Important BBQ Safety Warning     

You can buy this stainless steel BBQ for $2,500 or replace your obsolete tank for $25

Recently we described a new safety regulation concerning the propane tanks that are used for BBQs and also for stove and heaters in recreational vehicles.  Essentially it states that absolutely no tanks can be refilled unless they are equipped with a safety valve that prevents over filling.

If you have purchased a new tank within the last 4 years, it probably has the new valve. The valve handle is triangular in shape and looks like the product at the left below. If your tank is over 4 years old, it then probably has the old valve. The handle for this valve is five pronged and looks like the handle on the lower right.

If you have a tank with the old valve, use up the propane and then dispose of the tank in a dump that accepts items like this. Do not take it to a propane supplier. They will offer to retrofit the valve for $20 to $40 and you will still own a tank that may soon be leaking or they will charge and get $35 from you for a new tank because you probably are having guests over that afternoon.  

My suggestion is that you immediately go out and buy 2 new tanks and get them filled so that you can use one of them when the old tank is empty and then you will always have a full tank in reserve. 

The reason is that with the new refill valve, tanks can only be filled up to 80% of capacity. That’s about 4 gallons. But the minimum refill charge is for about 8 gallons so that every time you refill only one tank, you pay for 4 gallons of fuel that you never receive. It doesn’t take much to figure out that if you are a fairly busy BBQer you’ll have saved the cost of the second tank in a short time. 

The drill is then as follows:

After you have run out of fuel in old tank, you replace it with first new filled tank, as described above.  You then run first new tank till empty and replace with reserve new tank. You run that to almost out. You can tell when a tank is close to empty by lifting it. When close to empty it is very light. If you need to be precise, weigh a tank when empty and weigh it when filled. You can then calculate by the weight of the tank in use how much fuel remains.  After a while you will become an expert.

If you have no confidence in yourself, you can spend an extra few dollars and get a tank that also has a fuel gauge. You can also find a strip that goes on the outside of the tank for $2-3 that tells you how much fuel is left.  If you shop around you can get an approved tank for less than $25. That’s why you should spend the time doing all of this ahead of time.