How to empty an underslung gas tank ?

Fisherman said:
Me too, and I witnessed when your luck ran out. I used to rescue folk like you, well sometimes it was to late. ;)
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Not folk like me as I have never needed rescuing. Unless that is you went around rescuing people that didn't need rescuing. :ROFLMAO:
 
DTF said:
You could try contacting Autogas 2000. They fit underslung gas tanks, so may be able to advise on emptying. It may actually be cheaper to remove the full tank and fit an empty one. I would also check exactly what they require for shipping. An “empty tank” will still have gas in it which is a potential hazard. Generally, there is a requirement to purge the tank with an inert gas to make it ”totally” safe.
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Good, idea, we will try them
 
The London fires bregaid tape minw off as I filled it up the night befor the hottest day of that year.

They stayed for four hours as some reported a hissing sound coming from under neath the vehicle.

Drove it away on gas at 6pm they untapped it at 5pm it was the exspandtion vale venting as the day warmed up.

If this is a choice l? Let the engine cool down first. Be in NO rush with a 13 mill spanner on pipe.
 
Charlie has a hot air balloon burner he connects to removed underslung bottles to burn off the gas, he cannot extract it form the tank (Autogas2000).
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Getting the gas out so it can be saved will have to be done while it's in a liquid (highly pressurised) state and this will mean having an outlet at the bottom of the tank or a dip pipe outlet at the top of the tank. So basically if there's only one visible outlet on the tank then it wont be doable unless the tank is inverted.
Seems like a big greedy burner, something like those that they use when flat roofing connected to a BBQ point or temporarily onto the regulator is what's needed if you want to burn it off safely away from the van.
Would I dump it over a windy desolate moor over an hour or so? Probably with the tank and myself upwind but that's me. 🥴
 
Not long after i fitted my twin 6kg Gas It system i filled it up for the 2nd time at Morrisons, Leyland and remember it taking a little more than i expected but i was new to re-fillables and there didn`t seem to be a problem because it shut itself off fine and the LPG pump stopped.

Got home ( 10 minutes away ) and opened the gas locker to turn the gas back on and i got a whiff of LPG and i could hear a hissing noise which was clearly coming from one of the bottles. I also noticed that the one that was hissing had a really stiff/gritty on/off valve, the other valve was nice and smooth.

I immediately rang Gas It and they said it sounded like one of the bottles had over-filled and the reason the on/off valve was stiff/gritty was because the LPG inside was actually touching the valve and was freezing it.

Gas It told me to remove both bottles and the overfill was confirmed when i weighed them so they told me to take the leaking heavy one to the bottom of the garden and slowly let off the excess gas until it weighed the same as the other one.

As soon as the weight got down to the same as the other the hissing stopped, i contacted Gas It again to see if the bottle now needed checking and or replacing but they said it would be fine and the pressure release valve had done its job and all was good, no check or replacement needed.

They have been fine ever since and an overfill has never happened again.

So, if Gas It say it`s ok to release a small amount of LPG into an outdoor well ventilated area that that`s fine by me.
 
Whos word does that shipping company take that the gas is purged? surprised they don't want a professional cert for H&S record. Surely "I've emptied it mate" wouldn't be accepted!
 
yeoblade said:
Whos word does that shipping company take that the gas is purged? surprised they don't want a professional cert for H&S record. Surely "I've emptied it mate" wouldn't be accepted!
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Reminds me of the security check when boarding the MV Hamnavoe at Scrabster heading for Stromness 🤪

Security ..................................... Hiya, have you turned the gas off ?

Me ................................................. Of course i have :)

Security ....................................... Nice 1 have a good trip (y)
 
We had zero heating at Triple S but we had a Propane cylinder, I'd seen them turned into log burners so I opened the valve outside out of sight, and the lads in red trucks turned up eventually as someone had dialled 999 on us, they said it was okay as it was outside, we'd had an airline in it for at least 20 minutes and it still stunk of propane, they told us that they had been to an explosion the year before when someone had the same idea thought the cylinder was empty and started cutting the openings with an angle grinder.
 
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Pudsey Bear said:
We had zero heating at Triple S but we had a Propane cylinder, I'd seen them turned into log burners so I opened the valve outside out of sight, and the lads in red trucks turned up eventually as someone had dialled 999 on us, they said it was okay as it was outside, we'd had an airline in it for at least 20 minutes and it still stunk of propane, they told us that they had been to an explosion the year before when someone had the same idea though the cylinder was empty and started cutting the openings with an angle grinder.
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Surprised at the comment from the lads in red trucks.
About 30 years ago some idiot in a rural carpark emptied a propane cylinder. A few minutes later a women with her dog drove into the carpark, and her car and bushes at the edge of the carpark were engulfed in flames. She was reversing towards the bushes when this happened. Fortunately both her and the dog got out ok, but her car was burnt to a cinder.

You learn to respect propane cylinders when in the fire service.
The cylinders themselves take some abuse, I have seen them red hot but not giving way, but full cylinders take less abuse. A colleague of mine got badly burnt with terrible facial injuries due to a propane cylinder going off. I attended an incident in Glasgow were a large cylinder in a garage destroyed the garage, and the cylinder was found two hundred yards away split wide open. The valve was found days later half a mile away. This cylinder is now on exhibition inside Cowcaddens fire station in Glasgow. So the moral is don’t F—k about with propane.
 
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Fisherman said:
Surprised at the comment from the lads in red trucks.
About 30 years ago some idiot in a rural carpark emptied a propane cylinder. A few minutes later a women with her dog drove into the carpark, and her car and bushes at the edge of the carpark were engulfed in flames. She was reversing towards the bushes when this happened. Fortunately both her and the dog got out ok, but her car was burnt to a cinder.

You learn to respect propane cylinders when in the fire service.
The cylinders themselves take some abuse, I have seen them red hot but not giving way, but full cylinders take less abuse. A good friend of mine got badly burnt with terrible facial injuries due to a propane cylinder going off. I attended an incident in Glasgow were a large cylinder in a garage destroyed the garage, and the cylinder was found two hundred yards away split wide open. The valve was found days later half a mile away. This cylinder is now on exhibition inside Cowcaddens fire station in Glasgow. So the moral is don’t F—k about with propane.
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Two of them were my drinking buddies, they probably wouldn't have told Joe Public
 
Opening the valve has long been a recognised way of emptying a tank rightly or wrongly though. Breeze day and not in a dip, usual common sense needed that isn’t always present unfortunately
 
On the assumption that @master is paying the thousands of £ to ship his van to the USA, I suspect he’s not overly concerned about the cost of doing this properly and safely and maybe venting the gas to the atmosphere with all the inherent risks that potentially involves isn’t the answer he wanted to hear.

It might be the ideal time to invest in a portable gas barbecue, get an external outlet fitted and have jacket potatoes etc for a few weeks!

I have recently been preparing one of my vans to sell, and I wanted to empty the tank safely as I don’t intend to include it with the van.

We simply stopped using the cooker indoors and have done all our meals on the one in the van. We have a gas water heater so ditto for showering.

If I wanted to do it really fast I suspect a rooofers burner would be the cheapest way of buying something to waste it via burning it off safely.
 
If I had that kind of money I'd fly out buy a van and sell it when I returned.

And you don't need to empty a tank/bottle to store it, just turn the valve off.
 
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