How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

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Dmcmullen
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How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Dmcmullen »

A pound (not gallon) of propane has about 21,600 BTUs gross heat input. At a high level, (21,600x20)= 432,000 BTUs capacity in a full tank. 432,000/50,000 = 8.64 hours.

I found this information while doing some research on the internet i know i have wondered this a few times i did the math for my 58,000 btu fish fryer and come up 7.44 hours on a full tank.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Saltbush Bill »

How long will a 20lb propane tank last. ?
How long will it last for what ?
Stripping ? Spirit Run?
What sort of still? Pot, Reflux, Plated column ?
what about Boiler size differences and still sizes ? A 6 inch 4 plate column needs a whole lot more lpg gas to run it than a 4 incher for example.
As with many things Distilling , your going to get what you get.
The only way you will know is if you ran the same wash in the same sized boiler in the same sized still, in the same way time after time until you can predict the outcome.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Dmcmullen »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Thu Apr 08, 2021 6:19 pm How long will a 20lb propane tank last. ?
How long will it last for what ?
Stripping ? Spirit Run?
What sort of still? Pot, Reflux, Plated column ?
what about Boiler size differences and still sizes ? A 6 inch 4 plate column needs a whole lot more lpg gas to run it than a 4 incher for example.
As with many things Distilling , your going to get what you get.
The only way you will know is if you ran the same wash in the same sized boiler in the same sized still, in the same way time after time until you can predict the outcome.

You're a grouchy ole fart ain't ya 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Everyone knows it's not a exact science there are a ton of variables ex. weather, btu's, how many gallons your boiling etc. I am just trying to give people something to base their own data off of.😘😘😘
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Windy City »

When I first started I used propane and I found a 20# tank would last right until it didn’t which always seemed right before the run was done.
I stopped using propane when the gas station attendant started asking what kind of barbecue I was running in the middle of winter when I was purchasing three tanks a week.
I then switched to natural gas so I didn’t have to purchase tanks and I never ran out.
But then finally I switched to electric and have never looked back.
I found electric to be much more controllable, precise (repeatable) and safer.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Deplorable »

My experience was that a full tank would be enough to heat 13 gallons of water to strike temp on 50# of malts (168°f), strip two 10 gallon boiler charges, and have just enough left to get through a spirit run of about 6 gallons of ~40% low wines. But some times it wouldn't make it and I was switching tanks in the middle of the spirit run.
Then I went to starting the spirit run on a full tank.
For my bourbon mashes, I could boil two boiler charges of water for the mash, and run one stripping run.

Now I'm running 5500W electric.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Kindafrench »

Dmcmullen wrote: Thu Apr 08, 2021 5:10 pm A pound (not gallon) of propane has about 21,600 BTUs gross heat input. At a high level, (21,600x20)= 432,000 BTUs capacity in a full tank. 432,000/50,000 = 8.64 hours.

I found this information while doing some research on the internet i know i have wondered this a few times i did the math for my 58,000 btu fish fryer and come up 7.44 hours on a full tank.
:lolno:

It‘s BTU/m3 and there‘s so much other parameters involved running a still....
:clap: Saltbush Bill :thumbup: somewhat nailed it.

HD is about distilling, not frying fish :econfused: :think:
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by RC Al »

Bill has the right of it, there are too many variables - on top of the ones mentioned, ambient temp, insulation, shrouding, dozens other variables and the list goes on. There is one more constant variable though, a given sized size bottle can only give off a max amount of gas at a given ambient temp and fill level.

Google gas vaporisisation rates. Under "normal" conditons you can "only" get a max of around 55-60k btus out of a 20lb bottle and that tapers off quickly as it goes below 60% capacity. The bottle freezes up on the outside and output goes to crap. Keeping the bottle in liquid as a coldsink mitigates it somewhat, but remember to keep the bottle grounded to earth at all times for saftey. Kiwi's have electric bottle jumpers availble as a normal legal item, dunno about elsewhere.

Another thing to look at is your orifice size after the tap, this will determine the most gas you can use at a given input pressure.

I have a scale project almost finished, coulpled with a pressure gauge on my regulator I hope to get some reasonably repeatable gas settings for runs and adjust on the fly as bottles empty.

Gas dose always run out when inconvienient, get a few spares :roll: :lol:
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Dmcmullen »

Ya'll have completely missed the point of why i posted this not for a exact time of when we will run out of gas but to help us estimate if we have enough to our distilling on hand.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by RC Al »

You kinda asking how many miles per gallon you wil get out of your vehicle without saying if its a 50cc scooter or a M1 Abrahams tank
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Windy City »

RC AI said it best have a few spares :thumbup:
You will not know how much gas you will use through different kinds of runs on YOUR rig until you have run it.
Keep notes, you could also use a bathroom scale to track how much gas you have used and how much you have left.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by SpeakEasy »

You will learn pretty quick that regardless of your intentions, if they can pick it apart, they will pick it apart and you will rarely get a straight answer.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by LWTCS »

SpeakEasy wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 5:05 am You will learn pretty quick that regardless of your intentions, if they can pick it apart, they will pick it apart and you will rarely get a straight answer.
Hang on. Let me pick that apart...
It can often seem that way.
But there are two dynamics in play.
More perspective with which to find one's own path.
And,,,none of the above input is incorrect.

