Watch your propane Tanks

[Curtis B]

Just found out that two places in the past hour have had tanks explode in my area. Some folks I have talked to are blaming the heat.



http://http://www.kwch.com/news/kwch-rzw-fire-crews-fight-blaze-at-propane-building-in-rose-hill-20110802,0,5003163.story

[soulsurvivor]

Be sure to look at the pictures too. There's a link at the end of the article for that.

That's no small fire and could potentially become a problem for residents. How easy is it to put out or contain a propane fire?

[ace admirer]

hmmm,,,,,,,let them burn,,,,,,but be awareof : do a search for bleve

[Curtis B]

I am told the heat from the first fire has caused the propane tanks at two houses nearby to explode. I don't the the initial fire was caused by the heat, but I haven't heard anything official yet. Word is that six fire departments and the FD from the air force base has come with at least one of their foam trucks. Gotta feel for the FD, it is 112 here right now.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

I doubt it was from high temps. It's pretty darned hard to explode a propane tank..not even shooting one will cause it to explode. Think about LP tanks in places like Arizona. If they don't explode it 120 plus temps...I doubt heat caused these tanks to blow.

[Bearfootfarm]

Some folks I have talked to are blaming the heat.

Heat could possibly cause the relief valves to open, venting excess pressure.

If there were an ignition source nearby, then a fire could start as an indirect consequence of the heat

[10ecn]

I had one blow a relief valve once. Now, I make sure to keep them in the shade. Also, it was an older style tank, that may well have been overfilled.

[Ken Scharabok]

The federal goverment has forbidden the refill of propane tanks without a blow-off valve for several years.

What Bearfootfarm said.

The propane being vented may have ignited, fell over and ignited some other material. The tank itself, if the new valve type, won't explode.

Guy use to give me 30-lb Freon bottles which still had pressure in them. When vented, tanks would fall over, but then just about anything will make a Freon tank fall over. When I stopped making propane forges out of them, I had to pay a scrapyard $1 each to take them off my hands.

Local recycling center won't take spray cans. Salvage yard will take them only if a hole has been punched it. Plastic in nozzle will melt away long before any explosion.

[Old Vet]

As a firefighter that has been trained and worked a fire in a propane tank farm It looks like a hose burst or somebody backed over a pipe to let Propane loose. Propane tanks are the safest tank that is used today to store fuel in.We let the tank empty itself then when it was almost empty we capped it. We used a lot of water but we also used a stationary nozzle to direct it with so we were not dragging hoses around a lot. Ours was not on fire but we all new that it could be started by most anything.

[Explorer]

I have never heard of a tank exploding in my area of Arizona. Here they will not fill any tank over 80% full. Many (most) large takes sit in direct sunlight.

[mekasmom]

Originally Posted by Curtis B

Just found out that two places in the past hour have had tanks explode in my area. Some folks I have talked to are blaming the heat.

We have our small grill tanks in the shed. Is that safe?

And what about oxygen? My husband's two back up oxygen tanks for his concentrator are also in the shed.

[Explorer]

I keep several small grill type tanks in my garden/tool shed with no problems. A couple of them have not been used in 4-5 years and they will be OK because propane does not deteriorate in storage.

[Ken Scharabok]

There are old style tanks and new style tanks as far as the valving on top. The old style ones were subject to blowing up. New ones won't, unless perhaps mud daubbers had stopped up the vent hole. If in doubt, take your current tank to a place which refills them. They can tell at a glance which style you have. For a large yard tank, if you have had it refilled lately, likely OK on valving.

To dispose of the old style tank two holes will have to be made into the side of the tank.

[Curtis B]

Originally Posted by mekasmom

We have our small grill tanks in the shed. Is that safe?

And what about oxygen? My husband's two back up oxygen tanks for his concentrator are also in the shed.

They are safe unless you have a fire or ignition source. Reports are that folks heard 20 -30 explosions, and they suspect those to be the small grill types caught in the fire. Oxygen tanks are safer since oxygen is not flamable. Saw a video of one of bigger tanks where they were letting the vent continue to burn, quite a sight. One of the guys there did die last night, and two others are still in the hospital. From the talk of the three guys injurys it sounds like an explosion, just don't know how yet.

[Bearfootfarm]

They can tell at a glance which style you have.

You can tell by the shape of the valve wheel
Older ones were round:

[LisaInN.Idaho]

Originally Posted by Explorer

I keep several small grill type tanks in my garden/tool shed with no problems. A couple of them have not been used in 4-5 years and they will be OK because propane does not deteriorate in storage.

I lived in the Phoenix area for many years and never had any problems either. They don't fill tanks here in Idaho over a certain percentage either. I assumed that was a standard practice across the country to allow for expansion.

[ronbre]

80 % is standard practice...I planted trees early on so our propane tank is in shade most of the day..only a little sun late in the evening

[Allen W]

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

There are old style tanks and new style tanks as far as the valving on top. The old style ones were subject to blowing up. New ones won't, unless perhaps mud daubbers had stopped up the vent hole. If in doubt, take your current tank to a place which refills them. They can tell at a glance which style you have. For a large yard tank, if you have had it refilled lately, likely OK on valving.

To dispose of the old style tank two holes will have to be made into the side of the tank.

The new style tanks have a POL valve on the outlet that will trip if the out flow exceeds a certain point.

"To dispose of the old style tank two holes will have to be made into the side of the tank."

If you want to live a long and happy life DON'T DO THIS leave it to the professionals.

ETA after rereading bearfoots post I see I don't know everything about the new valves.

[Curtis B]

I talked to one of the FF today. They are still waiting to find out exactly what happened, but they know that the guys were filling smaller tanks at the time.

[Ken Scharabok]

I have refilled the 3lb camper bottles from my 30-lb tank several times. If done right I don't see how it could cause an explosion. Now if they were smoking at the time, probably comes under the cateogory of purging the gene pool.