Propane stowage

We use propane tanks for the BBQ, the small ones also used for camping.

What is a proper way to store these tanks?

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Per wrote: bit

We use propane tanks for the BBQ, the small ones also used for camping.

What is a proper way to store these tanks?

*

Click to expand...

I store them in the same vented locker as the galley stove tank. I made a rack out of Starboard to fit in the locker with holes drilled in it to the same diameter as the tanks , + a bit, so that the tanks slip right in (and out) as needed.

ok thanks David, and for those of us who dont already have a propane system with approved vented lockers?

Make the gas tank compartment 100% insulated (as in gas proof/air tight) from the rest of the boat including the bilge. The lowest point in the gas locker must be vented overboard. Propane is heavier than air and any fumes will settle down low. On my Catalina 30, we had the gas sniffer/auto cut off device at the bottle end with the control panel in the cabin. As a habit, we turned on the gas remotely in the cabin when we were cooking and then shut it off from the cabin when we were finished. We lived aboard and this worked flawlessly for 5 years. After that Hurricane Katrina totalled us out.

As far as I am concerned, propane is very safe to use unless of course, FEMA installed it

Our Grand Banks has the propane locker under the port flying bridge seat. This is a typical location for GBs. The compartment has a vent to the outside of the flying bridge and there are no holes, channels, seams, etc. that penetrate the bottom or sides of the compartment, so no propane can get down through the overhead into the interior of the boat.

The only penetration of the compartment from inside the boat is the valve handle for the manual propane shutoff valve inside the compartment. However this valve is heavily sealed to the inside of the compartment to prevent any passage of gas. Likewise the tank mounts (we carry two aluminum propane tanks) are mounted on teak blocks that are sealed across their entire bottoms to the inside of the locker.

I have seen pix of sailboats storing them in a piece of PVC pipe of a bit larger diameter, screw on plug or cap with a hole at the bottom and a screw on plug, or capped on the top. The pipe can be cut to length for two, three, or more of the cylinders, pipe attached to a handrail stanchion ot the transom with the bottom outside the hull.
Steve W.

I have one of those green and blue propane tanks and considered it so ugly I bought a fuzzy fender cover and enclosed the tank in that. Put it on the cabin top where all the escaping gas can go overboard through the scuppers. See 1st photo for the tank and the 2nd photo shows the scupper (one of three).

this is what i am talking about, not the large refillable tanks.
just for bbq use..
am i required to store this in a special manner?


-- Edited by Per on Thursday 11th of August 2011 10:43:08 AM

Per wrote:

this is what i am talking about, not the large refillable tanks.
just for bbq use..
am i required to store this in a special manner?



-- Edited by Per on Thursday 11th of August 2011 10:43:08 AM

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*I do.

Even the small portable propane tanks contain propane, and the gas needs to be treated the same.

Meaning, you need to find a place to contain these tanks that ventilates overboard and not into the boat interior.

Per--- We use those bottles with the portable propane cabin heater we use. These bottles can leak from their valvestems. Particularly after they've been on an appliance and they're taken off. So new or used they should never be stowed inside a boat or anywhere where escaping gas could flow down and into the boat, like through an open window. But they do not require a special propane locker. We carry these bottles in the sailing dinghy on top of our aft cabin along with the gasoline for the dinghy motor, crab trap, etc. The sailing dinghy has a pair of plugs in the bottom which are left out except when we use it. So any propane that might leak into the dinghy will flow out these two drains.

One of my built in flybridge seats has a plastic lining and an overboard drain (in case you wanted to use it as a cooler). That is where I store my small bottles.

superdiver wrote:jleonard wrote:
One of my built in flybridge seats has a plastic lining and an overboard drain (in case you wanted to use it as a cooler). That is where I store my small bottles.

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*Thats where I plan to put mine when I convert the heater over to propane...

*Are you saying you intend to power your cabin heater with the small propane bottles?* If so, you might want to rethink that.* They don't last long.* A small bottle on the little portable propane heater we use is good for about two hours on high and about four on low.

If you are going to be running your cabin heater for longer periods I would think connecting it to a full-size tank (1.5 gallons, 2 gallons, etc) would be better.* If you figure to use the heater a lot the cost of those little bottles will add up fast and most likely exceed by a fair amount the cost of refilling a larger tank every now and then.

allright, thanks everyone..

Just something to think about when storing those little containers is heat. Some boating circles are starting to see the pressurized air can horns overheating and causing problems when stored on the dash in a closed up boat. While the propane bottles being talked about have a higher overpressure safety factor than the air canisters, they could still overheat in the wrong circumstances.

Ken