I have a question regarding LP gas. My wife has three bigger sized
tanks full that were used in her hot air balloon. The liquid gas is
brought up from the bottom of the tank and consumed by the burner.
Is there any way to use that gas for our grill, given the proper
fittings/hoses/regulator or is the fact that I'm dealing with liquid gas
right out of the tank a deal breaker? My wife suggested transferring the
gas to a regular tank via a gravity feed setup. Any thoughts on this? I
sure don't want to launch myself into another area code... Thanks in
advance-
Brian

> I have a question regarding LP gas. My wife has three bigger sized
> tanks full that were used in her hot air balloon. The liquid gas is
> brought up from the bottom of the tank and consumed by the burner.
> Is there any way to use that gas for our grill, given the proper
> fittings/hoses/regulator or is the fact that I'm dealing with liquid gas
> right out of the tank a deal breaker? My wife suggested transferring the
> gas to a regular tank via a gravity feed setup. Any thoughts on this? I
> sure don't want to launch myself into another area code... Thanks in
> advance-
> Brian

Go back to where you get the tanks filled if they are a supplier and not a
hardware store or some other retail store. Ask them as they are the experts
as to what formula they are using, could even be special additives for hot
air ballon fuel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propane

"Propane is a three-carbon alkane, normally a gas, but compressible to a
transportable liquid. It is derived from other petroleum products during oil
or natural gas processing. It is commonly used as a fuel for engines,
oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves and residentialcentral heating.

When used as vehicle fuel, it is commonly known as liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG or LP-gas), which can be a mixture of propane along with small amounts
of propylene, butane, and butylene. The odorant ethanethiol is also added so
that people can easily smell the gas in case of a leak."

"Propane is used as fuel in cooking on many barbecues, portable stoves and
in motor vehicles. The ubiquitous 4.73-gallon (20 lb.) steel container is
often dubbed a "barbecue tank". Propane remains a popular choice for
barbecues and portable stoves because its low boiling point of ?42 °C (?43.6
°F) makes it vaporize as soon as it is released from its pressurized
container. Therefore, no carburetor or other vaporizing device is required;
a simple metering nozzle suffices. Propane powers some locomotives, buses,
forklifts, taxis and ice resurfacing machines and is used for heat and
cooking in recreational vehicles and campers. In many rural areas of North
America, propane is used in furnaces, cooking stoves, water heaters, laundry
dryers, and other heat-producing appliances. In this application, it is
usually stored in a large, permanently-placed cylinder which is recharged by
a propane-delivery truck. As of 2000, 6.9 million American households use
propane as their primary heating fuel.[5]

Commercially-available "propane" fuel, or LPG, is not pure. Typically in the
USA and Canada, it is primarily propane (at least 90%), with the rest mostly
butane and propylene (5% maximum), plus odorants. This is the HD-5 standard,
(Heavy Duty-5%maximum allowable propylene content) written for internal
combustion engines. LPG, when extracted from natural gas, does not contain
propylene. LPG, when refined from crude oil does contain propylene. Not all
products labelled "propane" conform to this standard. In Mexico, for
example, the butane content is much higher."

snip
Me: The above info raises the question, is the propane your using vehicle
fule grade and contains stuff that might not be healthful?
snip

"Propane risks and alternate gas fuels
Propane is heavier than air. If a leak in a propane fuel system occurs, the
gas will have a tendency to sink into any enclosed area and thus poses a
risk of explosion and fire. The typical scenario is a leaking cylinder
stored in a basement; the propane leak drifts across the floor to the pilot
light on the furnace or water heater, and results in an explosion or fire.

Propane is bought and stored in a liquid form (LPG), and thus fuel energy
can be stored in a relatively small space. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG),
largely methane, is another gas used as fuel, but it cannot be liquefied by
compression at normal temperatures, as these are well above its critical
temperature. It therefore requires very high pressure to be stored as a
liquid, which poses the hazard that, in an accident, a CNG tank may burst
with great force, or leak rapidly enough to become a self-propelled missile.
Therefore, CNG is much less efficient to store, due to the large tank volume
required. Thus propane is much more commonly used to fuel vehicles than is
natural gas, and requires just 1,220 kilopascals (177 psi) of pressure to
keep it liquid at 37.8 °C (100 °F)."



m.a.w. (piedmont)

> Is there any way to use that gas for our grill, given the proper
> fittings/hoses/regulator or is the fact that I'm dealing with liquid gas
> right out of the tank a deal breaker?

If it is an older tank, one which does not have the threads on the outside
of the valve fitting, just turn it upside down connect the hoses and use the
gas out of it. You will now have gas only and not liquid.