Propane for Preppers 3.0: The Complete Book Part 2

Shortly after posting Part 1 to Ron Brown’s book, Propane for Preppers, a major pipeline in the US was hit by a cyberattack. This attack resulted from a hack that for close to a week, shut down a system that delivers about 45% of the gasoline consumed on the East Coast. This led to panic buying and shortages at gas stations from Washington, D.C., to Florida.

What a mess!

Whereas that attack affected gasoline, who is to say that the next attack, if it happens, won’t shut down our electrical power grid?

Of course, there are many risks other than a hack attack. This summer, it has already been reported that some states will face grid disruptions due to brownouts and blackouts. Natural disasters occur and there is always the possibility of a massive EMP, whether natural or manmade.

One way or another, we all need to be prepared with a fuel source that will get us through a short-term disruption to our power grid. One of those fuels is propane.

Propane, at the moment, is relatively easy to acquire and while not cheap, is still affordable. With propane, you can boil questionable water to make it safe to drink and add lighting to pitch-black darkness. With propane, you can cook your food and heat your living space. There is a lot you can do with propane in an emergency situation.

I am posting this multi-part series on propane to educate you about the various aspects of propane, including its storage and safe usage. By the time you finish this series, you will be able to use propane with confidence and without fear that you will hurt yourself in the process.

PART TWO – PROPANE FOR PREPPERS

Plumbing

Crystal Meth

Twenty years ago I wouldn’t have bothered to include this section. Today it’s top on the list.

I live in the country, near a village with one stoplight, 30 miles from Walmart. Yesterday, in a house just up the road, there was an explosion that blew the front door off its hinges and the glass out of all the windows. The only person home at the time went to the hospital with burns over 75% of his body. It’s the fourth meth bust we’ve had locally in the past 12 months. As Bob Dylan said in 1964 (57 years ago), the times they are a-changin’.

People who make meth use propane tanks to hold ammonia. The tanks are made of steel but the fittings are made of brass. And ammonia attacks brass, cracks it, and makes it brittle. Makes it unpredictable. And it gives the brass fittings a distinctive blue color. The tank may or may not hold pressure without exploding.

Urban legend has it that such tanks are sometimes turned in, refilled, and recycled back to propane customers. Extremely unlikely. For one thing, the tanks are screened by propane suppliers. For another, as Snopes points out, anyone turning in a meth tank (with its prominent blue corrosion) would be drawing attention to himself. A far more likely scenario would be finding such a tank in the garage of the house you just rented, left behind by previous tenants. Or finding one at a flea market.

If you do come across such a tank (that is, a propane tank where the brass fittings are corroded to a blue or blue-green color), don’t move it. You don’t know what’s inside or how much pressure it’s under or how close it is to blowing. Will it take the jostling and jarring of being moved? There’s no way to tell. Call the fire department. Let them bring in the bomb squad. Seriously. Don’t move the tank yourself.

I don’t own such a tank, or even pictures of such a tank, so that I can show you what the blue color looks like. But if you’ll Google for ‘ammonia blue propane’ you’ll find lots of images. Check it out. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Tanks

Propane tanks come in all sizes. I worked many years at an aluminum mill. We consumed enough gas in the ‘soaking pits’ to light a small city. Literally. Had a big snowstorm. Blackout. Lost production. Mega-bucks. We installed propane tanks big enough to run for a week without interruption. It looked like a supply depot. It was a supply depot.

On the other end of the range are cartridges that hold 110 grams (4 oz.) of a propane-butane blend. Weight-wise, that’s equivalent to half a cup of water. A hiker can toss a cartridge into his backpack and not notice the weight. That kind of cartridge is intended to power small lanterns and one-burner stoves.

Within those two extremes, this book will focus on the lower end of the range – one-pounders and 20-pounders for the most part. The one-pounders are made to be disposable, not refillable. Technology-wise, one-pounders can be refilled and adapters to do so are widely sold. Part Three of this book will show you how. But when we do it, we’ll be taking on all associated risk. Please be aware.

