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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostFri Sep 09, 2022 8:57 am 
There is a bill to ban the nonreusable propane cylinders used mostly by car campers. There is an exception for hiking isobutane cylinders. The ban has a 5 year grace period.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Chief Joseph
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PostFri Sep 09, 2022 11:37 am 
I bought a brass coupler online for less than $15 that allows you to refill the canisters, you have to put the empty ones in the freezer for a few hours prior to refilling. I don't think they make anything like that for the smaller backpacking type.

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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InFlight
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PostSat Sep 10, 2022 8:44 am 
Amazon has isobutane adapters. Two sided screw on with standard “bail” Off/open type on a stove. You can combine partially used canisters. Same deal, freeze lower one, upper in warm water first. Colman big propane bottles can refill from Large BBQ container, straight propane. Use on postal scale to get correct fill weight. Seems silly, take away cleaner fuel for car campers, and not worry about all the wood smoke.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...” ― Henry David Thoreau
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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostSat Sep 10, 2022 9:06 am 
It sounded like the real problem is disposing of the used up cylinders, the hiking ones you can just put a nail into. But the green ones you would have to shoot with a rifle and risk a ricochet.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Randito
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PostSat Sep 10, 2022 10:58 am 
California leading the way to make refillable 1LB propane canisters more widely available and affordable.

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InFlight
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PostSat Sep 10, 2022 11:15 am 
Not sure what was so hard with the white gas Lanterns and Stoves for car camping. I still have both in my shed. Is pumping before use that hard to figure out that, that you need to go with propane cylinders? I get that the propane two burner stoves are thinner than white gas version.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...” ― Henry David Thoreau
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Malachai Constant
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PostSat Sep 10, 2022 12:09 pm 
Propane appliances are a lot cheaper to build and are more knucklehead proof.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Randito
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PostSat Sep 10, 2022 1:11 pm 
Propane is significantly more convenient as a fuel for cooking, lanterns and even more so catalytic heaters. Flare ups while priming white gas appliances have a record of singing eyebrows and setting things on fire. Also while in operation white gas stoves have more propensity to emit Carbon Monoxide -- which can be deadly. It seems like it should be pretty easy for Home Depot and similar retailers to add 1lb canisters to the propane "exchange" system they already have for the 5 gallon propane tanks.

Chief Joseph
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PowderPawn
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PostSat Sep 10, 2022 2:49 pm 
And Im sure a bunch of people that have never bought them will complain that they can't go out and buy them now.

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uww
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PostTue Sep 13, 2022 11:43 am 
Chief Joseph wrote:
I bought a brass coupler online for less than $15 that allows you to refill the canisters, you have to put the empty ones in the freezer for a few hours prior to refilling. I don't think they make anything like that for the smaller backpacking type.
They do make couplers for refilling isobutane containers. I have this one and it works great, and there are a bunch of similar ones.

Chief Joseph
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Chief Joseph
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Chief Joseph
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PostTue Sep 13, 2022 1:26 pm 
PowderPawn wrote:
And Im sure a bunch of people that have never bought them will complain that they can't go out and buy them now.
I think I will start using my pop can stove with denatured alcohol, no worries about refilling. I know there are areas and times of the year they are not allowed, then I will use my canister stove.

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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BigBrunyon
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PostThu Sep 15, 2022 10:20 pm 
A new school of thought on this that has emerged in recent years is that you can just saw the things in half, put some more gas in there, and just weld em back up real quick. Claims of gettin to about 80% full with this method!!

mosey
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altasnob
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PostFri Sep 16, 2022 6:51 am 
Chief Joseph wrote:
I bought a brass coupler online for less than $15 that allows you to refill the canisters, you have to put the empty ones in the freezer for a few hours prior to refilling.
Lots of people do this but technically, the green cans are not meant to be refilled over and over and over again. For one, they do not have an overflow release valve to prevent overflow filling. I have a couple of Flame King's refillable one pound cans that are specifically made for refilling over, and over, and over again. Fairly simple process to refill but not as easy as buying a case of the green cans from Walmart. If you have a place to store the 20 pound tank to do the refilling, it is pretty easy to do. But what about people who live in apartments who don't have the space to safely store a 20 pound tank? You can't fill the one pound tanks from the tanks at the gas station. Maybe REI and Walmart and other stores that sell camping gear can start offering this service. And while they are at it, start manufacturing refillable isobutane cans and start a service to refill those as well.

rossb, mosey
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neek
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PostSat Sep 17, 2022 8:12 am 
altasnob wrote:
But what about people who live in apartments who don't have the space to safely store a 20 pound tank? Maybe REI and Walmart and other stores that sell camping gear can start offering this service. And while they are at it, start manufacturing refillable isobutane cans and start a service to refill those as well.
REI says you can fill their 1-gallon containers at a filling station. I have a feeling that a certified refillable isobutane container would have to be a bit heavier...but yeah that would be cool.

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altasnob
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PostSat Sep 17, 2022 9:37 am 
Interesting that they are now making refillable at the gas station one pound tanks. The smallest I have seen previously is 5 pounds. I believe that technically, when transporting these types of tanks you are suppose to have them vented to the outside (why you see propane tanks on RVs in specific compartments vented to the outside or strapped to the back of the camper. But those camper code laws don't apply to normal vehicles. You could always buy a cheap LP detector if you are really concerned about leaks transporting. You can see the difference by comparing it to one pound flame king (much cheaper) that must be filled by something like the standard 20 pound bbq tank, rather than the large tank at the gas station. There are federal laws at play here so it has to have the right valves, thickness of metal, date stamped expiration date on the tank, ect.
neek wrote:
I have a feeling that a certified refillable isobutane container would have to be a bit heavier...but yeah that would be cool.
Ya, but probably not too much heavier. A different valve too, which would add weight. I think lots of people would be ok with a bit more weight if it means not having to recycle those cans (when recycling doesn't always work as intended).

rossb
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