upside down and open the valve, propane will flow into tank.
I've also seen RV's with this kind of tank. So dont know if that is what you got.
How long will a fill last? All depends on your appliances and how often will you use them. A 20lb bottle holds 5gallons of propane, 1 gal equals ca. 91'000 btu's so in a 20lb you should have 455000 btu's. With this you could do a rough calculation, figure out how many BTU's your appliances use, guess how many minutes or hours you use each every day. Calculate the BTU's used and if you want to calculate cost too remember that all your appliances are not 100% efficient, depending on age and model it could be anywhere from 60% to 95% (95% very expensive appliances, most likely not found in a Skoolie conversion.)
So theoreticly you could run a 35'000btuh furnace on a 20lb bottle for 13 hours. (of course ir real life you could deduct a coupple hours)
I'm not sure if a 20lb / 5gal. bottle actualy holds 5 gal. or if it is filled to 80% of 5 gal. Maybe someone else knows this.

Have fun
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Old 08-14-2007, 10:27 AM   #5
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Re: another propane tank question

I'm not sure on the density conversion (i.e. does 20 lbs=5 gallons), but I DO know that when I filled tanks at a gas station we did it by weight on the portable tanks. There is a tank weight inscribed on the valve shield. We would add 20 lbs (or 30 or 40 or whatever the tank called for) to that on the scale and the pump would turn off automatically when it reached that weight (usually 37-42 lbs total) so we DID fill a full 20 lbs on there. On the flip side to that those exchange bottles you get often times only have 17 lbs in them. It will be labeled on there somewhere as a truth in advertising sort of thing, but don't expect them to play up the fact that you're paying more money for less propane for the "convenience" of an exchange.
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Old 08-14-2007, 12:01 PM   #6
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Re: another propane tank question

Quote:
PROPANE GAS PROPERTIES

BTU Per Gallon - 91,502

BTU Per Cubic Foot - 2,488

BTU Per Pound - 21,548

Pounds Per Gallon - 4.24

Cubic Feet Per Gallon - 36.38

Cubic Feet Per Pound - 8.66

Specific Gravity of Vapor - 1.50

Specific Gravity of Liquid - 0.504

Boiling Point in Degrees F - -44
and for propane tanks, bigger is better, so put the biggest tanks in that you can. Better 1 40lb then 2 20lb botttle. Has to do with evaporation.

Here some links with propane facts.

http://www.pmak.org/public/propane_facts.html
http://www.propanecarbs.com/propane.html
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Old 08-14-2007, 04:13 PM   #7
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Re: another propane tank question

i think that 100 pounds of propane seems sufficient. A lot of travel trailers only have twin 20 pounders on them. I don't use propane appliances, only my 50 foot flame thrower, but 100 pounds of propane is a lot! I use a cingle 100 pound cylinder.
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Old 08-14-2007, 10:27 PM   #8
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Re: another propane tank question

i tell you what that flame thrower is a hoot. was it easy to make?

anyways for free tanks i couldn't pass them up.

I'm thinking for the water heater using a tankless propane, and a slide out barbeque grill, and propane cook top and a three way fridge.

I just wanted to make sure I had enough capacity. just want to do it right the first time

isn't the middle of the bus the best place to put them away from the engine away from the rear end incase I get rear ended.

any regs on placement. got a lot of questions
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Old 08-16-2007, 05:41 PM   #9
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Re: another propane tank question

I have a friend in the propane biz, and he hooked me up with an 86 gallon LP tank, installed/plumbed for $250. I run an Onan 5.5kw LP genny, Precision Temp RV500 demand water heater and two burner cooktop.

Jay
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Old 08-16-2007, 09:18 PM   #10
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Re: another propane tank question

how well do you like the propane jenny? is it any quieter than a gas unit? and what kind of money are they any higher than conventional.

was thinking about a honda eu
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Old 08-16-2007, 10:11 PM   #11
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Re: another propane tank question

Quote:
Originally Posted by delbertinie
how well do you like the propane jenny? is it any quieter than a gas unit? and what kind of money are they any higher than conventional.

was thinking about a honda eu
The Honda is a great unit, and I hear lots of praise for them.

I can't say that the LP Onan is any quieter, and their page lists the noise specs as the same for gas or LP. I do like never having to mess with the carb after having the unit sit idle for a month or more. I press the start button, and it starts...down to 20* last winter. The exhaust is not too offensive either.
The cost for a dedicated LP unit from Onan was only about $150 more than the same sized gas genny. I change the Onan's oil every 75-100 hours, and it looks tabout the same coming out, as it did going in.
I can highly recommend a properly set up LP genny.
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Old 09-12-2007, 12:45 PM   #12
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Re: another propane tank question

I have been around propane forever. It used to be a lot simpler. Now days if you don't have the right valves in the tank, they won't fill it, but they'll upgrade the valve for a nominal fee...

You might check with your local propane dealer to see what they have to say, but you may run into a snag if you permanently mount portable tanks- 20lb or 100lb. LP tanks designed to be permanently mounted to vehicles have guages, vapor ports, liquid ports, fuel level senders, emergency pop-off valves etc. Your typical grill bottle does not. I would guess the best bet for using portable tanks would be to keep them portable.

Also, the propane guy isn't going to crawl under your bus to fill'er up.

Something that might work well on a bus is camper tanks. They're 8ft long and mount over the wheel wells on full size pickups. Slide in campers fit right over the top. They're 40 gallons each. I have a pair of them between the floor joists in my shop as air compressor tanks.

Paul
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