20lb Co2 Tank

[Robert]

Fewpeople know I was a mean propane filling machine in my high school days at Taylor Hardware. As a result, I know a few things about tank tare weights (an empty tank's weight) and other propane lingo.

For the last 7 years I had my trusty Weber grill hooked into a 500 gallon underground tank at the house in Taylors. When I moved earlier this year to an all-electric house I had to switch back to a standard 20 lb BBQ grill tank. I also considered 30, 33, 40, 60, and 100 pound cylinders, to avoid refilling as often. I found that new 30 or 33 lb cylinders are at least double the price of a 20 lb, and finding lightly used ones on Craigslist wasn't happening.

I picked up a new 20 lb tank at the Home Depot for 29.97, minus 10% off competitors coupon and a 10% discount on a gift card purchased on eBay. (Costco sells tanks for 28.99 compared to Amazon's roughly $45). Now, where to fill it?

These "20 lb" tanks are designed to take up to 20 pounds of propane. You may get a pound or 2 less, depending on the temperature of the tank and surrounding air when the tank was filled. Cooler = more propane in, hotter = less in. Tanks can actually fit another 20% in the tank, but that extra space is designed for expansion as the temperature rises.

In very cold winter climates, like Canada, there may be more concern/rules about filling a tank to a complete 20 lbs. This is because if you leave a tank outside in very cold temps, filled the tank when the tank is cold, and then bring it into a hot basement/garage for a space heater, the gas will expand as the tank warms. With enough of a temperature increase, the tank's pressure relief value will release a bit of gas. This would be less of an issue if the relief value were bleeding to outside air.

All propane tanks have a "tare weight" or "T.W." stamped on the collar of the tank. For a grill sized tank you simply calculate the tare weight + 20 lbs, and that's how much the tank should weigh when it's full. Most 20 lb tanks have a tare weight of +/- 17 pounds when completely empty. This means a "full" propane tank should weigh about 37 pounds.

There is also a month and year on the collar indicating the date the tank was made. For 20 lb propane tanks, you have 12 years from the manufacture date before the tank must be re-certified with a new date stamped on it. The re-certification only adds 5 years before having to re-certify again. The cost and inconvenience of re-certifying almost always outweighs the price of a new tank.

Brand new propane tanks may come with air inside and need to be "purged" before the first fill. Some newer tanks, like Bernzomatic, will have a sticker on them saying they don't need to be purged within 6 months of the manufacture date.

Purging requires a special adapter to allow a small amount of propane in. The pressure then pushes air out of a one-way bleeder valve. Purging may add another $3-4 dollars to a new tank, though some places don't charge, especially if you buy the tank from them.

Costco in Greenville, SC is a bit deceiving because they first hand you a slip that says "20 lb cylinder". When you pay inside the receipt says "20lb PROPANE", and the filling print out says "Cylinder: 20S lbs." The only defense is that the filling print out is honest and says "3.6 gallons". However, nobody knows off the top of their head that a propane tank is supposed to have 4.7 gallons to be considered "full". By saying 3.6 gallons, they are masking the fact that they put in 75%. If they wanted to be upfront they'd say "we will put 15 lbs of propane into this 20 lb cylinder".

If you do the math on Costco, it's actually not a bad price. It's in line, if not cheaper, than paying $16 for a full 20 lbs. Though, Costco's use of the "20 lb" phrase is unfortunate. I think their motivation is to have a cheaper price, so members think they are getting a great deal. Plus, by only filling 75% they make members come back more often, and go inside to shop while they wait.

I also assembled the grills at Taylor Hardware. Weber Grills were by far the best we sold. Reasonable care and a cover will easily give your Weber grill 10-20 years of life. You can buy other cheap brands and they will have steel parts that rust out in 2-3 years. You can buy a fancy looking stainless steel brand from Home Depot and it will likely not rust, but it will cook unevenly or the handle or wheels will break off and you'll be back to the store in 5 years for a new grill.

I also helped sell the BBQ grills. We sold a few with side burners, but we never pushed them. I recall many conversations with customers who had paid more for a side burner in the past and never used it, despite their best intentions. Chances are that you will use the side burner once or twice, so don't spend the money unless you are absolutely sure you're going to use it

The Silver series Weber we have has been turning out great food (not dry or burnt. NO, not all grills Cook the same!) for 15 years and we've only replaced the "Flavor Bars" twice and that little push-button igniter finnaly died. AND its kept outside year around. Best $$$ we've ever spent. Most people think a Grill is a Grill, but a Weber puts out food like no other grill. you get what u pay for.

