Bringing Cold Propane Tank Inside

Take a look at Matthews post about little buddy heaters. Would you guys bring a cold propane tank inside with a little buddy hooked directly to it and feel safe. I know people who think that’s a perfect bomb. A local church that was being built in my town about five years ago was having problems keeping their construction heaters going, they brought the propane tanks inside to warm them up so that they would flow. About 10 minutes later 100 pound tank exploded and burned down the church that was about half constructed. I’ve always been afraid of it,
do you guys do it, bring cold tanks inside?

Inside what? There isn’t enough change in pressure from outside to inside temperature to affect a propane tank. Propane will flow down to about -45 F so no reason to bring a tank inside for that. Unless the church had their #100 tank overfilled, bringing it inside wasn’t the cause of the explosion.

Inside a portable fish house. I have a friend that was working on the church. They brought the tank inside the plastic sheeting they had up and heard a hissing sound, 4 guys got out, 1 was still trying to get out a ways away. The 4 were blown to the ground as they were still close enough to the blast but running outside. The guy inside was far enough away that it really screwed him up but he ended up ok after a while. Maybe the tank was faulty but I know lots of people that would never bring propane tanks inside. I’m curious what others think.

So you are saying the tank was leaking, hence the hissing…

Propane tanks have and still are being kept out in the cold and brought indoors to use for decades.
Sunflower heater, buddy heater, blowtorches have all been kept in trucks then brought indoors to use.

It wasn’t hissing till it started to warm up.

I’ve never heard of that happening. Like said above, propane tanks have been brought in for years to provide heat.

If the slight pressure change from warming up caused the tank to leak and an explosion there was something seriously wrong with the tank or connection.

curleytail wrote:

I’ve never heard of that happening. Like said above, propane tanks have been brought in for years to provide heat.

If the slight pressure change from warming up caused the tank to leak and an explosion there was something seriously wrong with the tank or connection.

Yes, I’m relatively certain if this was a known problem or common catastrophe, we’d of heard about it.

Personally, I use a regular Buddy Heater with the 1 lb cylinders that screw into the unit. And every time I’m bringing it inside the portable from the cold.

If these things were blowing up with any regularity, I’m sure they would have been recalled years ago.

mark-bruzek wrote:

So you are saying the tank was leaking, hence the hissing…

Propane tanks have and still are being kept out in the cold and brought indoors to use for decades.
Sunflower heater, buddy heater, blowtorches have all been kept in trucks then brought indoors to use.

If the tank was overfilled yes it will leak when brought into a warm area, the pressure relief valve will let LP out until the pressure returns to safe levels.

1 lb cylinders are not the issue as with that small of volume they would have to be set on the heater to be a problem. The issue will be with larger tanks (the reason we all had to switch our 20lb tanks with an OPD valve)100 lb do not have. If a larger tank is filled in sub zero temps then brought into 70 deg garage or home the relief will release gas. If a source of ignition is present it will blow. I have seen the results of just that in northern wisconsin about 20 years ago.

Not unless it’s filled improperly.

Loren I Duerr wrote:

1 lb cylinders are not the issue as with that small of volume they would have to be set on the heater to be a problem. The issue will be with larger tanks (the reason we all had to switch our 20lb tanks with an OPD valve)100 lb do not have. If a larger tank is filled in sub zero temps then brought into 70 deg garage or home the relief will release gas. If a source of ignition is present it will blow. I have seen the results of just that in northern wisconsin about 20 years ago.

Well that helps explain the OP’s concerns weren’t totally unfounded.

I’ve always used the 1 lb cylinders so obviously I had less worries and furthermore, the Buddy heaters are designed to screw in 1 lb cylinders which clearly you would be bringing inside a fish house.

On page 71 of the 2020 MN Fishing regs booklet, it states “Keep all propane cylinders outside” with a pic of a 20 lb tank outside a fish house.

I assume a 1 lb tank screwed into the heater would be the exception.

Just as you say..

