Is my propane bottle empty?

Factual Questions
1

Got a gas grill this fall (I MISS MY CHARCOAL WEBBER :frowning: ) and the bottle seemed to empty much sooner than I expected. Got a backup bottle - works fine, but the non working bottle seems to still have some gas in it. If I shake the bottle there is still something sloshing around in there; so what’s TSD?
Thanks.

2

If it’s liquid propane in the bottle, the thing should still be working.

If it’s liquid butane, that could be the problem if it’s really cold where you are. Butane has a boiling point of 31[sup]o[/sup] F.

Could be water in the bottle.

Could also be a fault in the valve.

3

When you get a brand new (never been filled) propane bottle, like the ones that come with a new grill, there is air inside which needs to be evacuated before filling with propane. Otherwise the bottle will not hold as much propane.

4

The grill works with the new bottle and it is(was) not that cold so I guess some water is in the bottle - how or why there is water in the tank I do not know - it is the one that came prefilled with the grill

5
      • (-I used to have to fill these things, like Hank Hill) There ain’t no water in the tank. At least, how water got inside with ~60 Lbs PSI of propane trying to get out would be an interesting theory. If there’s liquid inside, it’s propane.
  • The tanks come filled with dry air, and propane is heavier than air. So just leaving the tank sit level outdoors and cracking the (unconnected) valve slightly for a few seconds will displace any air inside out the top. The first time a new tank is filled (when it has the warning sticker over the valve), the people filling it are supposed to purge it. What they do is put a bit of propane in it, disconnect it, and crack the valve until they smell propane coming out.
  • If you are speaking about regular barbeque grill tanks in the US, then it is a “20-lb tank”. So called because it holds 20 lbs of liquid propane. On the collar of the tank (the shield around the top valve) there should be stamped two numbers: one will be 18-22 lbs, and the other will be… 20 greater than that. The first is the empty weight of the tank, and the second is what a full tank should weigh. Many tanks have little meters built into the valves, but these are not standardized and they tend to read 100% full and 100% empty properly, but don’t read well between those two conditions. So if you really need to know how much propane you got, you weigh the tank on a bathroom scale and do the math. When the tanks get filled, they are weighed, the little gauges are ignored as unreliable.
    ~
6

Thanks DougC.

Yes, it is the 20LB tank that came with the grill in the USA - some of it MAY have even been mfg here.

Problems:
Thing is that it is the new type 1 style valve- the only type that the seems to be permitted these days - old type tanks will not be filled. The type 1 valve will not let the gas escape by simply turning the valve open.

The numbers on the tank do not make sense to me. On the collar a number says WCG TW 17.5LB, below that, still on the collar, it reads DT-4.0 WC-47.7LB. Seems to me it is a 30LB bottle, but the Blue Rhino label says Net Weight 17lbs. (7.71 kg) Propane.

There is definitely something sloshing around in the tank. My bathroom scale is crap so I do not know the actual weight. It is about 15 lbs on a junk scale.

I am sure the bottle is nearly empty. I know some gas bottles (other types of gas) will work only to a certain point, but gas will still come out of the tank even if it is almost empty and below the operating pressure of the device being used.