I will be needing to attach some 1 and 2 inch ports to a propane tank. Besides cutting up some black iron fittings and welding them in, is there an easier/better way to do this?

Thanks,
Robert

Yup, buy black iron weld on bungs. McMaster carries them plus I can find them local.

quote:

Originally posted by Raften:
Yup, buy black iron weld on bungs. McMaster carries them plus I can find them local.

Thank you very much.

Robert

I just weld on the black iron fittings, no cutting.

Just find a local plumbing supply house like columbia or galloup and ask for weld couplings they wll be the forged type, cast iron fittings cannot be reliably welded to steel, brazing will work but it is no where near as strong as mig, tig or arc welding.

Merchant couplings work great if thats all you can find.

Hi barnebey,

I would buy a 6 inch long piece of threaded pipe at Lowe's , cut it in the middle and weld the pieces to the tank. The black iron pipe is not cast iron. It welds fine.

Thanks, Steve

I was thinking about just cutting up some two inch couplers. That was until I saw the "Weld-On Tank Fittings" at McMaster-Carr. Not cheap, but would look pretty good. I hate crappy looking stuff, and you know that if it looks cool, it must run better! hahahaha!

On my tank, I am going to use 2 inch ports for intake and return, Full 2 inch for intake, 1 1/4" for return piping. Thinking that I could use the 2 inch return port with one of those 2" male 1 1/4"-1 1/4" female threaded tank fittings at the top return to be able to experiment with nozzles and angles of return.

Thanks again,
Robert

This may be moot, but you do know what you are doing welding on a propane tank right ? And if so, want to go point by point for those (like me) who don't ?

I have never welded on a "propane" tank, but the man who will be helping me has. He is a professional welder/ranch hand.

If he wasn't going to be there, the first thing that I would probably do is fill it full of water to evacuate any gas. Clean up any residue that I could find, then start cutting.

I would love to know more if someone else could shed some light on this. I am all about safety.

Thanks,
Robert

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/list.asp

http://search.lincolnelectric.com/query.html?rq=0&col=c...ct=&qt=welding+guide

The Lincoln website can answer any welding questions.

Loaded with free welding info !

As per Fabricator - don't try to weld regular cast iron pipe fittings. You'll get a brittle, porous weld. Look around for a hardware store that carries machined steel couplers(here, Ace hardware reliably has these), or in a pinch you can use electrical conduit couplers. These are NPS rather than NPT thread (no taper) but will work if the conduit coupler has 100% deep threads. Check it with the threads on the pipe you'll be screwing in. A lot of the conduit couplers have sloppy threads that are only 60 - 70% deep and won't hold.

Another inexpensive way to do it if you can't find steel couplers is to weld on a short male threaded end of a pipe, then stick a coupler on it. Not as compact, but it works.

quote:

don't try to weld regular cast iron pipe fittings.

Hi cstoker,

I have not seen cast iron fittings. They don't sell them at Lowe's or Home Depot.

The ones there are steel. They also weld fine.

A piece of pipe is cheaper.

Thanks, Steve

This is what I used. Electrical conduit reducers or bushings. They are non tapered so they work well with pipe nipples and water heater elements. I welded them on the tank (250 gallon processor in progress) with my little 110 v Lincoln Welder. They have them at the Temple TX Rexel Electrical Supply . The 1.25" x 1" is under two bucks (great for heating elements). I'm not sure if they have a Rexel in Round Rock or not. I do know they have one in Austin. You should be able to find them locally from any electrical wholesaler.

Here are some pics.
http://www.foxelectricsupply.com/content/products/Produ...p?qscategoryId=25009

I also used pipe couplings that are found on the ends of pipe to protect the threads. They are a non cast iron,(forged I think) non tapered coupling that allows them to be easily welded to the tank. I cut them in half using a chop saw.

I was given a half a bucket from a friend who is a commercial plumber. They can't use these couplings because they are not Schedule 80. I think thats what I remember him telling me. I still have a lot left. Not sure what sizes but if your interested I'm sure I could spare a few. I would even be willing to cut a couple in half for you.

As far as cutting holes, a good hole saw is the only way to go. I cut over 12 holes with one whole saw and it still is going strong. The trick is to run your drill at a very low RPM and use lots of lubrication while drilling. Never let the teeth get hot or it's toast. I filled the tank full of water and started drilling from the top down. Water ended up being the best lubricator because it did such a great job keeping the hole saw cool. It was a lot less messy than the cutting oil as well.

Email me if I can help.

I always just used a bushing and cut off some of the length, just did that last nite, never had a problem. Since I seen this post I just orderd some the weld on tank fittings from mcmaster, let you know how it goes. I didnt think they were that expensive, sure you wasnt looking at the 316 ss fittings. Brad.

quote:

Originally posted by Reggie:
Email me if I can help.

Thanks,
Robert

quote:

Originally posted by Brad F.:
I always just used a bushing and cut off some of the length, just did that last nite, never had a problem. Since I seen this post I just orderd some the weld on tank fittings from mcmaster, let you know how it goes. I didnt think they were that expensive, sure you wasnt looking at the 316 ss fittings. Brad.

I said they were not cheap because I can cut a coupler up and get 2 ports for a few cents cheaper. I am going to get those weld on couplers, unless someone screams bad about them. Please keep me informed.

Thanks,
Robert

quote:

Originally posted by Blackie:
Merchant couplings work great if thats all you can find.

Merchant couplings should be what is used for the 1" heater ports. A merchant couping is the only thing that comes with an NPS thread (for protecting the threads on lengths of pipe)...Which is exactly what type of thread a heater element has.

If you use merchant couplings for anything else you will have trouble sealing on account of the NPS thread not tightening fully with an NPT thread.

I have cut at least 20 500 gallon propane tanks in half, for the most part once you take all the fittings off the tank all you are smelling from the tank is left over chemical they put in the gas so you can detect a leak, and mostly because of this awful smell I put about 100 gallons of water in the tank then four or five gallons of bleach, roll it arond with a truck or tractor, drain it out and you are good to go.
As an experiment when I first started hacking into propane tanks I left all except one fitting in one and without rinsing it out I suspended five of the biggest estes rocket engines you can get in the tank, then ignited them electrically from 100 yards away behind a concrete wall the rocket engines slamned around the inside of the tank for several seconds and never ignited anything, this is direct ignition from multiple points and nothing happened, remove fittings, rinse, (to get rid of some of the smell mostly) and you will have no problems.