Recertification of small Primus LPG Gas Bottles

[Kidbee]

I have a couple of small Primus LPG Bottles with a top opening that are out of date, and I am having trouble finding a company that will recertify them, here on the Sunshine Coast. Can anyone help me? The bottles are in excellent condition and one was made by Primus Sweden.

[ian]

I don't like to say this, but perhaps it will be more economic to replace all of them?
I don't know for sure, but recertification possibly is more expensive than buying new.

[poundy]

I'd love to see you get to reuse not dispose. It's steel after all, much more reusable but certainly in need of being legit and getting a new date stamp and valve

Do you have a local Elgas or BOC Gas place up there? Call them and ask them for leads on who recertifies.

[rrich]

Here we have an empty swap for full. Yes it is probably more expensive on a consumption basis. However it solves the need for retesting and certification.

Another option is to get yourself a set of number stamps and just put the current month and year on the tank. I know of a company that did that with chlorine bottles.

[cam07]

I wouldn’t stamp a bottle as it is a pressure vessel holding a “dangerous” content if it split or exploded I would guess the repercussions would be dire. They may look good on the outside but there’s a good chance there is internal corrosion in the tank or problems within the valve. Unfortunately it is far not economical to replace them. If you really want them done a NDT firm may do them.

[Fekit]

Try the LPG Shop just south of Caboolture, the only other option I can think of is a mechanic who does LPG vehicles.

Edit. I just tried the LPG Shop, no answer. If you find someone can you let me know as I have a bottle that needs doing as well.

[Lappa]

Gameco recertify them. Prices include refill

gas cylinder retesting after 10 years (https://www.gameco.com.au/faq/)

Cost for 1kg bottle depends on the valve fitted. $$33.75 with Primus valve and $35.65 with other valve make

9kg is $49.50.

Prices scale for in-between sizes

Cheers

[Fekit]

Thanks Lappa. At that price and the distance I'd have to travel, looks like I'll be breaking out the electric gas axe and turning it into a little piggy BBQ, for which I'll need another gas bottle.

[Chris Parks]

Try a Swap'n'Go and get new bottles, they then certify the old ones.

[Lappa]

My local Swap bottles only go down to 3.5kg or 4kg depending on the supplier.

[ian]

here on the Sunshine Coast.
are you bothered by the fires further north?
Hopefully you are OK

[ian]

Try a Swap'n'Go and get new bottles, they then certify the old ones.
Not wishing to be "that person" -- but last I looked Swap'n'Go would only accept bottles still in certification

[ian]

At that price and the distance I'd have to travel, looks like I'll be breaking out the electric gas axe and turning it into a little piggy BBQ, for which I'll need another gas bottle.
I'm not sure that attacking an LPG bottle with an angle grinder or gas axe is a good idea. Too greater risk of a BOOM

[Fekit]

ian

As much as I'm sure cracking open a gas cylinder with some gas in it would make an extraordinary utube video, I was planning on doing it post valve removal :D

[Kidbee]

are you bothered by the fires further north?
Hopefully you are OK
Thankfully, Ian they are north of us, but we live in a bush setting and they put you on edge. I have sprinklers that mount on the gutters that do a 360 degree circuit wetting the roof and garden area. Maybe they will be of some help if some idiots go lighting fires in our area. Apparently it is the ember attack that burn down 90% of homes.

l am a recycler by heart and hate throwing something out that is still good. But it may be uneconomical to get them done.

[Chris Parks]

Not wishing to be "that person" -- but last I looked Swap'n'Go would only accept bottles still in certification

I did it with bottles out of date but they may have changed their policy since then as I seem to recall it was one of their big marketing advantages.

Found this

SWAP'n'GO BBQ gas bottle exchange allows you to swap your empty BBQ gas bottle for a full one, without having to wait for anyone to refill gas bottle at petrol station.

BBQ gas bottle exchange any 9kg* or 4kg* BBQ gas bottle refill, even out-of-date bottles.
You can also swap any brand or colour.

From here How to SWAP'n'GO: Just Swap for BBQ Gas Bottle Refill (https://www.elgas.com.au/swapngo/how-to-swapngo)

[ian]

As much as I'm sure cracking open a gas cylinder with some gas in it would make an extraordinary utube video, I was planning on doing it post valve removal :D
I'm not sure that some of the gas won't have dissolved into the metal of the cylinder. Pays to be sure.

