Oil & Fuel How to fuel a propane tank?

[TailChaser]

How do you re-fuel a propane tractor? I'm thinking about buying one, and I can't really turn up much on any searches. I found one place saying they refilled it from a wet-line from their tank (that heats the house I'm guessing).

Can you refill it some other way until you get a propane tank on your land? Can I buy a tank of propane and bring it home and fill the tractor up with it? Thanks!

 

[3RRL]

I presume from your post that you can't take the tank off your tractor?
My propane fueled fork lift (Komatsu) has a tank I can take off and get it re-filled. I used to have two tanks for it but the second one got stolen! You might look into making your tractor tank removable, if it is not that way now.

I also have a 500 gallon propane tank and had the company add a "wet line" valve to it so I can re-fill from it.
To answer you question, you have to get the tractor tank to the propane source, or get the propane source to your tractor tank somehow. And you can get a propane tank to bring home. You will need the adapters and hoses for the wet line.
Call you local propane sources to see what sizes they have available.

 

[tommu56]

If its like the old John Deers you have to have a line off the bottom of the bulk tank and usually a pump to transfer it some times they would open the bleed screw and let the differential presure fill it.
If you can drive to a place that fills motor home tanks (built in tanks not removable ones) they should be able to fill tractor.


tom

 

[bigtiller]

You can fill your tractor from a BBQ tank or one from a camper. All it takes is a hose that is only as long as necessary with a POL fitting on each end. This you will have to make your self because of insurance reasons very few companies want the responsibility. The portable tank has to be turned up side down and above the tractor tank. Open up both valves and the spit valve on the tractor. It will take about 15 minutes to empty a 20 pound cylinder. This is a very dangerous and expensive way to do it and if you haven't worked with propane before, you should call your supplier to have him do it and just write a check to be safe.

 

[wupham]

We have an old LPG 400 IH that is propane. We also have our propane tank fitted with a hose for filling the tractor. There are two shutoffs on the hose; one at the propane tank and the other at the end of the hose. The tractor tank is fitted with three valves. One that connects to the hose from the propane tank, a second that is a pressure bleed valve and a third very small bleed valve that tells you when the tractor is "full" which is actually 80% of the capacity of the tractor tank. Following is how we refill the tractor.
1. Connect the hose to the tractor tank.
2. Open the valve that is on the end of the hose.
3. Open the valve that is on the propane tank.
4. Connect a "bleeder" to the pressure bleed valve and screw it in until pressure is being released from the tractor tank.
5. Open the small bleed valve.
6. Continue to fill until you see propane come out of the small bleed valve (looks like white smoke). This tells you the tractor is full.
7. Shut the small bleed valve.
8. Shut the pressure bleed valve by unscrewing the bleeder.
9. Shut the valve at the propane tank
10. Shut the valve that is at the end of the hose.
11. Disconnect the hose from the tractor (use gloves as there will be a little propane released).
12. We then open the valve on the end of the hose to empty the hose. If you do this right, you can freeze plants in the path of the released propane even if it is the middle of summer. (That is why you wear gloves when disconnecting the hose from the tank)

I know this looks complicated but it becomes second nature once you have done it a few times. If you want, I can take some photos but it will probably be tomorrow before I'll have time.

Ward

 

[schmism]

You can fill your tractor from a BBQ tank The portable tank has to be turned up side down and above the tractor tank.

im fairly shure the new style propane tanks all have invert shutoffs on them... there is a little ball bearing that "floats" in the LPG... so if you put LPG on the valve the ball floats up and shuts off the flow.

my personal experience in trying to fill small 1lb camping containers via one of these seems to back up the above.

 

[bigtiller]

im fairly shure the new style propane tanks all have invert shutoffs on them... there is a little ball bearing that "floats" in the LPG... so if you put LPG on the valve the ball floats up and shuts off the flow.

my personal experience in trying to fill small 1lb camping containers via one of these seems to back up the above.

I haven't tryed it with the new tanks. It works with the old ones.

The 1lb camping containers can't be refilled because there isn't a spit valve on them. All you can get in them is vapor, no liquid.

 

[3RRL]

I have refilled the small camping bottles.
There is a spring loaded schraeder type valve near the neck that you have to release the pressure while it fills. I ground a pair of needle nose pliers to fit in there to pull it up. Also drilled a small hole into the closed jaws for the stem to fit in. And I can get them completely full.

 

[tommu56]

I got tired of flipping tanks over to fill 1 lb tanks (some of the ones with floats wouldent work anyway) so I got a tow motor tank with a liouid line and the fitting to go on it and put mu fill adaptor on it now it puts liquid out standing up right.

tom

 

[djw250]

We have an old LPG 400 IH that is propane. We also have our propane tank fitted with a hose for filling the tractor. There are two shutoffs on the hose; one at the propane tank and the other at the end of the hose. The tractor tank is fitted with three valves. One that connects to the hose from the propane tank, a second that is a pressure bleed valve and a third very small bleed valve that tells you when the tractor is "full" which is actually 80% of the capacity of the tractor tank. Following is how we refill the tractor.
1. Connect the hose to the tractor tank.
2. Open the valve that is on the end of the hose.
3. Open the valve that is on the propane tank.
4. Connect a "bleeder" to the pressure bleed valve and screw it in until pressure is being released from the tractor tank.
5. Open the small bleed valve.
6. Continue to fill until you see propane come out of the small bleed valve (looks like white smoke). This tells you the tractor is full.
7. Shut the small bleed valve.
8. Shut the pressure bleed valve by unscrewing the bleeder.
9. Shut the valve at the propane tank
10. Shut the valve that is at the end of the hose.
11. Disconnect the hose from the tractor (use gloves as there will be a little propane released).
12. We then open the valve on the end of the hose to empty the hose. If you do this right, you can freeze plants in the path of the released propane even if it is the middle of summer. (That is why you wear gloves when disconnecting the hose from the tank)

I know this looks complicated but it becomes second nature once you have done it a few times. If you want, I can take some photos but it will probably be tomorrow before I'll have time.

Ward

If you have the set up, Ward has the correct procedure in his post above. We had 2 propane tractors when I was growing up, a 1939 Allis Chalmers WC that was converted to propane, and a 1950 something 560 Farmall. We filled them from a large propane tank that we had for the tractors and to run the heater and water heater in our house. I always thought it was cool to stir up a few fire ants and freeze them before I filled up the tractor If you plan to use the tractor a lot, getting a tank and fill set up like that would be the way to go.