The skinny (Bernzomatic) soldering cylinders have the same (right-hand) threads that one-pounders have. And that MAPP-gas cylinders have. They can all be refilled the same way. Unfortunately, they are all made to be disposable and they are all prone to leaking. I’ve had it happen several times. An audible hiss; escaping gas that you cannot stop.

Threaded brass end caps will stop the leak if an O-ring is added. A basin of water with a leaking one-pounder in it reveals a stream of bubbles coming from the valve. If you install a brass end cap, the bubbles continue. If you wrap the threads with Teflon thread-seal tape, the bubbles continue. If you install a gasket cut from a sheet of rubber-cork gasket material from the automotive supply store, the bubbles continue. If, however, you replace the factory-installed gasket with an O-ring (¹⁵/₁₆” outside diameter) from your local hardware store, the bubbles stop.

Bingo!

Unfortunately, brass end caps are expensive. An alternate is a propane device that’s no longer functional (because it’s plugged, dented, etc.) – soldering tips and such that you pick up at yard sales. These devices can be mounted on a one-pounder in place of an end cap. Plus-or-minus an O-ring, they’ll stop leaks.

Another way to use a leaky cylinder is to store it (empty) until you need it, then refill it immediately before use. But that means you must leave the appliance attached to the cylinder until the propane is totally consumed. Else the leaking resumes.

Side Note: Brass end caps are used because brass is non-sparking. Flint and steel makes sparks. Even steel and steel makes sparks if you bang the pieces together just right.

Sparks are a constant threat, a constant fear, around propane. But you can bang on brass all day long and not get any sparks. And that’s a good thing, a wonderful thing.

Let’s move on up the food chain. The next size larger tank after a one-pounder is a four-pounder. Actually, the so-called 4-pounder is 4¼ lbs. Seems like an odd increment but no doubt it was intended as a ‘one-gallon’ tank. One gallon of propane weighs 4.23 lbs. at 60º F.

One-pounders have right-hand threads, are intended as disposable (not refillable), and lack the 80%-refill safety feature I described at the beginning of this article. All tanks from 4 to 40 lbs. have left-hand threads, are refillable, and do have the 80%-refill safety feature (called OPD or Overfill Protection Device).

In the 4-lb. to 40-lb. range, tanks made before 1998 lacked OPD. The shutoff knobs on the older tanks had a variety of shapes – round, 5-point star, 6-point star, etc. Those tanks are gone now, retired when their certification dates expired. Plus, since 2002, they could not legally be refilled. They’ve effectively been bled out of the supply chain and have all but disappeared.

What remains in circulation (in the 4-lb. to 40-lb. range) are tanks with a standardized shutoff knob, triangular in shape and stamped ‘OPD’. Not only do OPD tanks have a float inside to prevent over-filling, if the valve is accidentally left open and the tank is not hooked up to anything, no gas comes out. Sweet.

Propane is sold in both pounds and gallons. At the kind of store where you take your tank to be refilled (a feed store, for example, or a home-heating-oil dealer), the unit of measure is gallons.

There are also trade-in stations, for lack of a better term, where you turn in your empty tank and return home with a full (and different) tank. At such a station, pounds is the unit of measure.

A ‘20-lb. cylinder’ is sized to hold 20 pounds of propane (net) when it is 80% full. So its ‘total’ capacity (theoretically) is 25 pounds (20 ÷ 25 = .80). But the tank’s internal float prevents you from putting more than 20 pounds in it.

The empty or unladen weight of a container is its ‘tare weight.’ The tare weight of a propane cylinder is stamped on its collar. Pictured below is the collar of a nominal 20-lb. propane cylinder. ‘TW’ stands for tare weight. In this case, the tare weight is 16.6 lbs. (16 lbs. 10 oz.).

