The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

A Propane Tank Gotcha

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This is a small FYI post about a big pain in the butt!

The gotcha started innocently enough with me blithely loading our propane tanks into the back of the car and driving to our local Canadian Tire to get them filled—as I had done with no problems in the past—prior to our heading south last fall (2010). However, this time the Propane Guy (PG) said, “I can’t fill them. They are more than 10 years old.” Either this was a new rule since we last had them filled in Canada (it has been in place in Europe for a while) or the PGs who filled them before didn’t check. Whatever.

Anyway, this PG suggested we get them recertified. Well, that might work in theory but I couldn’t find anyone to actually do it. So we had to order 3 new tanks to replace 3 perfectly good ones. The price of bureaucracy!

Our local chandlery in Halifax, Nova Scotia ordered the tanks and I once again loaded them into the car and drove to Canadian Tire. This time the PG filled them, no problem.

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After they were filled, I got the bright idea that I should know the date stamp location for future reference. Imagine my surprise when I found that the tanks were dated 2005, 2006 and 2008. Nuts! Two of them were already halfway through their 10-year lifespan. (We eventually got half our money back on the two aged tanks from our local chandlery, but I had to push them…hard.)

So there are two morals to this story:

  1. If you are planning to travel in Canada or Europe, make sure your propane tanks are less than 10 years old, or you will be joining the raw food movement whether you want to or not.
  2. Don’t assume that a new tank is necessarily a young tank.

P.S. We just ordered a fourth tank for our upcoming voyage to Greenland and West Marine sent us a tank dated 2007. However, I’m a beaten woman. I just don’t have it in me to go through another fight to get my money back.

Further Reading

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Chris

Phyllis, don’t feel too badly about the old tanks, you likely would not have been able to get them recertified in any case. They may have (likely would) have met the pressure test requirements, but at their age it is unlikely they would have an approved Over-filling Prevention Device (required as of April 1 2002 in US, 2007 in Canada). OPDs have saved lives both during filling and are less like to burst when exposed to a fire.

As to European approval on composites, they were invented in Sweden in the early ’90s and Composite Scandinavia builds about 200,000 a year. They are approved in Europe and by the ISO.

Matt Marsh

Re-certifying older cylinders shouldn’t be that hard. 100 lb cylinders from the early ’90s or even the late ’80s are still in common circulation.

Anything from 4 to 40 lb, though, is a different story. Since 1998 or so, overflow protection valves have been required on these, just in case the gas jockey isn’t watching the filling rig and forgets to leave a bit of space for the gas to expand. If your old cylinders didn’t have OPDs, no-one could have legally refilled them in Canada or the US. (The OPD can be installed as a retrofit, but will probably cost more than a new tank.)

For future reference, here’s the list of technicians registered to re-qualify propane tanks:
http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/3/fdr-rici/cylinder/requalifier.aspx

John Harries

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the link. We did not find that resource. Maybe re-certification is easier than we thought. We will have to check well ahead of time when these tanks come up.

That’s the great thing about this process, it’s not just about what we know, but the sum of what you guys know too, which is often a lot more.

Chris

Matt’s right on the OPD cost to retrofit (at least in Eastern US). When I checked it was going to be about 20% more.

John Harries

Hi Chris and Matt,

Great information, thanks.

Actually, our old tanks, bought in 2000 for our last cruise to Europe, had OPDs. They were just condemned because they were over ten years old.

To us the key issue here is that the manufacturer/distributor/dealers are selling long dated tanks as new and charging full price for them. We have four tanks. We could live with the about $1000 cost of replacing them every 10 years. But every five to six years is unreasonable.

We would suggest that anyone buying tanks, check the date before putting their money down and insist on a discount if the stamped date is more than a year or so old.

Chris

Phyllis,
Well, I’m a bit bum-fuzzled. On Bright Star we had tanks approaching 20 years old. I got them each recertified, twice, then the OPD requirement kicked in. The US DOT rules are 12 years + 5, +5 indefinitely with recertification. Some states differ, and I can’t say about Canada or EU. I’m pretty sure I paid about $10 for a recert.

I think your suggestion carries over to anything with a “stale date.”