Does a 20lb propane bottle hold 20 lbs of propane? Is that 20 lbs just a generic term? I weighed an empty 20 lb bottle on an electronic scale at 23.2 lbs. It weighed 38.0 lbs after being filled. That accounts for 14.8 lbs loaded into the bottle. I had the bottle filled, not exchanged. Maybe they are selling it in gallons, and just terming it lbs. Anything I am not considering?
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To my knowledge it refers to the weight of the propane. But it might be that the bottle is sized based on its capacity if it were filled to the brim -- ie, illegally overfilled.
(Close as I can recall, the last time I bought propane they charged me based on the weigh of the bottle before/after.)
20 pounds is a generic term.
None of them with the OPV will hold that much. In fact , my fill guy squeezes in all he can by opening the bleed screw and sometimes it won't come out because the float valve is closed. I have to tilt the bottle to get it going.
That is still around 17 pounds.
Places like Blue Rhino are notorious for a short fill. They have also swapped me into an out of date tank. I guess they assume the rules are different for them.
Did the older bottles hold more?
I imagine if you filled one of these tanks to 100% it might be 20 pounds. The problem is liquid don't compress that well and pressures go nuts.
Did the older bottles hold more?
The purpose of the float is to shut off delivery of propane from the tank if it is knocked over, which could cause a fire if a radiant tank top heater was in place. I suppose one could remove the float so that the tank could be filled to 18 lbs. I would think a pressure release device is still incorporated in the valve like on the earlier style tanks. Actually, most refillers rely on the shape of the valve handle to determine whether the tank is current or not. I've never seen them look for the "fine print" stamped on the bottle.
A little off subject, A few years ago I saw a video of Korean protestors in Seol. One guy would hold a 40 lb tank horizontally while another guy would puncture the side of the tank with a heavy iorn rod, and the ignite it. The first guy would then charge the riot police with a 20' flame. Totally awesome sight.
Here is the video of that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMi7Jkay0fY