There used to be 2 gas line repairmen in our deer hunting party. One worked for what became Centerpoint energy and the other for Minnesota Energy. The cabin was primarily heated by wood but in the mornings we would use 2 Dynaglow heaters similar to Buddy heaters while we dressed and had breakfast. The 2 gas repairmen were OK with the 1lb propane tanks but would not allow 5lb or 20lb tanks or 1 pounders that had been refilled in the cabin. They said propane was more volatile than natural gas and the 5 and 20 pounders weren’t safe indoors where there was any ignition source even with the OPD valves. They both had stories of tanks causing house fires and of them blowing up 5lb tanks for training drills. They said 11 and 20 pound tanks could cause bigger explosions than their training equipment could handle so they couldn’t play with them.

Mine is always inside my hub shack. I hate having to go outside just to turn the valve and then come inside to try to light up the buddy heater, just to go outside to double check the connection and then come back inside to try to light it up…If there was a disaster, I would then have to go outside to turn the valve off…too late…

Anyway I’d rather have it right there so I can tend to it right away…

Pat K wrote:

There used to be 2 gas line repairmen in our deer hunting party. One worked for what became Centerpoint energy and the other for Minnesota Energy. The cabin was primarily heated by wood but in the mornings we would use 2 Dynaglow heaters similar to Buddy heaters while we dressed and had breakfast. The 2 gas repairmen were OK with the 1lb propane tanks but would not allow 5lb or 20lb tanks or 1 pounders that had been refilled in the cabin. They said propane was more volatile than natural gas and the 5 and 20 pounders weren’t safe indoors where there was any ignition source even with the OPD valves. They both had stories of tanks causing house fires and of them blowing up 5lb tanks for training drills. They said 11 and 20 pound tanks could cause bigger explosions than their training equipment could handle so they couldn’t play with them.

^^^^^Yup….
I am a “Natural Gas Technician” at a large utility company. Heed the advice above.

MNdrifter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Pat K wrote:</div>
There used to be 2 gas line repairmen in our deer hunting party. One worked for what became Centerpoint energy and the other for Minnesota Energy. The cabin was primarily heated by wood but in the mornings we would use 2 Dynaglow heaters similar to Buddy heaters while we dressed and had breakfast. The 2 gas repairmen were OK with the 1lb propane tanks but would not allow 5lb or 20lb tanks or 1 pounders that had been refilled in the cabin. They said propane was more volatile than natural gas and the 5 and 20 pounders weren’t safe indoors where there was any ignition source even with the OPD valves. They both had stories of tanks causing house fires and of them blowing up 5lb tanks for training drills. They said 11 and 20 pound tanks could cause bigger explosions than their training equipment could handle so they couldn’t play with them.

^^^^^Yup….
I am a “Natural Gas Technician” at a large utility company. Heed the advice above.

X2

The FIL has purchased and sold propane in large quantities as a side gig for years. He’s got all the licensing, 2 propane powered trucks, and has X2 50,000# LP tanks at his property.

He has always told me to never refill the 1# tanks no matter what kits are out there or what someone tells you. They aren’t designed for it. He’s also said to never bring anything more than the 1# tanks into a fish house. Anything more than that and it sits outside a shack.

Well, I’d say that settles it…at least as far as I’m concerned.

Thanks 3rdtryguy for raising this question.

Also some credit due for the existence of this forum to have a source of some useful information.

Like some things, you’ll never change everyone’s mind, but hopefully this thread for those following may rethink how and where they use their propane tanks.

For myself, I always used the 1 lb tanks purchased new anyway. But that was merely out of personal convenience, not safety concerns bringing a larger tank in the fish house. I rarely if ever went through more than 2 tanks in a full day of fishing.

Speaking of, maybe time for me to stock up again. Any good deals going now?

One more tip from a retired gas utility mechanic. When changing your 1# cyl. make sure you are away from any other source of ignition. tanks can leak as they are tightened. They wont explode but the fire ball will be inspirational and damaging.

The flame king refilling kit is a nice option also. I just bought one for this very reason. It’ll pay for itself quickly and no old cylinders to recycle.