[Chris Parks]

It may well do Ian, I used 20kg cylinders for portable compressed air tanks before such things were popular and it took a lot of washing and compressed air to rid them of the odour.

[BobL]

I'm not sure that some of the gas won't have dissolved into the metal of the cylinder. Pays to be sure. The amount of gas that dissolve back out of the metal can be minimized by repeatedly pouring boiling water into the bottle. What is much harder to remove is any mercaptan that has bled into any seams and under rust flakes. Mercaptan is the “stink” compound added to gas to give it an odor. Small amount condense in tiny cracks and seams. Adding detergent and shaking the gas bottle helps remove the mercaptan. If you want to really get rid of it then 5/6 fill the bottle and boil the water/detergent mix. Provided the valve is removed the residual mercaptan is not dangerous even if there is enough for ignition - it will make a bit of a “woof” but is a long way from causing any sort of explosion.

If you are cutting the top off the bottle you can also leave water in it almost up the the level you want to cut it.

[AlexS]

Thanks Lappa. At that price and the distance I'd have to travel, looks like I'll be breaking out the electric gas axe and turning it into a little piggy BBQ, for which I'll need another gas bottle.
If you're going to attack it with a gas axe, from memory it should be done after the valve has been removed and the tank filled with water. Check the exact requirements. I vaguely remember that the water should have detergent in it, but it's a long time ago.

[artful bodger]

ian

As much as I'm sure cracking open a gas cylinder with some gas in it would make an extraordinary utube video, I was planning on doing it post valve removal :D



How about this utube video of explosive gas cylinders?.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBqZZ177Q9I

[Lappa]

BLEVE

We used to show the first 1:30minutes of this film when we were teaching the LPG auto installers course

YouTube (https://youtu.be/0W88v5tMWJ0)

[Mobyturns]

BLEVE

We used to show the first 1:30minutes of this film when we were teaching the LPG auto installers course

YouTube (https://youtu.be/0W88v5tMWJ0)

Certainly an everyday product that we have become very complacent about. Even see idiots smoking near the "swap n go" cages in front of the big green shed, and they don't like being moved on.

My best mate was involved as a firefighter in the Cairns Gasworks Explosion, 32 years ago now and still very fresh in our memories - "3:30pm on Monday August 17, 1987, a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) storage unit at the Cairns gas works had caught fire and caused a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE)." My dad was working in a shed only a couple of hundred metres from the bleve site. I also worked with Peter Brkic, the photographer who took most of the images of the event. -

Cairns LPG explosion 30 years ago is Australia's biggest LPG disaster - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-17/30-years-since-cairns-gas-tank-explosion-australiae28099s-bi/8814650) <strike></strike>

[Tccp123]

I too like to re-use things rather than throw them out. I also have one of these small gas bottles that I bought with a Primus torch attachment, and it recently ran out of gas so I was left in the same predicament. After investigating all the options I chose to replace it with a new one from JayCar. It was $29.99 IIRC and uses one of those cheap camping stove gas cans that sell for something like four for $6. There are a couple of advantages to the new unit - it has piezo ignition and it also produces a much better looking flame (strictly subjective :)).

I should add that I don't use this device very much which explains why I've never had it refilled. I bought it in my mid '20s and I'm now 69 so when I was looking for a replacement the question of whether the gas bottles will still be around in another 49 years didn't really enter my head :)

[Fekit]

How about this utube video of explosive gas cylinders?.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBqZZ177Q9I

Wow. That's a bit too big to be described as an eyebrow enhancing moment that one.

[Chris Parks]

As a firey we were shown a series of videos on BLEVE incidents and one in which a fire fighter in the US died. He was on top of a ladder with a hose putting water on a LPG rail tanker and it blew and he instantly disappeared never to be found again the explosion was that great.

[Lappa]

As a firey we were shown a series of videos on BLEVE incidents and one in which a fire fighter in the US died. He was on top of a ladder with a hose putting water on a LPG rail tanker and it blew and he instantly disappeared never to be found again the explosion was that great.

Thats the link I posted.

[rrich]

We had a local news crew capture the safety valves popping on some propane cylinders. They were in the back of a pick-up truck (Ute?) and the truck was on fire. Some rather spectacular footage but not explosions.