refilling a propane tractor

Thanks in advance.

Brandon

U can gravity fill the tank from the big tank by venting off the tractor tank. Be sure you don't fill the tank more than about 3/4 full of liquid. Gas has to have room to expand or you will get to see if the popoff works. Use common sense, don't smoke, rub two sticks together, or anything stupid while you are filling it. Maybe you can be lucky enough to find an oldtimer working for a LP company and ask his advise and get help with the hoses and fittings. The new guys are going to be too wrapped up into the legalities of everything. The old valves are dangerous, they just needed to sell some new ones. There are thousands of 30+ year old tanks in this part of the US still using the "dangerous" and "illegal" valves without a single failer.

On warm sunny days, be patient, you may have to leave the vent open for 10 minutes for the pressure to drop enough and let the liquid start flowing. I have one of the big valves I got from the local propane place but I usually just use the little vent screw on top.

The other guys are right, be careful, but it's not really that dangerous if you do it right. I guess I don't need to tell you that you need to make sure nobody is smoking and there are no open flames or sparks around since you're venting raw propane! Also, wear good heavy gloves, it will freeze your skin in a second. When I was a kid and thought I was immortal, we used to freeze cokes with it in about 8-10 seconds.

Don't be surprised when the vapor attracts flies and bees, they'll go away when you turn it off.

You can get the hoses from the propane company, tell them what you want and they'll fix you up with hose, valves, fittings, etc. Check at a few different places, usually you can just have them fill the tractor up for you if you tell them to just stop by when they're in the area so they're not making a special trip.

One more trick - there's a pop-off valve in the tank to prevent leaks from a broken hose. First, turn on the valve at the tank just a little crack to put propane in the hose. Crack the valve at the end of the hose just enough to purge the air out of the hose (otherwise you'll pump it into the tractor's tank), then close it. Screw the hose on to the tractor's fitting, then open the valve at the end of the hose to let gas start flowing. While you're there, open the vent on the tractor to let the vapor out, just unscrew it about 1 or 2 turns, no more. Now open the valve on the tank some more, slowly. If you hear a metallic-sounding click, you opened it too far and the pop-off valve cut it off because you had too much flow. If it does, just turn the tank's valve all the way off then back on slowly - not so far this time!

Watch the vent on top of the tank, when it comes out white (liquid), turn off the valves and close the vent screw. Be patient, it may take a while, especially with the small vent screw. Ask the guys at the propane company about a fitting to put on the vent outlet on the tractor, my guys just gave me a spare one they had but I don't know if they can really sell you one.

Good luck! It's really not as hard as my description sounds. Just be careful, wear heavy gloves, and be patient. Oh, if your big tank is less that about 15% full you won't get much out of it and it will take quite a while to fill up the tractor.

And yes, the fast fill adapters for the 25 cent piece sized vent is illegal today. That's why I didn't talk about it.

It's beem about 5 years since I had it. Forgot a couple of things.

Mark

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.

Thank you.

Mark

Small world. This RED big time farmer I mentioned farmed near Abilene. LOL.

He said (as you eluded to) that the local sales force reall ranted and raved about them..... that is until diesel came along and the efficiency and convenience became obvious.

I'm a couple hundred miles east of there and lots of nurse tanks, sitting on rotten tires, still (did) litter some propane dealerships.

Watch, someone is going to want me to put them onto one of these dealerships. Haven't seen any lately that I recall.

Mark