I appreciate hearing from you guys in the business. When I saw Matthews post I started to remember some stories from the past. I brought it up because I bought a Big Buddy as a back up heater in my wheel house. I drilled a 1 1/4 hole with a removable plug to run a rubber gas line in when needed. ONE MORE ? What do you guys in the business think of using magnetic heaters, electric charcoal starters, heat tape, or other heaters on outdoor propane tanks during ferocious cold?

I have never needed a heater on a outdoor propane tank. It was only a couple years ago that we had -30F with good winds in January and my stove kept going. If you keep them full enough there should be no need for heating them.

How full was that 100 pound tank when it was taken inside?

Loren I Duerr wrote:

One more tip from a retired gas utility mechanic. When changing your 1# cyl. make sure you are away from any other source of ignition. tanks can leak as they are tightened. They wont explode but the fire ball will be inspirational and damaging.

My friend was in a large flip over shack with a buddy heater going. His buddy shows up with another buddy heater because it’s cold. Buddy heater number 2 had a one pounder cross threaded and leaking. Before they knew what happened it went boom. Besides burnt eyebrows, eyelashes and fishing Lines they made it unscathed. We still have a good laugh about it but it could have been much worse.

You should never need to “warm” a tank. LP flows to about -45 F. If it’s that cold, you aren’t likely to be fishing.

Jeremy, it was full.

Joel, where are you located? My reason for asking is to see if you live in the super cold we get in northern minnesota and other northern tier states. You seem very sincere in your responses but I can tell you firsthand that there is going to be problems in super cold weather and maybe not as low as -45°. It’s a common problem we face here on extended trips especially when the propane is flowing for quite a while. I’m not even sure if that has anything to do with it however that’s when I’ve run into it most times.

Most times it’s not the propane that freezes up, it’s the regulator. Warming the tank warms the regulator. I have no problem with the devices that “warm” the tanks. It don’t take much. A lot of guys just hang a trouble light and 100 watt bulb inside the tank covers on their fish houses and is enough to get flowing. Also they make a “high flow” propane regulator, first thing you do is change out the cheap factory regulator with one of those. I’ve been in as extreme conditions as anyone in my fish house, and never had a problem since simply changing the regulator.

Ok MNdrifter here’s a rookie question. Aren’t heaters and appliances supposed to work at specific pressures? How big a high flow did you buy and where did you set it? Some go to very high pressures. If changing to a high flow is safe I’m heading to the store. This has been an interesting thread, I’m learning a few things.

3rdtryguy wrote:

Ok MNdrifter here’s a rookie question. Aren’t heaters and appliances supposed to work at specific pressures? How big a high flow did you buy and where did you set it? Some go to very high pressures. If changing to a high flow is safe I’m heading to the store. This has been an interesting thread, I’m learning a few things.

Flow rate and pressure are two separate measurements.

IF you guys feel safe with electric devices-tank heaters, 100 watt bulbs, etc, what’s the difference between that and bringing a tank inside? Wouldn’t the electric device be the igniter? How about heat tape wrapped around the tank AND regulator?

3rdtryguy wrote:

IF you guys feel safe with electric devices-tank heaters, 100 watt bulbs, etc, what’s the difference between that and bringing a tank inside? Wouldn’t the electric device be the igniter?

because a light bulb or tank heater outside will not ignite gas as easy as a open flame on your furnace or stove in your fish house I would say.

3rdtryguy wrote:

Joel, where are you located? My reason for asking is to see if you live in the super cold we get in northern minnesota and other northern tier states. You seem very sincere in your responses but I can tell you firsthand that there is going to be problems in super cold weather and maybe not as low as -45°. It’s a common problem we face here on extended trips especially when the propane is flowing for quite a while. I’m not even sure if that has anything to do with it however that’s when I’ve run into it most times.

not sure about you guys but when it hits 20 below I’m staying off the ice. I’ve learned from previous experience to many things break and way to many not good things go wrong.