Is there a disaster waiting in the wings (overfilled LP tank)?

I just got some L.P. and said to fill it up. They did and I paid.

I just checked the gauge and 85 is in red, which I assume means the top limit for filling the tank.

The tank was filled to 92.

The tank is old but in good shape (no rust, etc.).

What if anything should I do?

Take a looong hot bath. You could also call the gas company.

Rolly wrote:Take a looong hot bath.

Or roast a chicken.

and wash it down with a cerveza and maybe a shot of tequila; all after the bath. your propane tank will thank you.

Give the tank some shade to avoid heat expansion

85 percent is marginal but unless the tank is very old and rusty, it is probably within the safety factor. There is no one here to my knowledge who will take gas out of a tank, they'll just blow it off.

Making sure the tank is shaded is also a very good suggestion.

Isn't there a pressure relief valve on the tank?

Yes there is, generally.

just got ours filled today for 1498 pesos. 8 years ago it was under 900p. it lasts about 3 months. all we have is stove and on demand water heater.

Pedro wrote:just got ours filled today for 1498 pesos. 8 years ago it was under 900p. it lasts about 3 months. all we have is stove and on demand water heater.

We use 500 pesos worth every two months,stove,oven and water heater.

Do nothing. The 80-85% is the "legal" limit and it gives a good margin of error. However, you are still safe. You would need a large change in temperature before the liquid expanded to the 100% capacity of the tank.



You basically have 10% of your tank unfilled, and would need the liquid to expand 10% to reach its limit. That would require about a 40°F change (recall that the difference between °F and °C is 180°F:100°C, or 9/5, thus 40°F is about a 22°C change). Thus if it was 60°F in the morning or night when it was filled, it would have to reach 100°F during the day to expand to 100%. Assuming it does happen (and it did not), the tank would simply vent the extra propane (through a relief valve that will automatically close again when the overcapacity is vented).



As long as there is no open flame or spark near the tank when it vents, and the tank is not in an enclosed space, there still would not be any real risk present.

Clueless wrote:I just got some L.P. and said to fill it up. They did and I paid.

I just checked the gauge and 85 is in red, which I assume means the top limit for filling the tank.

The tank was filled to 92.

The tank is old but in good shape (no rust, etc.).

What if anything should I do?

CanuckBob wrote:It sounds like you have a leak. That amount of propane lasts us 2 months and we have 3 stoves, 1 oven and 3 hot water heaters (including our casitas) and usually have 4 to 6 people here on the property. Your usage should be about 1/3 of ours.

whoops! lo siento-just checked with the checker and the last fill was march 22. that ain't shabby-eh! we use our stove/oven a lot as we don't go to restaurants frequently and i forgot that we have a gas clothes dryer as well