Speaking of propane...

kcult

kcult

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I use it to heat my home, so I have the 330gal tank behind my house. I have to assume a few others on here have the same.

I'll start with a legal-type question and ask is it illegal to fill grill type tanks from your main tank? And...if not, what is needed and does anyone here do this?

I've heard of people hard piping their grills to the main tank. I'm not so much interested in that as I am knowing if it's possible (legally and physically) to fill portable tanks yourself.

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We had a hose and valve screwed to the big tank at our old chicken farm we used to fill with, it was never taken off the tank and was still there when we moved. If there were any issues the propane company would have said something or removed it. Haha as a kid i used to pull the lever like a fire hose and scare the livestock with a big ole white cloud, OMG i was stooopid.
 
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I refill our 20 lb tank at tractor supply and use it to refill our small 1lb tank for a buddy heater. There’s a piece I got at Walmart in the camping section I use to do it. I also use a digital scale to make sure I don’t overfill. Always put a couple ounces less than a new can weighs. These are listed st Walmart for $13 and change and I’ve used ours to fill over 100 tanks so far. Always check for leaks after filling. Not sure about being legal.
 
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Oh I fill my 1lb cylinders all the time out of a 20lb with one of those.
 
kcult said:
I use it to heat my home, so I have the 330gal tank behind my house. I have to assume a few others on here have the same.

I'll start with a legal-type question and ask is it illegal to fill grill type tanks from your main tank? And...if not, what is needed and does anyone here do this?

I've heard of people hard piping their grills to the main tank. I'm not so much interested in that as I am knowing if it's possible (legally and physically) to fill portable tanks yourself.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
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I have the same size tank and my grill is pipped to it. I wish I could remember, but when I built my house the propane dude told me to just direct hook it. For the life of me I remember him saying something about filing from the main tank, but I don't recall exactly what it was. I know this helps you a ton.
 
Well shoot, I’ve been throwing away 1lb tanks for years.

Have you looked at how your furnace, and I assume water heater, are connected and if any of that piping is close to where your grill is? It might be pretty easy to put some pipe in. Wonder if your propane company would do it for free since it’ll increase usage.
 
kcult said:
I use it to heat my home, so I have the 330gal tank behind my house. I have to assume a few others on here have the same.

I'll start with a legal-type question and ask is it illegal to fill grill type tanks from your main tank? And...if not, what is needed and does anyone here do this?

I've heard of people hard piping their grills to the main tank. I'm not so much interested in that as I am knowing if it's possible (legally and physically) to fill portable tanks yourself.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The only legal issues you may run in to is transporting it. Nothing illegal about refilling said tanks and bottles. Least nothing I could find.

“Transporting” it is when the legal issues arise

They’re a few different adaptors you can use. If your filling a 20lb tank find an adaptor that has a hose on it.
 
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You will need a liquid style valve on it. Otherwise all you will get is the gas vapor.

Unless it was set up for filling. I highly doubt it has a liquid dip tube in that tank.
 
LeeMajors said:
You will need a liquid style valve on it. Otherwise all you will get is the gas vapor.

Unless it was set up for filling. I highly doubt it has a liquid dip tube in that tank.
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That must be why there is a pumpy noise at the station when I get these filled.

I felt like there was something obvious I was missing!

The reason I asked about legality is I feel certain if there was a way for Joe Schmoe to fill his own tanks off of his stagnant fuel, someone somewhere would have an issue with the unwashed masses releasing vapahs into the air.

Thanks for the enlightenment!
 
Admittedly haven’t read the above posts in detail bht I had a friend that bought an adapter to fill smaller propane tanks from big big one, so I imagine it’s “legal”. Just follow the safety protocols.
 
JimB said:
Have you looked at how your furnace, and I assume water heater, are connected and if any of that piping is close to where your grill is? It might be pretty easy to put some pipe in. Wonder if your propane company would do it for free since it’ll increase usage.
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Not sure about the codes here but I ran a gas line a long time ago in CA (back when laws were still reasonably reasonable). It really wasn't such a big deal.
 
A few years ago, I spent a day in Pa Amish country with a guy that lived there. I noticed that all the houses had a large tank in the front yard, and a set of scales and hose
to refill the 20 lb bottles. It looked like they had a liquid line dip tube to force liquid into the bottles. They used the 20 lb tanks for lights in their buildings.
 
Gator said:
Are the 1 lb the "Coleman" size?

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Yeah, there are several videos on youtube. I dont even chill them, use a pair of tiny pliers to vent the air out of the coleman sized cylinders.
 
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