Propane fittings

[Knot Safety]

Good day folks

Currently in Curacao on a new to us 2012 Lagoon 400. We purchased it from the previous owners just a couple of months ago, who had sailed it from the UK

For propane/cooking gas, there are five medium sized blue tanks on board. The tank valve unscrews from the tank themselves and a plug screws into the top. It says “euro” on the valve so I am guessing it is a European fitting of some sort. I have never seen it.

All five tanks are empty and I am struggling to get them filled in Curacao. Curacao runs on North American propane fittings. They want me to rip out the current propane lockers to replace with bigger ones to fit North American bottles. Plus new regulators etc.

From reading online, it seems to be a frequent problem with incompatible tanks systems. Any one have any tips or pointers for us - or knows someone in Curacao who can refill the tanks. We don’t really want to rip everything out if we don’t have to.

Thanks

[belizesailor]

These are common tanks in Euro build boats. They are also small. You dont need to rip everything out to accomodate larger USA style tanks...its a good option, but spendy and time consuming). A few other options:

Replace the valve.

Buy an adaptor. There are various companies that make all manner of fill adtors. Not all refillers will accept them, but more likely to than a homebrewed adaptor.

Build an adaptor. Refillers are highly unlikely to accept these, but you can use a homebrewed adaptor to refill from another style of tank (with lots of caution). Example: Many cruisers in the W Carib have adaptors which connect from local bayonett fittings to USA style fittings.

[stormalong]

Those blue tanks are probably butane, not propane but the stove should be compatible - the regulators are not. Butane tank pressure is lower than propane and is considered safer by many European countries. In Spain it is very common for home cooking gas to be from tanks and some time back there was a disaster with a propane tank on a truck exploding on a hot summer day (or so I am told) so they switched to butane. Most cruisers have to deal with incompatible cooking gas situations as they move country to country. You can fill propane tanks with butane without difficulty BUT DO NOT try to fill butane tanks with propane. The higher propane pressure would exceed the butane tank rating and the regulator pressure rating.

As a temporarily measure you could keep a propane tank on deck and connect the output of the propane regulator to the existing hose. Many sailors perminantly mount a propane tank on their stern rail. An unsightly option but a workable temporary solution.

Ultimately a proper propane tank locker with an overboard vapor drain at the bottom is your answer.

[Knot Safety]

Thank you stormalong - you are correct. They are butane. Learn something new every day

Looks like a propane tank, propane regulator and connection fittings are in my future.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

Thank you stormalong - you are correct. They are butane. Learn something new every day

Looks like a propane tank, propane regulator and connection fittings are in my future.

Knot Safety, You are welcome. Glad I could contribute to your knowledge and safety. In re-reading your original post I see that you do have a gas locker. Have you looked into smaller propane tanks? There are 10 LB tanks available. Here is one manufacturer's website: https://worthingtonindustries.com/Pr...rtable-Propane

[Paul L]

Not sure where you are heading, but if it's into the South Pacific you might want to deal with this now and make sure it is done properly. Both New Zealand and Australia can be very picky on what tanks they will refill. NZ looked very closely at inspection dates on our aluminum bottles and would not fill our composite bottle. Australia would fill a composite but they have a shortened inspection cycle on them and it was too much effort to get reinspected there.

[Dignity too]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

Good day folks

Currently in Curacao on a new to us 2012 Lagoon 400. We purchased it from the previous owners just a couple of months ago, who had sailed it from the UK

For propane/cooking gas, there are five medium sized blue tanks on board. The tank valve unscrews from the tank themselves and a plug screws into the top. It says “euro” on the valve so I am guessing it is a European fitting of some sort. I have never seen it.

All five tanks are empty and I am struggling to get them filled in Curacao. Curacao runs on North American propane fittings. They want me to rip out the current propane lockers to replace with bigger ones to fit North American bottles. Plus new regulators etc.

From reading online, it seems to be a frequent problem with incompatible tanks systems. Any one have any tips or pointers for us - or knows someone in Curacao who can refill the tanks. We don’t really want to rip everything out if we don’t have to.

Thanks

just buy the connections for your countries tanks add a hose to your European tanks and fill them from your US bottle.
you can buy the hose and connections from Ebay.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Dignity too

just buy the connections for your countries tanks add a hose to your European tanks and fill them from your US bottle.
you can buy the hose and connections from Ebay.

NO!!! This will NOT work if you are trying to mix butane and propane. Even if you COULD cobble together a connecting hose butane tanks are not rated for propane pressures. On a hot day they could easy burst. Don't do this unless you REALLY understand what you are doing... REALLY.

Don't give advice like this unless you really know what you are talking about.

[Knot Safety]

Thanks all for your guidance.

I have retrofitted it to a propane system now with propane bottles and regulator. Stove works. Oven I adjusted the air gap and it works.

One note about the blue bottles. They have a rating for how much to fill with Butane and with propane. Propane is about half the volume of Butane.

[Nicholson58]

The blue bottles can be filled in Curaçao, Bonaire, French Islands. They call it camp gas. Easy to find in the Med.

[Dignity too]

Originally Posted by billknny

NO!!! This will NOT work if you are trying to mix butane and propane. Even if you COULD cobble together a connecting hose butane tanks are not rated for propane pressures. On a hot day they could easy burst. Don't do this unless you REALLY understand what you are doing... REALLY.

Don't give advice like this unless you really know what you are talking about.

No, I think you need to read the post before answering, I didn't say mix gases, I said you can fill the euro tanks from the country you are visiting with a hose and the counties connection one to euro tank the other to the other bottle. This is a common practice amounst cruisers, used by Europeans, Americans and Canadians.
I have UK bottles propane and often have to use this method to transfer gas from other counties bottles to mine.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

I have retrofitted it to a propane system now with propane bottles and regulator. Stove works. Oven I adjusted the air gap and it works.

One note about the blue bottles. They have a rating for how much to fill with Butane and with propane. Propane is about half the volume of Butane.

Thanks for replying with the outcome of your retrofit (many do not).


Also was found it to be an interesting tidbit about the fill ratings for these tank mentioning both butane and propane. Learn something new everyday!


Bill O.

[Dignity too]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Thanks for replying with the outcome of your retrofit (many do not).


Also was found it to be an interesting tidbit about the fill ratings for these tank mentioning both butane and propane. Learn something new everyday!


Bill O.

Thanks glad you found the info.
Great that it works OK for you.
We never had any problems.
Happy cooking....

[rcolesny]

Related question: a copper tube passes from the propane locker to the range, some 25ft away. It is about 38 years old and shows some signs of green corrosion. I am thinking replacing it with a 1/4" ID yellow hose. This is thicker than the original copper tubing?
What is the proper way to go through the bulkhead? This should be airtight. Thanks for the advices.
- R Coles -
Wauquiez Pretorien # 139 - "Sojourn" Long Island Sound, NY

[CassidyNZ]

Maybe a thread hijack but since the OP now has his solution it probably isn’t so . . .

I’ve tried transferring LPG from a large (27kg) tank to my smaller (7kg) tanks and have had limited success. I have connected the two together with a hose, inverted the full bottle to run liquid across, not gas, have tried cooling the empty bottle by standing it in iced water, still only get maybe a third of the capacity in the empty bottle.

Some posts here appear to say it’s really easy so is there a trick that I don’t know of? Apparently. Care to share it? That would be appreciated as I have two very good aluminium tanks that local suppliers in NZ refuse to fill because of some registry technicality.