20lb Propane tanks - Can you fill from your home tank?

[sodamo]

.... Ideally I could just run a line to my grill, but that would cost even more, which I don't have. ...

Had my plumber run that line when he did the rest of the gas lines here at the new house - awesome.

It's a 40+ mile round trip if I carry those small tanks for refill.
David

 

[user.69169]

Back when we was runnin LP tractors and fuelin em up from the bulk tank we had a copper coil painted black wrapped around the bulk tank 4 or 5 turns so the sun would heat the liquid up and make it fill the tractor faster.

Them tractors wasn't so much difrent from a 20# tank, open the vent and open the valve from the tank to the tractor after the hose was hooked up and filler right up. When liquid spits out the vent yer full, just close the valves & the vent.

 

[3RRL]

I asked for a wet line to be installed when I got my 500 gallon propane tank.
They hooked it up to the bottom of the tank with a valve and a nipple that accepts a standard JIC gas fitting. I fill 20lb tanks all the time and even the small camping ones. The small camping ones have a Schrader(sp) type valve below the neck that you need to pull out while filling or they won't fill up very much. The larger ones have a bleed screw. I have several 20lb tanks for the fork lift, shop heater, bbq etc. For me, it's a lot cheaper than going into town which is a two hour round trip ... I save all that time. Not only that, I'm on a "routed" propane fill route so my propane prices are generally way cheaper than getting it filled in town. But it's the convenience of doing it at home that's the biggest benefit. It takes about 10 minutes to fill for me. I find tipping them a bit with the bleed screw up while filling speeds things up and also the propane coming into the container doesn't blow right out of the bleed screw like when it's sitting straight up. Do not overfill so have that scale available.

 

[newcountry]

Sounds like what I will do. Thanks!

 

[newcountry]

I should say...

That is what I will be doing --- once I buy my tank!

 

[captplaid]

Interesting

 

[mlucius]

I saw in the Harbor Freight flyer an attachment to the 20lb tanks - it says "Propane Bottle Refill kit' Item 45989. It got me to thinking about this again - I've thought it several times . There should be some way us normal folk can fill our smaller tanks from our bigger home tank. It's much cheaper for us to buy bulk LP than paying a premium at the store - plus having to drive there to do it.

If this is possible, what is the procedure and parts needed?

And, more importantly, is it safe?

I know it used to be possible, we'd fuel tractors from a 500 gal tank on a trailer all the time. You just wanted to be sure everything was grounded against any static electricity spark. (hot, dry summers in S.E. Colorado) A few tractors and one-ways did get burned up from time to time when fueling in the field because of failure to ground.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

As some have intimated in this thread you have to get the liquid at the bottom. Filling from a grill or appliance line doesn't work unless you have a way to supercool the tank to re-condense the gas to liquid in the tank you are filling. That process is a lot slower. On the liquid side try for least least a 1/2" hose to speed up. All the other info you need is buried in the thread in posts by the successful.

Ron

 

[Gary Fowler]

Any of you guys ever own a propane powered tractor. You have to fill them from a bulk tank, you don't take them to town to refill each time they run out of fuel. The same way you would fill the tank on a propane tractor is how you would fill a small tank. A few have mentioned the bleed vent on the side of the valve as a way to vent the pressure. I have filled the 190 XT AC many times by venting from the vapor (a little screw on attachment to the vapor valve relieves the pressure to the air rather than the little flat screw on the tank. It took about 10 minutes to fuel the 50 gallon tank from the bulk tank. Of course you need to have the bulk tank with hose and fittings to fit the tank being filled and those are available for purchase (even the ones to fit the little Coleman gas tanks are available) You have to be real careful of sparks and such as butane/propane is heavier than air and the vapors will settle to the ground so you need to make sure that there is nothing close by that could set off the vapors.
I will repeat what Dave said, for most folks, it is better to invest in more small tanks than a bulk tank and refill capability. I don't use propane at home so my only option is spare tanks, I have 3 of them for my BBQ pit and always keep a full spare, when I put the 3rd bottle on the bit, the other 2 go for a refill.

 

[buickanddeere]

I'm not that cheap or broke to bother trying something like that.