Cutting Gas Cylinders Open Safely - HELP

[Greeves246]

Used to run a pipe from the van exhaust into tanks for half an hour in the 60s before brazing them.
doubleboost- "Got home smelling like a pox doctors clerk the wife was not amused "
How do you know what a pox doctors clerk smells like? I would be worried if your wife does.

 

[leadhead747]

I recently cut a propane tank. One handy tip I came across, once the tank is filled with water empty a bit out and then fill it with light bleach. It kills the propane smell immediately. I put a few litres in, put the reg back on and rolled it around for a bit. Let it sit overnight and then emptied it out. It smelt more like bleach than that mercaptane additive.

 

[jinjahbiscuit]

I picked up a freebie butane bottle on Sunday evening locally, with the thought I'd make a patio heater / log burner.
In the workshop on Monday morning I prodded the valve to vent the bottle. I found surprisingly that I had to do this quite a few times before the residual pressure finally dissipated, not that there was much there anyway.
I then laid the bottle on its side with a length of pipe through the guard to stop the bottle rotating; and VERY cautiously began to unscrew the valve, anti - clockwise.
Being a tapered thread, the valve became a bit wobbly before it became completely disengaged, so I was pretty confident by then that no pressure was trapped inside, unlike a parallel thread which can hang on until the last minute before letting go - believe me, I've been there!
So no drama, I just followed advice on here, and with a little common sense job done.
As people have mentioned, it does smell, even after flushing with water, but I have no fears now about chopping the side out and cracking on with the "hot work!"

 

[slim_boy_fat]

So no drama, I just followed advice on here, and with a little common sense job done.

Please keep us up-to-date with your project.

 

[DAPPH]

I have had a 47 k bottle as a "buffer tank" on the plasma table .
If i put a blow gun on to it still strings of propane smelly stuff
It must have had tens of thousands of litres of air through it
It was washed with water as well[/QUOTE


@ Screwdriver
There will still be a golden oily watery residue in a lot of bottles it's that that smells & it is flammable .. it can still be ignited in the first few days of the bottle only being vented to the air .

That's why I've inverted the vaveless bottles & set them high enough for me to squirt a hose pipe nozzle up inside for 20 min or so , the oil usually gets washed out with the draining water . Then it's let it drain for a 10 min cup of coffee , stand it up right again refill to the very top with water leave it over night , drain & vent 24 hrs , now refill , drain and vent again 24 hrs later then a week later of sunny weather venting they've been cut with either a disc cutter or a plasma cutter


PS
The scent for the gas tainting certainly used to be very toxic and a threat to life , it used to only be made in Israel .

In his younger days Trevor my friend , an industrial chemist was working with his mate on their latest money making idea , they were purging & recharging very small propane bottles in their domestic garage lab when Trevor dropped a bottle of it and set of hundreds of gas alarms for miles down wind . He & his mate went a puce colour. Knowing it to be very toxic they didn't know what to do or what would happen if they were caught .....so they stopped work put every thing away went to the pub across the road & necked many beers between them ..... they were well & truly ratted & had to be taken home .

Trev reckoned the copious amounts of beer helped flush it out of their bloodstream before it could do any long term harm........ this was almost 40 years on after the event took place .

 

[DAPPH]

I'll look that up.....

My limited understanding is that bottle goes forward and valve goes backwards-ish so if youre to the side all is good. However, I aint trying it to find out!

( June 1969 )The welding trolley oxygen bottle was about to be finished changing , was about to be chained on the trolley & fell over off the trolley . It snapped the valve off as it hit the wall , the cylinder fishtailed it down the 100 foot or more long workshop before smashing through a 18 inch Victorian build solid stable wall. The fish tail path was close on three feet wide & high . Had it hit any truck wheel or petrol fuel tank who knows what would have happened .

After that incident orders went out from on high that bottle changing was to be a 2 man .

 

[jinjahbiscuit]

Please keep us up-to-date with your project.

I'll try, but knowing the way my projects go, it should be just about finished by the summer!

 

[Morrisman]

Would it ever be safe to try chopping up something like this big baby? It’s now empty, as such, and I plan to disconnect it when the weather clears up and leave all vent holes empty.

Without a huge crane it’s impossible to get it out of the garden, unless I knock down the garage wall...and Avanti definitely won’t be interested in spending money to remove their junk.

