Before I do something stupid...

[Zork-SKO]

So, you asked.
And you even prefaced it with "before I do something stupid".
Then several people said things. Many, like myself, advised "don't put the tanks on the back".
And basically you replied with, "hey, I'll do what I want".
Ok.
Do what you want, then.
Best of luck to you.

That is what I intended to do in the first place, taking into consideration the arguments I thought were convincing and discarding those that are not. I don't think you get it. Not my problem.

 

[Zork-SKO]

Here's a couple photo's of my propane set up. I love it!! The tanks are behind the front wheel on the passenger side. Having a drawer would be better; but with this I can pull a tank out to refill without having to move the bus and pull into a tight filling station. I can take the tank to Costco or other cheap propane places for a fill and with 3 tanks I get 60 lbs of it. The third tank can easily come out and use it for my propane firepit without having to take one off the regulator.

Nice setup.

 

[o1marc]

I put a 29.3g horizontal tank in the RR corner. The only thing occupying that space was the straight tail pipe, which I cut and turned out the side behind the wheels.
With as many appliances you're running on gas I would this would be appropriate. I don't know what bus you have or if this would work. Put your bus info in your profile.

 

[Zork-SKO]

I put a 29.3g horizontal tank in the RR corner. The only thing occupying that space was the straight tail pipe, which I cut and turned out the side behind the wheels.
With as many appliances you're running on gas I would this would be appropriate. I don't know what bus you have or if this would work. Put your bus info in your profile.
/QUOTE]

I did, but the bus type doesn't show up on my messages. It's an IC SB CE-300 39 footer. Ok, now I figured it out, the site wants that info in the chassis field.

 

[o1marc]

I put a 29.3g horizontal tank in the RR corner. The only thing occupying that space was the straight tail pipe, which I cut and turned out the side behind the wheels.
With as many appliances you're running on gas I would this would be appropriate. I don't know what bus you have or if this would work. Put your bus info in your profile.
/QUOTE]

I did, but the bus type doesn't show up on my messages. It's an IC SB CE-300 39 footer. Ok, now I figured it out, the site wants that info in the chassis field.

Put a pic in there also. Your bus would accept a tank like mine. 29.3g goes a pretty long ways. Mine is for stove/oven, shower/sink hot water, and the hydronic floor hot water. Behind the propane door is a hose bibb the has an air hose reel mounted under there also, plumbed into the brake air tank witha shut off valve on it.

 

[Drew Bru]

Here's a couple photo's of my propane set up. I love it!! The tanks are behind the front wheel on the passenger side. Having a drawer would be better; but with this set up I can pull a tank out to refill without having to move the bus or pull into a tight filling station. I can take the tank to Costco or other cheap propane places for a fill and with 3 tanks I get 60 lbs of it. The third tank can easily come out and use it for my propane firepit without having to take one off the regulator.

We've got a similar setup. Its so easy to swap out tanks or take them in the car to get refilled. No weird maneuvering the bus in parking lots to reach a fill station. No seeking out fill stations at all if we just want to swap it out at a gas station or convenience store. They're reasonably well protected and secured, and they're reasonably accessible.

 

[kidharris]

Generally propane tanks are very safe and there are many factors here that can affect how safe it is. Such as how often are you going to be on the road, the less you are the safer it is to have them on the back. If you raise them up a little higher then it's going to be safer in terms of getting rear ended but maybe more dangerous to fill if they're higher to reach. If you did get rear ended would you be ok with the bus catching on fire? I might be a little nervous with my tanks on the back like that however I've never been rear ended in my life and I have done a lot of driving in my time.

Here's a couple photo's of my propane set up. I love it!! The tanks are behind the front wheel on the passenger side. Having a drawer would be better; but with this set up I can pull a tank out to refill without having to move the bus or pull into a tight filling station. I can take the tank to Costco or other cheap propane places for a fill and with 3 tanks I get 60 lbs of it. The third tank can easily come out and use it for my propane firepit without having to take one off the regulator.

Some states require that bottles be filled by weight, which means that the bottle lawfully has to be sitting on a scale while it is being filled. The weight of the empty bottle is stamped on the top. When I was in the built up roofing business in Texas, the railroad commission (don't ask me why) was in charge of overseeing propane distribution. I used to have to fill 1-3 100 lb bottles most days. There are tricks to loading/unloading 170 pound full bottles from a pickup, but it is still a pita. Putting them in a rack high in the air would be a job. No problem if they will fill them up while still mounted.