So if you removed this exact tank from your BBQ grill and weighed it, and it weighed 30 lbs., then you’d know it contained 13.4 lbs. of propane (30 – 16.6 = 13.4). And you’d know it contained 67% of its rated 20 lb. capacity (13.4 ÷ 20 = .67).

When this tank is filled to capacity (20 lb.), it will weigh 36.6 lbs. (20 + 16.6 = 36.6). Anything below that indicates underfilling. At the trade-in station where you turn in your empty tank (plus a few bucks) in exchange for a full one, you can weigh your new tank (giving you the gross weight), subtract the stamped tare weight from the gross, and see how much propane, net, is actually in your new tank. So will it be a full 20 lbs.? Or less than 20 lbs.?

Blue Rhino says about itself: “In 2008 . . . Blue Rhino followed the example of other consumer products companies [and] . . . reduced the amount of propane in our tanks from 17 pounds to 15 pounds.”

See https://bluerhino.com/propane-info/faqs/buying-blue-rhino-tanks-faqs and select “How much propane does Blue Rhino put in its tanks?”

(Don’t be alarmed. This is nothing more nor less than the universal business model in action. After all, I can remember when a pound of coffee weighed 16 ounces instead of twelve. This is what the communications people mean when they say, “The world is getting smaller.”)

Refillable tanks are certified for twelve years from the date of manufacture (stamped on the collar). At the end of twelve years they must be tested and recertified. The recertification is good for five additional years.

And how about the disposable one-pounders we want to refill? There is no collar. The date of manufacture is unknown. There is no recertification procedure. Translation. If you refill it, you’re on your own. You’re assuming all risk, all responsibility. I’m not saying, “Don’t do it.” But I am saying, “Be careful.”

Valves

Some years back, if you cooked with gas, having two 100-lb. tanks with changeover valves was SOP (standard operating procedure). That’s what I had as a married student back in the day, supplying my 12′ x 60′ house trailer. Today, I have a 200-lb. tank owned by the gas company. My gas company waives any rental fee. Some companies charge. When I had 100-lb. tanks, I, myself, transported them to the vendor to get them refilled. Today, with a 200-lb. tank, the vendor sends the truck to me.

About the only place I see changeover valves (sometimes called switchover valves) today is on RV’s where they use two 20-lb. tanks. BBQ grills typically have one 20-lb. tank.

With changeover valves, when tank #1 gets empty the valve automatically switches to tank #2. At that point you can shut off and remove tank #1, haul it away to get it refilled, and have supper cooking on tank #2 while tank #1 is off-line.

I once stayed with some folks in their travel trailer who had changeover valves but who didn’t understand them. Tank #1 ran out of gas. They shut everything off – I failed to convince them it was unnecessary – and, despite the fact that tank #2 was available, supper waited while someone drove to town, many miles on back roads, to fill tank #1. What part of h-u-n-g-r-y don’t you understand?

Newer changeover valves (e.g. Extend-A-Stay or Stay-A-While) look different than the old-style valves but perform the same function. If you don’t understand how they work, there’s no harm in asking your gas supplier. YouTube also has some good tutorials. Search for ‘LPG changeover valves.’

Regulators

Regulators are the heart of a propane system. Regulators keep the gas pressure to an appliance constant even though conditions change.

Say it’s noon and 70º F outside. The pressure inside your propane tank is 145 PSI. You turn on a stove burner (to cook down a big pot of tomatoes from scratch, say) and set the burner on ‘medium.’ The sun comes out and by 1:00 PM it’s 90º F outside. Due to the increase in ambient temperature, the pressure in your propane tank rises to 180 PSI.

But the flame at your stove is still ‘medium’ in size. Then your gas-fired hot water heater starts up. And your gas-fired clothes dryer shuts down. But even with demand bouncing around in addition to the change in tank pressure, the flame under your tomatoes remains ‘medium.’ Looks like magic to me.

