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Borrego
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 05:56pm
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hey Fellas, just gonna shoot another idea out there for feedback. So I got the water up to the cabin, not bad digging since it's from a different location than where I need to put a big propane tank. The path from the tank location would be through solid rocks and sand. So I had a beer and thought about this and realized, why can't I just get a couple of 20 gal tanks, or even 50's and just haul them up behind the house right where the tankless is going? We're only going to use gas for: 2 showers a day, cooking coffee and maybe eggs in am, dinner at night, hot water for dishes, and the big one, a propane fridge.
Anyone have an idea how long a tank would last with this kinda load? And/or what a full 50lb weighs?
Thanks as always...
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Borrego
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 06:32pm
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BTW - The appliances use:
Refer - 1700 btus per hr
Tankless heater - 75,000 btu (doesn't say per what?)
Stove - 8000 btus top, 17000 bottom (again, per what?)
A 40 gal LP tank holds 860,542 TU's so if I can figure an average usage I should have it, the refer is easy (21 days) just need to know how to calculate the other 2...
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 07:11pm
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I am semi remote at my cabin and thought about propane tanks and hauling a few bombs in my truck or just going the route of having a 100 pound tank installed and getting it filled by the propane company every other summer. It may cost a little more but safety is my main cencern.
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Borrego
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 07:19pm
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Quoting: Anonymous I am semi remote at my cabin and thought about propane tanks and hauling a few bombs in my truck or just going the route of having a 100 pound tank installed and getting it filled by the propane company every other summer. It may cost a little more but safety is my main cencern.
I would much rather have a company supplied and filled tank, it is just that I can't put the tank where a truck can reach it, I don't think, how long are their hoses? Or if I put it where they can reach it, it's just an impossibilty to run the pipe. I'm not trying to save money....
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Sustainusfarm
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 07:26pm
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I have 2 100lb tanks delivered every 3 yrs....they bring the truck in the driveway then unload each tank onto a dolly...super easy and then they take the empty ones away! No fuss no muss!
Only have one 100lb tank in this pic.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 07:26pm
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Don't know how long the hoses are. The tank is our next project this summer. I would call a propane company and explain to them your concerns maybe they can offer a solution?
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MJW
Member
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 07:40pm
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We are going to have smaller tanks and switch them out ourselves. One less person to have to have come out snooping around.
Nothing planned for propane at our place except for the stove and tankless hot water.
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beachman
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 07:44pm
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I have also have two 100lb tanks at each cottage that I have to haul by truck to a creek then load in a boat, then put on a dolly at the beach to haul up to the camps. I do this once or twice a season as we have propane refrigerators, stoves and lights. Need a little muscle but not too much of a problem. My neighbor does the same. There is no road.
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justincasei812
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 08:07pm
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Borrego or I guess anyone else for that matter,
I have two 100lbers at my cabin I do not have a use for. If anyone can use them and is in Michigan let me know. I have a 500lb pig and I have tried to get the propane company to take them when they fill the other tank but so far they are still there so they are free for the taking. Just let me know.
Kevin
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 08:10pm
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Quoting: justincasei812 Borrego or I guess anyone else for that matter, I have two 100lbers at my cabin I do not have a use for. If anyone can use them and is in Michigan let me know. I have a 500lb pig and I have tried to get the propane company to take them when they fill the other tank but so far they are still there so they are free for the taking. Just let me know. Kevin
Thanks Kevin, a bit of a drive from SoCal though!!!!
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 08:11pm
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Quoting: Sustainusfarm I have 2 100lb tanks delivered every 3 yrs....they bring the truck in the driveway then unload each tank onto a dolly..
So 2 tanks last 3 years! Running what, if I may ask?
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Sustainusfarm
Member
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 08:16pm
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I have a wall mounted heater and a stove...my fridge is electric....The heater is turned on in winter when we arrive until the woodstove can take over..then at night when we are to hot of lazy to get up to put on more wood the gas heater keeps us in the mid 60's all night...Central Wisconsin winters -15-25 degrees
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 08:28pm
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We use more easily moved 40# cylinders. 100's are too much trouble to move about, for me. They should be transported upright and that makes for an additional problem in addition to the weight. A full 40# is something like 75 pounds full IIRC.
