Refilling 1lb propane tanks

[Fantail]

Not to long ago I picked up one of the keg tank adaptors to refill the 1lb jobs. Mainly to try and save some money down the road and recycle some small tanks instead of tossing them. It went fairly smoothly, there are a few precautions and steps. I know alot of people don't like the idea of doing this but it does work.

You should chill the small tanks, and have the adaptor secured to the keg, and the keg should be upsidown durring the process. If you tighten the adaptor to the small tank 1st, it could stay on the small tank and you can wind up with a propane leak. As the adaptor opens the valve on the small tank.

Alright, now the small tank is screwed onto the keg and ready to go, open the keg valve slightly untill you hear gas moving. Wait aproximatly 20 seconds and give the valve another 1/8 turn. From there it takes about a minute for the pressure to fill the tank and you stop hearing gas move. At that point you could open the fully open the main tank valve and should not hear gas moving at all, close the valve. Safely unscrew the small tank - Make Sure - the adaptor stays inplace on the keg. You'll hear a normal whisp of gas escape while it comes off.

Then you should bubble test it, down and quick way is just drip a little water on the top valve to make sure there's no bubbles, turn it upsidown or remove the water after the visual.

I did this with 4 small tanks, & used a marker to 'X' the label for each refill to track them. Of course the small tank valves won't last indefinatly but I should be able to get at least 1/2 dozen refills out of each one.

Got my adaptor at harborfrieght but I saw them at Central Tractor as well.

[fasteddie]

Here is the refill fitting

http://www.harborfreight.com/propane-bottle-refill-kit-45989.html

[G-Man]

Thanks for the link.. i'll be trying this soon