Actually, it takes two regulators to perform the magic. One regulator of the type pictured below is mounted on the big tank supplying your home. (The one pictured here even sends a radio signal to the delivery truck saying you need a refill.) In addition, each individual appliance (stove, fireplace, water heater) has its own secondary regulator.

With portable tanks and smaller devices, there is only one regulator. Your BBQ grill has its own regulator (the 20-lb. supply tank has none). The one-burner stove that screws onto the top of a one-pound cylinder has a regulator (the one-pound supply cylinder has none). With these smaller devices, the regulator is part of the appliance, not part of the fuel supply.

Pipes

The RegO Company (the name is derived from Regulator and Oxygen) has a free, downloadable, 56-page, LP-gas serviceman’s manual. It’s far more technical than this book but might be nice to tuck away for reference.

It’s available at https://www.regoproducts.com/PDFs/L-545_Servicemans_Manual.pdf.

In my house, we have a gas cook stove and a gas clothes dryer. One ½” copper pipe comes from the outside LP tank through the concrete-block wall into the basement and thence to a ‘T’ coupling. After that, each leg feeds one appliance. Simplicity itself.

Aside. When we bought our house, there was an electric range in the kitchen. We replaced it with propane so that we could cook normally during a blackout. Granted, in a blackout, the stove’s electronic sparking system does not spark and we must light the burners with a match. I can handle that.

Back to our story. In a more complex setup – one propane tank feeding several apartments, for example – a manifold system (similar to what you have for water) is used. Such systems have large pipes near the source and progressively smaller pipes as you move further away from the source.

The RegO manual explains how to size such a manifolding system (plus tons of other stuff). More than you ever wanted to know.

Of more immediate concern is the issue (some would say myth) of unshielded copper tubing running through a concrete wall and being corroded by the concrete. To avoid that corrosion, some building codes around the country (not all) require plastic-coated tubing.

I once had an LP-gas serviceman install a new tank, look at the unshielded copper-to-concrete installation already in place, and tell me I needed to change it. He was new to both his company (who had actually performed the installation some years earlier) as well as to the area. He was simply citing the rules and regulations as he knew them from a different section of the country.

It appears that the well-intended serviceman was wrong. Radiant heating systems have had copper tubing buried in concrete for years. I suggest you to check it out yourself.

Here’s a good place to start: http://www.plbg.com/forum/read.php?1,438388.

Conclusion to Part Two

The best advice I can give is to learn this stuff now before you need it. Propane, butane, lanterns, stoves, adapters, refilling, how to tie a mantle on a lantern . . .

Don’t just read about it. There’s a difference between riding a bicycle and reading about it. Growing vegetables and reading about it. Refilling a propane cylinder and reading about it.

I know several teenage girls who do a fabulous job with nail polish but who are a hazard to both themselves and their surroundings if they attempt to strike a match. They’ve seen it done. They know it’s theoretically possible. But they’ve never actually done it. Geeze! [roll eyes]

Point is, don’t wait until the middle of a blackout and the house is cold and the baby is fussy. Get some hands-on experience now – with all these old-timey skills from grandpa’s era – before you need them. It will give you confidence, put you in control, give you peace of mind. You’ll gain the conviction that you can cope. A good feeling to have.

Okay. I’ll stop preaching.

Selected Reader Comments, Part Two

Comment #2. ‘h’ commented:

He mentioned yellow Teflon tape for propane,… what if a person uses the white plumbing Teflon tape instead? The white stuff is what my local hardware store recommends, for low pressure devices anyway.

I don’t recall ever seeing yellow tape.

Ron Brown:

As far as I know, white Teflon tape is intended for water and yellow for gas. (Plus DuPont holds the Teflon trademark and doesn’t like the phrase “Teflon tape” because they, DuPont, no longer make it.) The white tape has been stretched during its manufacturing process. It is both thinner and lower density (more porous) than yellow. For gas, the story I get is that white tape will work; yellow tape will work better. And by all means, don’t be afraid to Google for it.