The fridge is the big user and the amount will vary with ambient temperature. The Servel consumes 1500 BTU.hr when operating, "making cold". It uses much less when running in pilot light mode. We get more than 30 days from a 40# in the summer; not sure exactly how long as it seems reasonable and I don't fret over it. . That's including the hot water. In summer we cook outdoors and a 20# lasts all summer for the triple burner outdoor kitchen. Plus some for the propane grill on another 20# cylinder. The 40#'ers connect to the cabin via an automatic changeover regulator. We have three of the 40#'ers.
We didn't go with an on ground tank serviced by a propane company because we use considerably less in a year than the minimum delivery amount that has to be contracted for when you use their tank. It's a good deal if your use is greater than ours. I agree with MJW that it is nice not having the location known by another person. Not all the propane dealers were willing to travel to our place because of the road in.
I have an 80 gallon AMSE propane tank from an old RV. One of these days my plan is to mount it on a trailer. Then I can tow it into town and have it filled and tow it back to the cabin. It would sit there until it needed refilling. The holdup is finding a really cheap but servicable trailer to use. The tank would be too heavy to bother trying to move it off. ASME tanks have no expiration date unlike the DOT tanks Portable cylinders and most ground mount tanks are DOT. The ground mount DOT tanks can not be legally transported back and forth for filling. Just an idea that can work if you can find a large tank from an old RV.
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Borrego
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 09:58pm
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Quoting: MtnDon We use more easily moved 40# cylinders. 100's are too much trouble to move about, for me. They should be transported upright and that makes for an additional problem in addition to the weight. A full 40# is something like 75 pounds full IIRC.
So (5) 40's instead of (2) 100's? I'm into ease of transportation for sure! So you think I'm ok with only (3) 40's based on my usage? I feel like yes. I will always have extra 20's and 5's around for backup...And what kind of 'manifold' do you use to connect your 40 tanks? Any special type of gauge or switching mechanism when ones empty?
Thanks!
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larry
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 10:12pm - Edited by: larry
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we now have 3 100# cylinders. the 2 that are tied together run the hot water tank and i have no real world usage data due to the fact i only connected them in spring. the third has been there for over three years and runs only the stove/ oven. my last check puts it at about 2/3 used and we use the stove a great deal. i have no problems with moving them about. the guy i buy from is a small local vendor and very discrete so i have no problem with him dropping them in my driveway.
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2012 11:02pm
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Before totally discarding the idea of 100# cylinders, be sure you understand the cold weather limitations imposed by using smaller sizes like 20's, 30's and 40's. The smaller cylinders encounter problems in supplying sufficient volume at colder temperatures.
That said, we've had no problems with the 40's with our rather modest demands.
We use a regulator similar to this one. I have two different makes, one is a spare and is set up with all the fittings. I used a unuion in the iron pipe to make changeout easy. I probably did not need to do that but I did have a regulator fail once many years ago. Having a spare should guarantee I'll never need it. But it would be real handy if a failure occurred in winter when we have to snowshoe in.
You need two pigtails, one for each cylinder hookup. The regulators have an indicator that is green when the selected tank has gas and turns red when the selected cylinder is empty. It changes to the full tank automatically inside the guts of the unit. The external selector has to be moved to make the indicator change from red to green. You can disconnect the pigtailm from the cylinder at any time. There are internal check valves . Here's a lousy photo...
You can see the union that makes it simple to remove and reinstall the upper section with the regulator. The next photo shows the drip leg detail at the bottom of the vertical pipe.
Hope that helps
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rayyy
Member
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2012 07:10am
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My set up is two,100 pound tanks outside.They are hooked up on a single,two way shut off valve so that when one runs out I just flip the handle over to the other tank.To play it safe,I generally take the empy tank in for refill within two weeks.I got a nifty little dolly to lug the tanks around with.A 100 pounder hold's 23 gallons of propane which costs about $80.bucks here in WNY.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2012 07:28am
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Rayyy, if you are near a Tractor Supply, the three stores in Niagara/Erie counties are selling propane @ 2.49/gal.
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ShabinNo5
Member
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:48am
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We have taken the multiple small tank approach. The Shabin is 250 feet from where we can park the truck. Currently the path is rough with a few steep decents making using a cart or dolly impractical. In our case the propane will be used to for: 40,000 btu incinerating toliet; 7,500 btu direct vent heater, 18,000 btu wall fireplace, rv stove and rv hot water heater.
To supply propane to all of these appliances, we needed to properly size the service lines. I was also concerned about the draw on a single propane tank (i.e. small tank) causing the tank to freeze. To solve this issue we chose to connect two tanks in tandum. We have two 40 lbs tanks and two 30 lbs tanks.
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