Refillable Coleman propane cylinder

[David Thomas]

I realize this isn’t UL, but that many of us use them for car camping, around the house and to refill butane/mix backpacking canisters.  Anyway, I was in a farm-supply store in Cheyenne earlier this month and I always try to walk through those because they have an interesting array of items.  One of them was a refillable, 1-pound propane cylinder.

Currently $11.31 on Amazon.

From what I can discern from their information and Amazon comments, it does not have an overfill protection device (like 5-gallon BBG cylinders do) but, while being filled in the vertical position, once it is full, it vents a foggy spray of liquid and vapor versus venting only vapor before its 80% full.  That’s your signal to close the valve from your donor tank.

I don’t see anything it does for me that recycled “non-fillable” cylinders don’t.  I write full and empty weights on every canister and cylinder I own and check weights before and after each fill. But if someone was new to refilling cylinders or just preferred the venting of liquid as the end signal (which is how the big cylinders are filled), maybe someone would want a few.

Like the “non-refillable” ones, you can fill it with $0.65 of bulk propane from your BBQ tank instead of buying new 1-pound cylinders for $3 to $7 each and contributing that pound of steel to the waste stream.

[Matt Dirksen]

Or, you could save $1.45 and get this thing which refills the 1 lb disposable tanks we all probably still have in our basements: https://www.amazon.com/Simply-Silver-Propane-Cylinder-Unbranded/dp/B01JWCIX2S/ref=asc_df_B01JWCIX2S/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309849959516&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8046359302541449006&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007536&hvtargid=pla-662080418056&psc=1

And at 2oz, I suppose it qualifies as UL!

:>D

[David Thomas]

Matt:  Yup, that’s what I use (but with the receiver cylinder vertical), having weighed the original full cylinder.  If I do exceed the filled weight, it’s fine in the short term since it’s cold.  I just put a stove head on it and burn off the excess.

Is a butane-to-butane transfer valve at 22 grams UL or SUL?  Since it lets you custom fill your canister and to refill your butane canister from partial canisters left in hiker boxes.

[Steve M]

I frequently refill the ‘disposable’  ones…for car camping & home use.  One thing I’ve noticed is that some of these bottles will slowly leak (a few grams a day) after they have been re-filled 5-10 times (YMMV).   You can prevent this by adding these caps after filling them:

Good advice by David–always weigh them to insure they are NOT overfilled….and ‘burn-off’ the excess if necessary.

I may have to try that nifty refillable version that David shows….after he sends me a few.  :)

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I bought the full FlameKing kit.  It holds the propane tank upside down and has a nice valve to it.  I modified it so I can refill regular 1 pound bottles.  $38 for the whole kit plus a refill bottle so the set up was a net $27 which I thought was cheaper than me to build the Propane Stand and purchase the valve hardware.  My 2 cents

BTW, the valve system does have a overflow release valve on it..

https://www.amazon.com/Flame-King-Refillable-Propane-Cylinder/dp/B07F9LCYRT/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=flame+king&qid=1572475437&sr=8-3

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