Tag: propane

March 23, 2023 – Storing Fuel: Gases

March 23, 2023 /

Let us not confuse gases with gas. Fortunately, the options for gases are much simpler. The big boy is propane and natural gas, but there is occasionally butane too. Natural gas is unrefined hydrocarbons, mostly methane. Propane is often interchangeable with natural gas and sometimes liquid fuels as well (more on that later).

First a chemistry lesson. All forms of fuel are hydrocarbons. The smaller the hydrocarbon molecule, the more likely its native form is a gas at human survivable temperature and pressure. In terms of stack ranking size: methane < ethane < butane < propane < pentane (which is actually a liquid a room temperature).

What is also true is that the larger the molecule, the more BTU per storage unit. This means that you can estimate the BTU potential depending on volatility. This means by BTU rank: propane < gasoline < diesel

What I am getting on about is that liquid fuels have more potential energy.  And to punctuate that, one gallon of liquid fuel will burn more efficiently or longer than one gallon of propane.  The good news is that it is propane is widely available at most gas stations.  Many other retail locations also use a cylinder exchange program.  It is running quite a bit cheaper than liquid fuels and something like half the price of gasoline.

Natural gas is primarily methane, an even smaller hydrocarbon than propane. The very nice thing about natural gas is that it is piped to your home.  It also has a very strong track record of working if the grid is down.  Pretty much if the pipe isn’t severed, gas is flowing.  Hydrogen sulfide is added to both propane and natural gas so that you can smell it leaking. They are however not the same molecule.

The thing that I am most excited about is that many liquid using appliances can be converted to run propane.  This often times means some custom parts, but often significantly cheaper than a second piece of equipment.  As an example, my camp stove just needs something called a generator and a pressure regulator and a twenty pound cylinder will be cooking away, literally.  Gasoline generators can also use propane or natural gas.  This requires a change in the carburetor only.  This solves part of the redundancy equation by fuel flexibility.  

I am not a fan of the one pound, disposable cylinders.  These would typically be the dark green ones that are the size of a fat water bottle.  I find them wasteful as most recyclers wont touch them with a ten foot pole unless they have been visually punctured.  They often won’t suffice for a weekend camping either.  What I can say  is that they are ubiquitous (if not in shortage like during the pandemic). It seems like every convenience store and hardware store has them.

I have recently found that there is a way to refill the one pound canisters using some specialized equipment.  They are a little speedy once but I have seen the the single use canisters going for $7 each.  That means that the system pays for itself pretty quickly.  It seems  like it was out of stock for years but now seems to be in the supply chain again and is on my short list of purchases to be made.

There are a plethora of sizes that cylinders can be purchased.  Twenty pounds is the common barbecue size but there are plenty of 5, 50 and larger sizes at a lot of box stores.  The one thing that gripes me about propane cylinders is that they have a stamped date and regulations stat that cylinders are only re-fillable ten years from that date.  I am going to talk about that on Monday.

I would be remised if I didn’t talk about safety.  If you are burning something indoors, you need a carbon monoxide detector.  This goes for liquids and gas appliances.  Things like stoves and heaters are generally pretty good about proper combustion but don’t ever run a generator inside.  I have a battery operated one that I use in my shop for the kerosene heater.  I will bring it inside if I am burning something, including the fireplace. Also, when the power is out, when you will likely be doing these kinds of things, you can’t count on a plug in variety.

End Your Programming Routine: As Hank Hill used to say there is quite a bit to “propane and propane accessories”.  Given some of the limitations of portable gas, I don’t use it as my primary fuel.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have any.  At the very least if you have a propane barbecue, I think you should have a second cylinder.  One to use and one to swap or refill before you need it.  You might find that it is the gateway to other redundancies instead of a headache when your one cylinder goes empty.

March 18, 2021- Ice Storm’s Lasting Effect

March 18, 2021 /

Every day that I sit down in the basement, I get more and more motivated to get started with my office. It is usually 57 degrees when I turn on the lights in the morning. The heater that I wired in barely makes sitting for long durations bearable. Usually, by lunch time I am ready to take a hot shower just so I can warm up my feet.

A little over a week ago, we won a Little Buddy propane heater in a raffle. It came with two, one pound cylinders. I thought that it was a good temporary solution to add supplemental heat. The problem is that one pound cylinders only last for five hours according to the literature.

One of the area’s that I am not too prepared is heat and generally comfort. I always imagined that I would put on more clothes and do manual work. I have a kerosene heater that I use in the shop and I figured that was my fall back heater. Running for two hours, the shop is heated to the point that I can turn off the heater.

But, kerosene is not common in this area of the country. When we lived in South Carolina, you could buy kerosene at the gas station running about the cost of diesel. Not here, I am paying $8/gallon. And to top it off, to buy in volumes of 2.5 or 5 gallons, it is only seasonally available at the stores. From a runtime perspective, a 2.5 gallon jug will last about a week of working hours in the shop.

Propane is a much more prevalent option. The thing that I am noticing is that propane is scarce. It has to be the after effects of the ice storm. There are no one pound bottles anywhere. There are also no larger, refillable containers in stores. Stock is out online as well. I was able to buy a hose that attaches to a 20# cylinder for my heater and I do have one cylinder.

It has been on my list for years to get some more cylinders and attachments. I bought propane conversions for my camp stove so I could also use one pound cylinders. So I have always thought this was a direction to focus but it never seemed like a priority. Probably because I only had one item that used propane and maybe once a year do I use that burner. Now, I am looking to augment my heat and it cannot be found.

I guess what I am trying to say is that preparing is about evaluation, discipline and recognizing opportunity. For instance, the best time to buy gasoline to have on standby is in the winter time when the price is usually lowest. But the worst time to buy it is when the power is off and everyone is either trying to fuel their generators or running the car to stay warm. I evaluated my needs but I didn’t execute the discipline part.

The opportunity part is knowing that some fuels (and parts like wicks and adapters) are seasonally available, the time to buy is when you can. I was able to take advantage of a seasonal close-out and save $4 a jug on kerosene this week. It is unlikely that I will need too much heat until next fall but just like propane you don’t know when you will not be able to buy it, if you wanted it.

I am grateful that I have one cylinder, but I would like to have at least two. One to use and one to fill-up. Some people in my area were without power for a week, so it is possible to have a long term outage. An generally speaking, the outages are because of some weather event be it too hot or too cold or flooding or whatever, so not the best time to have no heat. An event like what happened in Texas was so catastrophic that even natural gas was frozen in the pipes. A lot of things don’t like to run real well when that get that cold either like engines, so consider that.

Finally, related to heat and cold. If you are without power in the winter, don’t let your items go bad in the refrigerator. Put them outside! I am amazed at how many people just let the fridge go bad when they could have shoveled ice from outside into a cooler or even just put stuff outside. When all you’ve got is cold you should at least be able to keep stuff cold. The freezer might be a different situation but the same thing applies.