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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Butch27 »

SpeakEasy wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 5:05 am You will learn pretty quick that regardless of your intentions, if they can pick it apart, they will pick it apart and you will rarely get a straight answer.
Pretty hard to get a straight answer if you have not asked a straight question. Too many people starting out in this hobby are afraid to try new things and come here looking for answers to questions that they can really only answer themselves. In this case the OP will soon learn after running his still a few times whether he has enough gas in his tank to finish the run. That being said why not have at least one spare full tank. That would be a really small expense compared to what I see a lot of people spend on their stills here.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by LWTCS »

Butch27 wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:54 am
SpeakEasy wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 5:05 am You will learn pretty quick that regardless of your intentions, if they can pick it apart, they will pick it apart and you will rarely get a straight answer.
Pretty hard to get a straight answer if you have not asked a straight question. Too many people starting out in this hobby are afraid to try new things and come here looking for answers to questions that they can really only answer themselves. In this case the OP will soon learn after running his still a few times whether he has enough gas in his tank to finish the run. That being said why not have at least one spare full tank. That would be a really small expense compared to what I see a lot of people spend on their stills here.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by The Baker »

There are 150 ways to make chicken soup.

First catch and kill your chicken.

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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Yummyrum »

Its all well and good to have a spare bottle , but as I found one day , its better to have them full . :oops:
95807DCA-4DEA-4563-982C-DAC7A8557B5E.jpeg
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by cob »

I know for low pressure propane there is what's called a change over valve that allows you

to replace your empty bottle while still using a full bottle. that is an RV application, and

I don't know if there is a similar device for high pressure propane. propane manifold??
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Andrew_90 »

I have a double gas burner of Chinese origin. Outer ring is a double row of jets at 160mm in diameter and the inner ring is a double row of jets at 70mm diameter.

The stated Btu is 18 720 or 5.5kW in the data sheet.
The consumption is 0.86lb/hour or 0.38kg per hour. They do not state if this is at min or max, I would think at min as this give the 23 hours on a 20lb or 9kg bottle. This is 430 560 Btu's

The problem is that you cannot measure Btu's. So although you may have the calorific value in total of 430 560 Btu's your consumption would be determined by how high you set the burner and what your losses are.

The label on my burner states a consumption of 4.2lbs I believe this to be max. This means that a 20lb bottle at full flame would last me around 4.6 hours, which in my experience sounds about right.

Based on extrapolating my burner specs at max, your fish fryer at full throttle, I believe will consume 13lbs per hour max or 1.5 hours.

However looking at what peeking out of below your burner we have the same burners, yours is a three ring and mine a two ring. The spec's I get for a three ring burner are 41 160 Btu and 2lbs per hours at min. At max would give a consumption of around 10lbs per hour.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by LWTCS »

Not everyone has the same heat loss either.
Mitigate heat loss and stretch your mileage.

Increase surface area on the heating surface and increase your mileage.

Search back and look for ozone39's keg build.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by RC Al »

Did you mean this one Larry?
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 8#p7343588

Ozone sure had some good ideas - going to have to stalk some more of his posts
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Dmcmullen »

Yummyrum wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:40 pm Its all well and good to have a spare bottle , but as I found one day , its better to have them full . :oops: 95807DCA-4DEA-4563-982C-DAC7A8557B5E.jpeg
I keep 2 bottles full at all times i don't do the swap out bs my local place actually fills them so you get a full bottle.
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by Yummyrum »

Dmcmullen wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:12 pm
Yummyrum wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:40 pm Its all well and good to have a spare bottle , but as I found one day , its better to have them full . :oops: 95807DCA-4DEA-4563-982C-DAC7A8557B5E.jpeg
I keep 2 bottles full at all times i don't do the swap out bs my local place actually fills them so you get a full bottle.
I do too dmc ,$19 refill and as you say its full from the camping places , verses swap over which can be anywhere from $28- $34 depending on agent .

Unfortunately I was lulled into a false sense of security by thinking I had so many bottles . Used to have two but gotva few extras when Covid hit .... gas was cheaper than toilet paper :ebiggrin: )

Two as you have is a good number to keep track of :thumbup:
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Re: How long will a 20lb propane tank last.

Post by LWTCS »

RC Al wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:36 pm Did you mean this one Larry?
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 8#p7343588

Ozone sure had some good ideas - going to have to stalk some more of his posts
No, not that one.
He modified a keg by cutting out the bottom of the keg and installing an inverted cone.
I tried to find it but, grew weary. Took me an hour of searching just to remember his entire handle having a 39 on the end of it.
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