Question about old propane torch bottles

[modela]

I had this idea about using old propane torch bottles to cover up of pop up garden sprinklers. If the bottom were removed, the top placed downward it would form a housing for the sprinklers and a base of the flower, a little artistic stuff might be nice for a change. Anyway, my wife liked the idea but was afraid I would start something on fire or cause an explosion.

What is the best way to drain an old bottle ready for welding?

Jim

[Sberry]

I know someone here has experience cutting in to them but, personally I don't cut a gas bottle unless I have no choice, I would tend to look for some other option than cutting a bunch of gas cylinders to make some yard art.

[Michaeljp86]

If you talking about the small bottles plumbers use on copper pipe or a propane lantern you should see a schrader valve on top like the valve stem on a car tire. Push the little button to make sure its empty then get a valve stem tool or some needlenose pliers and unscrew the valve. Then you can fill it with water if you want.

I do alot of stupid things so dont do anything just because I do it.

[Kamikaze]

Micheaeljp86 is correct about the valve but there is a nylon ring seal that has to be removed at the top before you can extract the schrader valve. This is tough to remove because the ring is actually recessed under the top lip of the bottle and is a "hard" plastic which you will have to destroy to remove.

Once that is out of the way, the valve can be remove and discarded. Don't reuse the schrader for anything!

Fill the bottle with water and then cut it on a band saw at whatever point you want.

Note: There are some older bottles which had a two-part body that threaded together in the middle. You would probably never get the two parts unthreaded since they were usually sealed with a compound.

[jerems]

Everybody with a brain knows propane is dangerous. That's a given. We recently scrapped about 50 propane tanks. Some were 100# DOT type tanks and one tank was a 4000 gallon tank made of 1/2 inch plate weighing in at 17,000 pounds. Not one of the tanks even 'poofed' when we cut through them with a oxy-acetalene torch.

Use your head. Purge the tank(s), be certain they are evacuated and go for it. Make sure all plugs and valves are removed before you start. It's not rocket science.

[hockeyguynick]

We have a big American tank & welding plant in my hometown back in Ohio, and they recon big tanks all the time. You see em with pipes sticking out of em, burning off remaining propane, then I beleive they purge em with a lil argon, and go right to work on em...They did, however, blow one up a few years back

[modela]

Thanks out there for all the suggestions and warnings.

I remember a plumber toldy me he had used a heavy steel 4" pipe about three feet long that he had drilled a hole in for a small diameter punch. Both ends were open and any explosion would go out either end.

I read one time where a fellow had caused self induced damage by inserting his acetyline torch in a mole hole to finally get those #@$*(&&^^ little (%^$#. Anyone who ever had moles knows the feeling.

Well, he really lit himself up, I have heard.

Thanks again.

[Michaeljp86]

Thanks out there for all the suggestions and warnings.

I remember a plumber toldy me he had used a heavy steel 4" pipe about three feet long that he had drilled a hole in for a small diameter punch. Both ends were open and any explosion would go out either end.

I read one time where a fellow had caused self induced damage by inserting his acetyline torch in a mole hole to finally get those #@$*(&&^^ little (%^$#. Anyone who ever had moles knows the feeling.

Well, he really lit himself up, I have heard.

Thanks again.

One day I heard a massive explosion, I drove the golfcart through the grapes to the house up on the hill. That guy has a bad mole problem. Nobody was around but there was a 20lb propane tank sitting next to the mole holes. It must have rattled his head.