Comment #3. ‘JW’ commented:

Ron – I have gotten tanks at the exchange place that, although seeming full, I could get no drop an out of. You said “Not only do OPD tanks have a float inside to prevent over-filling, if the valve is accidentally left open and the tank is not hooked up to anything, no gas comes out.”. Could this be caused by a bad float, or as some people say, because the tank is full of water? If the float, is there anything the average person can do to get it working properly? (35 miles each way is a bit far for returning the tank, especially during an emergency when you need it NOW)

Ron Brown:

If your tank is not hooked up to anything and you open the valve and “can’t get a drop out of it,” GOOD. That’s the way OPD is supposed to work. If, however, your tank is hooked up to an appliance and nothing comes out, different story.

At the feed store where I get my BBQ tank refilled, there are twenty abandoned OPD tanks at any given time setting in rows near the refill station. Why? Because with the float paraphernalia inside, OPD tanks are more delicate than the old-style tanks they replaced. But the good old boys don’t know that. They let the 20-pounders roll around in the back of their pickup trucks just like gramps usta do. Clankity-bump. Eeee-haw!

If the tank/float/valve is at fault and no gas comes out even though it’s properly hooked up and you know the tank to be full, then NO, there is nothing the average person can do to fix it. That’s why the abandoned tanks are lined up at the feed store.

You might consider testing your new tank right there in the parking lot before making the 35-mile trip home. Doing so would require an adaptor hose plus a small appliance (e.g. camp stove), and those devices are not free, but there is no technological reason why it couldn’t be done.

Comment #4. ‘D’ commented:

This is ONE topic which I’ve been sadly lacking. Acquired a foldable bbq grill but it’s supposed to hook up to propane. (Have patience, all female house w/no male advisers here) lol Anyway, I don’t like those small ‘throw away’ bottles and would like to get a small refillable tank for the car and a standard tank for home. What sizes do I look for?

From the reply to JimW, I’m going to be taking my bbq grill when I go buy these babies too. Thanks so much for the great article.

Ron Brown:

As far as I know, the smallest size refillable propane tank is the 4.25 lb. (one gallon) size. If you Google for it (“4.25 lb. propane tank”) you’ll find that Lowe’s and Home Depot and several other stores carry it. The “standard tank” you want for home use is likely the 20-pounder. And EVERYBODY sells those. The 20-pounder is what’s on everyone’s BBQ grill. Ironically, the little 4.25-pounder is over $50 whereas the bigger (and more popular) 20-pounder is only $30. Say what?

With the 20-pounders, there are places you can trade in your old, empty tank (plus a few bucks) and take home a different, full tank. It’s quick. You don’t have to hang around waiting for somebody to fill your tank. To get started on this swap system, you can outright purchase a filled tank.

OR you can start out by buying a new, empty tank AND GET IT PURGED and filled, then keep taking the same tank back for refilling. With a 4.25-pounder, this second option is your only choice. The first option (turn-in-an-empty-and-go-away-with-a-full-but-different tank) can only be done with 20-pounders. (Although TIAEAGAWAFBDT has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?)

Comment #5. ‘h’ commented:

Thanks for the unexpected reply.

The question I now face is: should I, or shouldn’t I, replace the tape on the connections for the propane/generator/conversion set-up?

… I’m going with: maybe later, but get some yellow to have on hand, especially for the brass elbows.

Ron Brown said:

As far as I know, the “Teflon” part of the Teflon tape is the same, be it white or yellow. It’s not like propane will dissolve the white tape or anything like that. It’s just that the yellow tape, being slightly thicker and slightly less porous, will contain or confine GASEOUS propane better than will white tape. White tape will suffice with a LIQUID, but a gas, under pressure, is more easily contained with the heavier yellow tape.

That being said, if the joints you already have don’t leak . . . then they don’t leak. Check them out with soapy water. If they don’t leak . . . well, what more can you ask of them?

