Re: refilling a propane tractor

Posted by Mark on March 26, 2004 at 10:56:15 from (199.46.199.233):

In Reply to: refilling a propane tractor posted by Brandon on March 26, 2004 at 10:09:35:

What you need is a propane man who farms (like I had). He sold me the necessary hoses and fittings.

1st. This is very dangerous and you need to realize that you are dealing with an explosive/extreme fire hazard. Never forget that.

2. We have minimums here and if we meet that minimum there is no delivery fee. I used to try to time my tractor fill with the house gas delivery.

3. The truck has a pressurized delivery system. It can cram "liquid" into your tractor's tank. Your "nurse" tank can't do that. i.e. you cannot get as full.

4. The nurse tank has to have a "liquid line". This means that the spigot you are attempting to use has a hose inside the tank that goes to the bottom of the tank. When you open the spigot, the tank pressure forces "liquid" propane up the line and out the hose. Without this line, there is no pipe inside the tank and all you have is fumes (vapor phase). This vapor hole is ok for filling, but not for draining. BTU content is about 91,000 BTU/gallon of LIQUID, not vapors. That's slightly lower than diesel and gasoline in that order.

5. You should be outside,away from all sparks, tractor and all ignition sources off around you and down wind of you. You should have wind at your back to remove the filling fumes from your face so that you can breathe (oxygen, not propane).

6. There is a large fill hole on the side of the tank and one or 2 vent holes. One is the size of a quarter about 1/2 way up or so and the other is much smaller and near the top. The large vent is said to be illegal today so you have to use the small one....takes forever.

7. Propane tank pressure is about 250 psig on a hot summer day with a full tank and almost impossible to measure on a freezing winter day. So your fill rate is very variable. Remember, there is no pump to move the liquid, just this static pressure.

8. Use gloves as expanding propane beats Freon 22 hands down for freezing your fingers off when it expands. Connect the hose to the nurse and tractor fill inlet. The hose should have a shut off valve on one end. This end goes to your tractor's tank. (All your tank has is a spring loaded one way valve that opens when propane pushes against it and closes when it stops.) Open the vent on the tractor tank. Gas will immediately start hissing out. Open the fill valve on the hose at the tractor's tank. Open the nurse valve. It will begin filling and depending upon humidity and temp, you may see a frost line move up the tank which is where your liquid is. The vent is set at about 80% full. Can't go over that as you need room for compression on hot days. When the tank is full, liquid propane will squirt out of the vent hole. Shut off the valves (ALL VALVES)and remove the hoses REMEMBERING THAT THE HOSE IS FULL OF LIQUID AND WHEN YOU LOOSEN THE FROSTY FILL NUT, THERE IS MORE BEHIND, STORED IN THE HOSE.

Now, with all that said, propane was the rage before diesel (according to one of my longtime large scale RED tractor loving buddies). Therefore millions of gallons of propane have done millions of tons of work for humanity and not too many casualties have resulted. You just need to keep things in perspective.

Good Luck

Mark

I sold my tractor (green 4020 96 hp) not because it was propane, but I needed cash to help my son out of trouble.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Re: refilling a propane tractor rickm 16:26:19 03/26/04 (3)
  • Re: Re: Re: refilling a propane tractor Mark 19:13:17 03/26/04 (2)
    • Re: Re: Re: Re: refilling a propane tractor Prof 14:12:52 03/27/04 (1)
      • Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: refilling a propane tractor Mark 08:09:15 03/28/04 (0)

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