I filled thousands of these in a prior life. You are only supposed to fill them to 80% water capacity(5 gallons in this case). I always filled them to 38 lbs, but that was the weight with the filling mechanism attached. If you tried to over fill them the built in Ralph Nader device would shut it off. Even then, sometimes in hot weather the gas would expand and trip the pop off valve and bleed off some gas. Full capacity should be about 16 lbs of gas, we had a scale for tempature that varied the amount. We never used it. About 10 years ago they added additional Nader that prevents from filling too full with a float controled valve inside the tank, so it's nearly impossible to get more in there anyway. You could ask the guy to open the bleed while he fills it and it would help.

Our local U Haul locations sell propane for 3.99 a gallon with means a 20 lb fill up will cost you the same as Costo but you have 20 lbs in the tank which means a couple of less refills during the season.

I just found last weekend that Tractor Supply sells by the gallon also, most places have a flat fee currently $17.99 at Agway, $18.99 at my local True Value and up to $20.99 at a Rhino exchange location....no matter how much they put in whether is 3 gals or 4. I just had a 20lb completly empty tank filled yesterday at TS, I watched the meter as it was filling and it stopped at 4.6 (4.7 is supposedly max full) and their price per gal. right now is $2.49 so the bill was only $10.45 for a FULL tank. That's pretty hard to beat and you can see how much they actually put in. So if you have a TS near you, I would suggest giving them a try for your next refill

Seems odd they would sell a tank with a gauge included if they are not filling it?! In other words, they are providing us with exactly what we need to "catch" them. So can we trust the gauge? I'm confused.

The gauges are a rough approximation vast majority of them DO NOT WORK they are marketing gimmicks nothing more, Only by weighing it can you tell the exact content amount even larger cylinders with gauges like a 33# (tow motor) are aren't accurate

I'd rather burn a $5 bill than have someone steal it by being dishonest. And, I don't buy starbucks. Thanks OP, you offer good info. Others can waste $5 at starbucks if they wish,

I want my tank full if I pay for it to be full, whether it is propane, diesel, or gasoline. YMMV

Interesting info, thanks...

Not to say you're consuming 20 tanks of propane, but this philosophy of "who cares, it's only five bucks" results in people wasting tons of money on stuff, and it emboldens vendors to jack prices up a bit more than what the market should bear.

My wife has this philosophy quite often and it just chaps my a**. I was raised to support the shop that charges you less, so that he stays in business, and maybe the guy who charges more will have to bring his prices down to remain competitive.

My wife found a gas company that refills 20 lb tanks for $14.00. I went with her today to get two tanks filled. I watched the gallon meter instead of the scales when the tanks were filled. I doubted that we got full tanks. So, out of curiosity, I Googled the question and read the article above. My tanks have an eighteen-pound tare weight. After filling, they weighed almost exatly thirty-eight pounds. Doing the math, we got twenty pounds of gas in each tank, and the price is $0.68 per pound. The Costco price is $0.66 per pound. Not a bad deal at the supplier she found, and much less trouble than going to the nearest Costco.

Then why would they call it a 20# cylinder? Reason indicates it is because the cylinder is sized to accommodate 20# of propane. Calling people idiots when there's good reason for their argument is, well, idiotic.

If you mean to say that you used to be able to put 20# of propane in a 20# cylinder years ago, but since then new laws or increased knowledge no longer permits this, that would be a much more fair statement.

One would imagine:

A) Said person is very concerned about people's safety and calling them idiots, despite evidence to the contrary, is the best way to spread safety

B) Said person has a vested interest in people believing otherwise

C) There is a disagreement on legal vs practical

D) Tank designs have changed significant since 2000, most likely the result of lawmakers attempting to protect the world's real idiots, the folks who find a 1 in 50 million way to explode a 20 LB tank.

Since at least the late 1990's there have been floats in the tanks. I recall filling tanks and if I was jibber-jabbing with a customer it would click and stop filling. If it clicked we'd have to turn it upside down a couple times to force it to reset it. However, this float would not click off near 15lbs, more like 20lbs.

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