A 25 gallon (100 lbs of propane) bottle weighs approximately 170 lbs full. How high do you want to lift it?


BTW, if you got rear ended, you and everybody around you would be lucky if all it did was catch fire.

 

[o1marc]

Some states require that bottles be filled by weight, which means that the bottle lawfully has to be sitting on a scale while it is being filled.

What do they do for filling RV's?

 

[Zork-SKO]

Put a pic in there also. Your bus would accept a tank like mine. 29.3g goes a pretty long ways. Mine is for stove/oven, shower/sink hot water, and the hydronic floor hot water. Behind the propane door is a hose bibb the has an air hose reel mounted under there also, plumbed into the brake air tank witha shut off valve on it.

It's just a generic CE-300 school bus right now.

 

[o1marc]

It's just a generic CE-300 school bus right now.

I f you put a pic in we don't have to try and guess what type bus you're working on when you have questions.

 

[Zork-SKO]

A 25 gallon (100 lbs of propane) bottle weighs approximately 170 lbs full. How high do you want to lift it?

BTW, if you got rear ended, you and everybody around you would be lucky if all it did was catch fire.

The weight is a good point, but the idea is to put them on a platform that can be raised and lowered either with a crank or electric.

As to being rear ended, the same will happen if you get t-boned and your tanks are on the side that got t-boned. You'd be lucky to not be vaporized. Putting the tanks underneath is not without risks either. Underneath, the tank is more susceptible to hitting debris on the road. Even a large speed bump in a parking lot can become a problem. Also, a tank underneath the RV is harder to inspect and check for leaks. That can lead to people not doing complete inspections due to not wanting to spend much time underneath the vehicle. Vertical tanks are easier to inspect and check.

These are all the considerations I am taking into making the decision.

 

[Bon Voyage]

Some states require that bottles be filled by weight, which means that the bottle lawfully has to be sitting on a scale while it is being filled. The weight of the empty bottle is stamped on the top. When I was in the built up roofing business in Texas, the railroad commission (don't ask me why) was in charge of overseeing propane distribution. I used to have to fill 1-3 100 lb bottles most days. There are tricks to loading/unloading 170 pound full bottles from a pickup, but it is still a pita. Putting them in a rack high in the air would be a job. No problem if they will fill them up while still mounted.


A 25 gallon (100 lbs of propane) bottle weighs approximately 170 lbs full. How high do you want to lift it?


BTW, if you got rear ended, you and everybody around you would be lucky if all it did was catch fire.

Not sure if your question is for me but no I don’t want to lift it that’s why I went with 20 lb tanks.

Not sure but if you’re thinking it’ll explode, that’s not going to happen. For it to explode it would have to have oxygen with the propane inside the tank. If the tank were to get punctured it would spray out and if it then got ignited it might shoot out similar to a blow torch. Might be neat to see but not from the cab of a truck that hit it.

 

[Bon Voyage]

What do they do for filling RV's?

I had a few propane vehicles 10 or 15 years back and they have tanks that either have an automatic shut off or when your filling you open a vent, when it gets to the 80% capacity it’ll start spraying out of the vent you know it’s full (80%) and you shut it off.

My old 2007 class A motorhome had the auto shut off, but anything with an auto shut off will have a vent also. My experience with my motorhome and pulling in to places to fill it led me to get the 20 lb tanks system like I put in my bus.

 

[Zork-SKO]

I f you put a pic in we don't have to try and guess what type bus you're working on when you have questions.

I've looked everywhere and the user interface of this web site does not make it easy to figure out how to do that. ??

Ohhh, never mind. I found it again.

 

[o1marc]

I had a few propane vehicles 10 or 15 years back and they have tanks that either have an automatic shut off or when your filling you open a vent, when it gets to the 80% capacity it’ll start spraying out of the vent you know it’s full (80%) and you shut it off.

My old 2007 class A motorhome had the auto shut off, but anything with an auto shut off will have a vent also. My experience with my motorhome and pulling in to places to fill it led me to get the 20 lb tanks system like I put in my bus.

My point was towards the comment of states that only allow filling by weight and not measure. I don't believe this is true.

 

[Bon Voyage]

My point was towards the comment of states that only allow filling by weight and not measure. I don't believe this is true.

Yeah that can’t be true for all propane tanks.

 

[HamSkoolie]

My point was towards the comment of states that only allow filling by weight and not measure. I don't believe this is true.

