Refillable 1# propane bottles/kit?

[*zap*]

Anyone use these? How was it? what brand?
I want to switch from refilling the coleman bottles that I originally purchased full of 1#.

 

[BzoneBryan]

I have a couple. They work just fine. I had to buy a tool to fill them, but it wasn't terribly expensive and it's been worth it for me. I'm happy to go away from disposable propane bottles. The brand I bought is Flame King.

 

[northernalpine]

I’ve got a few 1#’ers from Manchester tank and flame king, though I’m not sure Manchester makes them (1#) anymore. The refill coupling is about $10-$12 and works to fill from larger tanks, pretty handy to have. 3 of the 4 flame kings I’ve bought have made it more than 4 years, had a seal on one last year that went bad after the housing caught some rust following an extended outing on the coast. I’d buy them again when I need to lifecycle the current inventory.

 

[Dented]

@northernalpine nailed it.

 

[MarlinMark]

I split the difference and bought a 5lb. tank.

 

[*zap*]

That is good also.^

The flame king bottles you need a allen key to bump. The Mr. Heater bottles have a valve with a ring attached so you just pull the ring.....>I think<

 

[TWoch]

I bought an adapter from the farm store to refill all my #1 bottles off a grill tank. Pays for itself in about 3 bottles. Make sure you empty all the bottles beforehand so they’ll fill fuller.

 

[Wrench]

I bought an adapter from the farm store to refill all my #1 bottles off a grill tank. Pays for itself in about 3 bottles. Make sure you empty all the bottles beforehand so they’ll fill fuller.

Take more out so more fits? I don't follow. A 1# bottle holds 1#. If I take out 8oz on the bbq....it still takes 8oz to top it off in my head.

Please explain if that's not the case.

 

[Jbxl20]

Take more out so more fits? I don't follow. A 1# bottle holds 1#. If I take out 8oz on the bbq....it still takes 8oz to top it off in my head.

Please explain if that's not the case.

I think he means you need to purge the air to fit more liquid.

 

[Iowafarmer]

I’ve got a liquid valve on my 1000 gallon propane tank that I fill my 20# tanks with then I use an adapter hose to run my buddy heater in my deer blinds 1 tank last all season where the 1# tank lasts about two and a half hours

 

[TWoch]

Even after the little tank is empty of fuel there will still be pressure in the tank. If you screw the adaptor on the large tank first then attach the little bottle, with that pressure still inside, it doesn’t allow as much gas to flow into little bottle before it’s “full”. If you screw it to the little bottle first it’ll empty. I don’t know if it helps, but I always invert my large tank so liquid fuel is at the nozzle. I run buddy heaters and cook stoves that burn through a lot of fuel.

 

[taskswap]

You can also just bump the little pressure relief valve, with a key/allen key/etc like someone posted above. Another trick is putting the 1# bottles in the freezer for a few hours ahead of time.

One caution, when you refill bottles this way they run fine for 95% of the small-bottle appliances out there. But Mr Buddy heaters are notoriously sensitive to oil contamination, and when you use 20lb cylinders with an extension hose you're supposed to use an oil filter. I've personally ruined one not doing this - there's a way to clean it, but it was a lot of hassle and I crimped a tube accidentally trying to do it. Best avoid it if you can. This filter is a pretty cheap add-on accessory that screws right onto the 1lb-bottle-port on the heater and then you connect the hose to that. Well, if you REFILL 1# cylnders from a 20# source, you're running the same oil-contamination risk. So if you're planning to run a Mr Buddy off refilled cylinders, you might want to have the same filter installed. It makes it more bulky, though.

 

[dtrkyman]

I use old bottles I had already, keep an eye out for leakers, that little valve goes bad and I had to toss a couple!

Freezer trick works well and I even put the large tank in the sun so it's a lot warmer.

 

[*zap*]

I use old bottles I had already, keep an eye out for leakers, that little valve goes bad and I had to toss a couple!

Freezer trick works well and I even put the large tank in the sun so it's a lot warmer.

I had some leak also and then gave the overpressure valve a shot of blaster and a shot of blaster in the one # bottle ....never had a leaker doing it that way. A curved forceps will allow you to pull the overpressure valve out to bump it....

But, I am going to go with the mr. heater one pound kegs now. and a five pound bottle for car camp.

 

[mt terry d]

My method:
20# tank upside down
Weigh empty bottle.
hook up.
purge air from 1# can with the relief valve
open 20#
when you quit hearing gas flow shut off.
purge some air.
fill again
weigh
looking for @ 16 oz + empty wt
purge & fill again if necessary

 

[Kansas Hunter]

Flame king works good only problem I have had is the relief valve that uses the hex key stripped out. Totally my fault other than that they have been great. Use them all year long.

 

[sasquatch]

Been using flame kings for years now, never had an issue.

Didn’t know of the newer Mr buddy ones, but just ordered one. I like the idea of not needing the Allen wrench if it works good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[*zap*]

mr heater bottles have a ring that allows the relief valve to be opened.....no threads. Tractor Supply should have them in stock.