The ends could be utilised to make a couple of ‘fire pit’ garden features, in the right hands, as its 5mm wall thickness.

My plasma cutter would slice it up, if it didn’t explode first and take out half the neighbourhood.

There is now a shed built on the concrete pad, so,i can’t really see the gas tank, but it would be nice to have it gone.

 

[Screwdriver]

Would it ever be safe to try chopping up something like this big baby?

Define "safe".

It is certainly a non-trivial, high risk operation. I think it should be perfectly possible to come up with a strategy which mitigates the inherent danger of cutting up a fuel tank.

But it is still inherently dangerous.

 

[Morrisman]

Define "safe".

It is certainly a non-trivial, high risk operation. I think it should be perfectly possible to come up with a strategy which mitigates the inherent danger of cutting up a fuel tank.

But it is still inherently dangerous.

‘Safe’ as in defiantly not going to go bang.

A Sawzall would be one simple, and safer, way to basically get it apart, with a decent quality steel blade in.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Ooooh, it's been nice 'knowing' you.

Given the difficulty with access, I'd be wanting it craned out of there and given to a passing stranger. Are you sure there's not a market for these things?

 

[cheb]

Maybe I missed something, but what's stopping you putting it on a dolly and wheeling it out? Also don't the gas suppliers own these things? They did when I had one.

 

[Screwdriver]

The problem is the sheer size of the thing makes flushing it out a huge chore.

I would suggest filling it with water and then cutting it open while full. Then again, that's my hobbyist amateur assessment. I'd do it but I'm no authority on the subject.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Would it ever be safe to try chopping up something like this big baby? It’s now empty, as such, and I plan to disconnect it when the weather clears up and leave all vent holes empty.

Without a huge crane it’s impossible to get it out of the garden, unless I knock down the garage wall...and Avanti definitely won’t be interested in spending money to remove their junk.

The ends could be utilised to make a couple of ‘fire pit’ garden features, in the right hands, as its 5mm wall thickness.

My plasma cutter would slice it up, if it didn’t explode first and take out half the neighbourhood.

There is now a shed built on the concrete pad, so,i can’t really see the gas tank, but it would be nice to have it gone.

View attachment 269094

It still belongs to the gas company and will be on their assut register.
You need to contact them to "Demand " their equipment is on your property. If it isn't removed in a convenient time scale.
You will have it removed at a cost to them.

How ever, depending on the house deeds it may be a fixed asset and has to remain, pending planning permission.


A quick phone call,recorded, will help a lot.

 

[gaz1]

if your going to fill it with water id consider using it as a hot water storage tank connected to a wood stove outside

i dont like combined gear so the insulation reference is good enough

https://woodstoves.forumotion.co.uk/t850-2600-gallon-rocket-water-heater

 

[jimbo84]

If it still belongs to the gas company and they refuse to shift it start charging them storage on it

 

[qwakers]

whilst the legality of them refusing to remove it has already been covered, ill skip that and say...

fill it with water for a few days and then cut ity up. id also be tempted to stick some fuse wire in it and retire to a safe distance... but i wouldnt recommend it...

 

[cheb]

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/diy-waterjet.108580/#post-1743208

 

[Parm]

whilst the legality of them refusing to remove it has already been covered, ill skip that and say...

fill it with water for a few days and then cut ity up. id also be tempted to stick some fuse wire in it and retire to a safe distance... but i wouldnt recommend it...

That rather fun experiment may reduce his new workshop to a complex 3 dimensional puzzle

 

[maz0]

Would it ever be safe to try chopping up something like this big baby? It’s now empty, as such, and I plan to disconnect it when the weather clears up and leave all vent holes empty.

Without a huge crane it’s impossible to get it out of the garden, unless I knock down the garage wall...and Avanti definitely won’t be interested in spending money to remove their junk.

The ends could be utilised to make a couple of ‘fire pit’ garden features, in the right hands, as its 5mm wall thickness.

My plasma cutter would slice it up, if it didn’t explode first and take out half the neighbourhood.

There is now a shed built on the concrete pad, so,i can’t really see the gas tank, but it would be nice to have it gone.

View attachment 269094

Stick an axle on it and turn it into a towable smoker...start selling over priced ribs at country fairs.