Yeah, I've been to a lot of states and I've seen a lot of RV's. I've never seen propane tanks filled on a scale (not saying some place like NJ, MA, NY don't say that). And there are a LOT of RV's (as well as commercial rigs and how about those LPG vehicles with bolted down tanks) with permanently installed tanks.

Without a citation to an actual, still in effect, LAW.... I'm calling BS (on the claim of ONLY filling by weight)

 

[kidharris]

The weight is a good point, but the idea is to put them on a platform that can be raised and lowered either with a crank or electric.

As to being rear ended, the same will happen if you get t-boned and your tanks are on the side that got t-boned. You'd be lucky to not be vaporized. Putting the tanks underneath is not without risks either. Underneath, the tank is more susceptible to hitting debris on the road. Even a large speed bump in a parking lot can become a problem. Also, a tank underneath the RV is harder to inspect and check for leaks. That can lead to people not doing complete inspections due to not wanting to spend much time underneath the vehicle. Vertical tanks are easier to inspect and check.

These are all the considerations I am taking into making the decision.

I don't know the publics statistics but my personal statistics in close to 60 years of driving - tboned once (lady ran a stop sign), rear ended 7 times, almost ran over by an 18 wheeler - once ( I managed to get completely off I40, he couldn't stop on ice at 50 mph). Being stupid in my early years - countless close calls, 1 head on at residential speeds downhill in the rain, 3 rollovers, 1 flip end over end, and 1 trip off a levy about 10 foot, landing upside down in the marsh, kinda combo flip roll in the rain (got caught in a rut caused by county trucks, ruts got filled with water to where they were invisible).



I think that rearends are the most common accident, I also think that any protection is better than no protection

 

[Zork-SKO]

I think that rearends are the most common accident, I also think that any protection is better than no protection

I agree, hence the current plan to put the tank inside a ventilated steel box... But anyway, IMO if rear end crashes were so much more common, there would be a lot more accidents involving propane and food trucks with tanks in the back. The actual number is tiny.

 

[HamSkoolie]

Not sure if your question is for me but no I don’t want to lift it that’s why I went with 20 lb tanks.

Not sure but if you’re thinking it’ll explode, that’s not going to happen. For it to explode it would have to have oxygen with the propane inside the tank. If the tank were to get punctured it would spray out and if it then got ignited it might shoot out similar to a blow torch. Might be neat to see but not from the cab of a truck that hit it.

THANK YOU......

As someone who spent a career working with ordnance, safety, compressed tanks, etc. it amazes me how people think a propane tank is going to explode if it gets hit.....or shot. I have no idea how many "improvised explosive devices" (IED's) I've read about HERE IN THE STATES (not to mention YouTube vids with people upset that shooting a tank didn't do anything) that were made from a propane tank and shooting it. Here locally they even taped a flare to the tank and lit it before shooting it.
for a propane tank to cause an explosion when released into air there must be a concentration of propane that is between the upper and lower explosive limits (UEL LEL). Outside that window the mixture is too rich or too lean and will not combust. That window is 1.8 to 8.4 percent per the MSDS of propane manufacturer Airgas.

You can cause an explosion by exposing the tank to fire until pressure exceeds the capacity of the tank but there are pressure relief valves on tanks and that valve would also have to fail. Otherwise, all you'll get is more intense fire when the propane finds sufficient oxygen, which, inside an already burning fire, is usually in short supply.
Bottom line....... too many people rely on the concepts they've learned from Hollywood and ignorant politicians when it comes to explosions. NO gasoline cars do not explode at the bottom of the canyon, smoking while refueling a gasoline car isn't a guaranteed fire. And propane tanks ALMOST NEVER explode from fire or collision.
When does propane explode? When the pilot light goes out (old appliances), a fitting or valve leaks, or some other leak that is then contained but finds itself in the window between UEL and LEL AND THEN finds an ignition source.

You are far more likely to suffer a cold injury from a propane tank than a burn.
All that said, yes it can explode...... but it's not going to unless you walked under a ladder as a black cat crossed your path and when you jumped you knocked a mirror off the ladder.....

One of my most impressive demonstrations in classes has been when I light a cigarette and then put it out in an open container of gasoline.....then throw the still lighted match right in behind it!!!!!! This demonstration is usually done with a glass jar so that I can then ignite the gasoline VAPORS and demonstrate that the gasoline doesn't burn only the vapors (yes propane is already a vapor - keep reading) AND only at the point where the concentration of vapors is between the UEL and LEL which is some point just below the lid of the jar but above the liquid fuel.


END OF RANT BY ORDNANCE TECHNICIAN