Economic & convenient propane

[jumpin]

No, I'm not suggesting refilling 1lb Coleman bottles. I hate the idea of wasting and adding unnecessarily to landfills let alone paying more than I have to for something. Using the Coleman bottles was just barely OK when I only needed occasional fills for my pistol mags, but when I got my new KJW M4 gbbr I figured there had to be a better way...

I bought a 5lb refillable propane tank and a 5' propane hose with a propane fill nozzle. The tank is fillable wherever you buy propane and is easy to carry around and turn upside down. Whenever I want to fill my mags, I open the valve, flip the tank upside down and with the convenience of the hose can easily manipulate my mags and fill nozzle.





The tank costs $50, which is basically the same cost as a 10lb or 20lb tank, but in my opinion, a lot more convenient to transport and use. The cost of the propane that goes in it is the same, so it's up to you what size you are most comfortable using.

There is a bit of an investment: Manchester 4.9lb OPD barbecue tank- $50, Mr. Heater propane hose 5 ft. - $30, (both from Canadian Tire) Madbull propane adapter $25 (which you either have or have to buy anyway) but once setup, you are paying about $0.85/lb of propane instead of $4.66/lb, a saving of around 82%. For those keeping score at home, the break even is about 21 lbs or 7 of the Coleman 3-packs. To be honest, I have no idea how much gas I'm going to go through, but it's mainly for the principle of it all. Maybe someone will be able to find a source for a cheaper tank and hose and make it even a better deal.

Anyway, thought I'd pass this on to the community...

[lurkingknight]

what's the safety should the adapter or the hose fail?

btw. the diaphragm in my madbull adapter is failing.. I'm guessing because it's swollen from silicon oil. It will not close the valve properly sometimes and propane will just vent. Should this happen to your rig, you'd better hope you can get to the tank valve before you cover yourself in propane.

I can huck a coleman tank pretty damn far into the trees away from people should my valve fail. How far can you throw your tank? :P

[MultipleParadox]

Not bad
To be on the safe side, operation should involve *always* removing the hose from the tank when not filing mags
This way it's the tank's valve that's responsible of closing of you forget to close or yourself
And it mean you ain't relying on the fill adapter' integrity to keep that gas from leaking

[Bakasaur]

I was actually thinking yesterday if this would work or not. Cause I'm sick of spending $25 on propane for a day (We M14). I'm glad that it works, I'm definitely going to be picking this up!

[jumpin]

Originally Posted by lurkingknight

what's the safety should the adapter or the hose fail?

btw. the diaphragm in my madbull adapter is failing.. I'm guessing because it's swollen from silicon oil. It will not close the valve properly sometimes and propane will just vent. Should this happen to your rig, you'd better hope you can get to the tank valve before you cover yourself in propane.

I can huck a coleman tank pretty damn far into the trees away from people should my valve fail. How far can you throw your tank? :P

The safety is the tank valve itself- no different from your propane BBQ. Disconnect the hose from the tank after each use if you wish to "remind yourself" to turn off the valve for added safety.

[leth1337]

And the silicone goes where?

[siggypoo]

The usual reservoir, I'd guess.

[MultipleParadox]

Originally Posted by Bakasaur

I was actually thinking yesterday if this would work or not. Cause I'm sick of spending $25 on propane for a day (We M14). I'm glad that it works, I'm definitely going to be picking this up!

25$ of propane in a day???
You either pay your propane or you shoot waaaay too much! :P

[audi_bhoy]

I agree with MP, I don't recall going through one complete coleman tank during one game, and they cost 4-5$ so 25$, unless you would fill a whole GBB-R team...

[siggypoo]

Spray-n-pray?

[MultipleParadox]

When I think there are some games where I shoot maybe.... 4-5 worth of mags in a day? (30 rounds) :P

[Styrak]

I thought large propane tanks didn't let liquid propane flow, as in, you can't turn them upside down and have it work?

[bigbuzz666]

Isn't the concept of filling your mags to transfer liquid propane in the mag... unless you use another guy to hold the tank over his head and having it upside down, you will only transfer gazeous propane inside your mags by leaving the tank on the floor (???)

[jumpin]

Originally Posted by Styrak

I thought large propane tanks didn't let liquid propane flow, as in, you can't turn them upside down and have it work?

Originally Posted by bigbuzz666

Isn't the concept of filling your mags to transfer liquid propane in the mag... unless you use another guy to hold the tank over his head and having it upside down, you will only transfer gazeous propane inside your mags by leaving the tank on the floor (???)

Nope - it worked for me!

The pressure in a propane tank is around 130 psi, temperature dependant of course. At sea level you are in an environment somewhere around 14.7 psi, which is what your mags will equilibrate to if fully discharged. So the pressure in the tank will force the liquid propane through the hose into the lower pressure mag, if the tank is inverted. The pressure in the tank is why the propane stays in a liquid state and not a gaseous state BTW

[Hectic]

correct, the pressure keeps it liquid, and it escapes as gas due to the lack of a syphon tube on the bottom of the valve, hence why we must invert to transfer liquid, holding it upright would still result in liquid transfer (because the gas would become recomoressed in the mag) but the volume of liquid would be far less, perhaps a few rounds worth, maybe more depending on gas chamber size, ie a gbbr mag would likely produce more shots than a pistol mag. This method works just fine, yes the tank has to be inverted (as stated by the OP) the savings is good if you shoot that many mags, but between my pistol and gbbr i rarely shoot my 8rifle and 2 pistol mags in a day. Proloy get 3 or 4 games out of one coleman tank. Yes this would pay for itself quickly, save on waste and such, likely great for a group of guys to use/pay for together but for solo use a coleman tank is still just easier for most. now if i could find an adapter to refill the coleman tanks from a larger tank, that would be ideal for me, but a cascade fill would likely result in half tye volume (read weight) of propane in a coleman tank, not like pumping it in (like getting yer bbq tank filled at the gas station, or having your propane vehicle filled, the same is true for nitrogen and co2, we can refill them via cascading (connecting a big tank to a small tank, via a hose, open tue valve of the large tank, then the small, let the pressure equalize then close the small, then the large, bleed the hose and disconect. But in a "C" sized cylender, the result is about 1000-1300 psi, a full "C" is in the neighborhood of 2200-2600psi depending on temp. Also it should be noted that it has been illegal for quite some time to fill cylenders in the method, tho it is done in alot of places daily, even big companies like BOC/Linde, but if someone ever got hurt doin it it would he an insureance, WSIB and whoever else shit storm lol.