Comment 7. ‘K’ commented:

Ron (?), regarding “purging” ; If I purchase a NEW 20# propane tank (from Walmart for instance) do I need to inform the guy at the propane station that it’s new and needs purging ? If “yes”, does that mean that I then need to pay for the tank to be filled and emptied 4 times before I take it home ??
Thanks……….K

‘JW’ commented:

K – the purging is done with gas (vapor), not liquid. After purging then the tank is filled with liquid. So, I don’t think you would be charged much if any for the purging. I do admit that I haven’t had that experience, but I would probably argue if they tried to charge me for “filling” it 4 times! Maybe a small additional charge for labor, but not for “filling”.

Ron Brown:

The guy at the propane station will likely notice that the tank looks brand new and ask you if it has ever been filled. But don’t take the chance. You tell him right up front. I have never been charged for purging and would be surprised if anyone did so. To the propane company, it’s part of the cost of doing business. The cost of purging the occasional tank (filling it with GAS and venting it to the atmosphere 4 times) is built into the day-to-day propane price. You’ll be back for a refill. They’ll get you then. Don’t worry; they’re not giving anything away.

Comment #8. ‘TM’ commented:

Ron -you say “the issue (some would say myth) of unshielded copper tubing running through a concrete wall and being corroded by the concrete”….

Here in UK most houses have central heating systems where the wall mounted radiators are fed by copper pipes through which the water heated by the boiler circulates. On the ground floor these pipes sometimes have to be run under the cement floor to get to each radiator so as to avoid ‘unsightly’ runs of pipe along the walls which then are often boxed to hide them.

The practice is to sheath the copper pipes in plastic, though its not thick stuff, more like freezer bag thickness. The pipes of course have water flowing through them, not propane gas.

What I wanted however to point out is that if that sheathing is broken you can indeed get corrosion and ‘pinhole’ size leaks. We have had that happen three times in our house, and always at the point where a copper pipe is emerging from the floor, which is the point, for aesthetic reasons I guess, where the sheathing stops. The only solution is to smash the surface tile, dig out the cement until you are down to undamaged copper pipe and make good with a joint and a decently sheathed piece of new pipe.

I’ve learnt the hard way to take the precaution of watching the installer like a hawk and insisting on thicker plastic sheathing, e.g. damp proof course thickness which I’ve purchased myself, being wrapped several times round the replacement pipe and joint until it stands proud of the floor by a few millimeters. The place the leaks occur haven’t had someone with a floor mop making them wet, nor has the joint above onto the radiator itself leaked back down the pipe and onto the floor. In two cases the floor round the pipe was carpeted. So any external moisture would purely be from the air.

It takes many many years for copper pipe to corrode usually in these circumstances, but plumbers here always say it is because of something in the cement that the corrosion eventually occurs if unsheathed.

Ron Brown:

Glancing back over your remarks, I’m reminded of wooden fence posts that rot off at ground level. Fence posts don’t rot off down in the ground. The rot is always at the interface of soil and air. Same thing?

Comment #10. ‘J’ commented:

Sir: I have had some difficulty obtaining clear information regarding the fuel that stores best in large tanks, such as a 500 gallon tank. I have looked at diesel, bio-fuel, propane, and gas. However, my preference is to use bio-fuel, since it is the only alternative fuel that allows me to produce myself with my own processor and crops, in the event of any catastrophe that interrupts supplies that must be provided by others. If biofuel can be stored for a reasonable period of time, it will affect my decisions regarding the cars I drive and the generator I buy for my home and outbuildings. Your thoughts please.

Ron Brown:

J, at its best, bio-fuel offers you, the individual, the possibility of being energy independent on an ongoing basis. It’s a control issue, no? Bio-fuel would allow YOU to be in control of your own destiny.

But does bio-fuel give the biggest bang for the buck where land use is concerned? You’d be converting (1) acreage to (2) corn to (3) ethanol to (4) miles driven. Is that a better return than (1) acreage to (2) corn to (3) cash to (4) gasoline to (5) miles driven?

Will you really be energy “independent?” Or will your dependence simply shift from Mobil to Mother Nature. Drought and floods and swarms of bugs come to mind.

Health. When you get old and can’t do it any longer. To whom do you pass the baton?

On a macro scale, we already use 10 petroleum calories to produce one food calorie. If we reverse the process, how many food calories will we consume in the production of one petrol-equivalent calorie?

We have drifted off-topic here, haven’t we?

Propane for Preppers is Copyrighted Material

Copyright © 2015 by Ronald B. Brown. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except brief quotations used in a review.

The meat and potatoes of this book series are the intellectual property of Ron Brown. Sure, I may add some commentary and ancillary material but for all intents and purposes, this is Ron’s work and property. That means you can not steal this content and call it your own. Capish?

What you can do, however, is share the series presented on Strategic Living with all of your prepper and non-prepper friends.

Additional Reading: The Relevance of Non-Electric Lighting: Interview with Ron Brown

How to Support Ron and His Work

Ron’s Non-Electric Lighting Series consists of eight books and is a fantastic resource for preppers and non-preppers alike. If you enjoy this series on propane, I ask that you consider supporting Ron’s work by purchasing one of the other books in the series. They are chock full of photos and illustrations that I have not included here and you will find them invaluable. The books are reasonably priced and available in both Kindle and paperback formats.

The Non-Electric Lighting Series by Ron Brown (a total of 8 books)

Summing It All Up

As I mentioned at the onset, I will be posting the entire Propane for Preppers book, one part at a time. As I do so, I will update the links below so you have quick access to the complete series.

Part One explains safety, chemistry, adaptors, and substitutions. It teaches a bit of terminology and how the manufacturers themselves describe their products (e.g. is it a canister, a cylinder, or a cartridge?). This information is invaluable in providing clues on what to search for online or ask for in a hardware store.

Propane for Preppers 3.0: The Complete Book Part 1

Part Two moves on to the nitty-gritty of tanks, valves, and regulators. It includes a discussion of the whys and wherefores of using propane. There is considerable detail relative to the safety concerns we should be on the watch for while using propane. This includes leaks, poor fittings, and heaven forbid, an old tank with blue fittings indicating the tank was once used to produce crystal meth.

Propane for Preppers 3.0: The Complete Book Part 2

Part Three explains how to refill the ubiquitous one-pound cylinders that are used with portable lanterns, stoves, and heaters. There are pros and cons to doing this, mostly relating to safety considerations – no surprise there. If you are not mechanically inclined and do not have an outside area in which to work, refilling one-pound propane tanks may not be for you. The last thing I want, after all, is for you to blow yourself up along with the rest of the neighborhood!

Propane for Preppers 3.0: The Complete Book Part 3

Part Four discusses the long-term storage of one-pounders, introduces the topics of carbon monoxide poisoning and oxygen starvation, and describes the refilling of 20-pounders (the kind of propane tank used on BBQ grills). Frankly, on the topic of refilling 20-pounders (not to be confused with the little one-pounders), Ron scared me off completely. He suggests, and I couldn’t agree more, that before you undertake the refilling of a 20-pounder, you have a heart-to-heart with your fire insurance agent. Enough said.

Propane for Preppers 3.0: The Complete Book Part 4

Part Five is the final installment. It expands upon carbon monoxide plus discusses propane fires, the dangers of overfilling, purging new cylinders, disposing of empty one-pounders, and finally, the rather strange double standard that seemingly exists in the universe of propane safety.

Propane for Preppers 3.0: The Complete Book Part 5

As I have said many times before, knowledge is power and with Ron’s help, learning to safely use and store propane will surely help us make it through a future “disruptive event.”

Yours for a Joyful Life,
Gaye

Strategic Haul

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