How do y’all dispose of empty butane/propane camping stove canisters.
Doc
wrap 'em in orange peels…
…and toss 'em in the river.
no!
wrap them in orange peels and bury them under a mound of coffee grounds
doh!
THEN toss them in the river.
and pee on them.
Dispose?____ How could anyone do it?
They have metal in them. I cut mine up with tin snips and put them out for the recycler.
And, don’t forget the red plastic caps.
Really hot campfire…
And something very sturdy to hide behind a minute or two later.
Many thanks
for the thoughtful and helpful comments. I always turn to pnet as a font of wisdom.
Doc
come back! serious answer!
I heard somewhere that REI will take them for recycling.
Also that there is a device you can use to refill the newer ones.
If they are the butane type
you can simply use a little punch to poke a whole in them and squish them flat. Bring them home and put out with the recycling. You can get a little punch tool at REI. It has a sharp small punch that stores under a threaded cap to keep it from poking any other gear you have it packed with. PS Don’t stomp on them with anything other than a thick souled shoe. I usually just bash them flat with a big rock. The Colman propane cannisters are probably too thick and strong to crush in the field.
You can refill the
16oz propane cylinders, which is great because the regular trash pickup around here does not take them.
My solution (non-humorous)
1. Place empty (you made sure that it really IS EMPTY, didn’t you?) cylinder om firm ground.
2. Take a Gerber splitting axe in hand.
3. Aim carefully so that the pointy edge of the axe face will hit the area between the top ring and the shoulder of the cannister.
4. Try not to cringe, and swing the axe smoothly.
The result will be a 1" gash in the cannister.
5. Use the poll of the axe to flatten said cylinder.
6. Recycle teh flattened cylinder.
QED.
Jim
Fuel Canister Disposal
I don’t! I refill mine from the BBQ tank using a device I got from Harbor Freight a long time ago.
It was so long ago that it now costs $10.00 more than when I got it 6 years ago. With the price of a 16 oz tube r propanethat use to cost $1.99 up to $3.00+ it has turned out to be a “deal”.
Same here
I’ve been using one of those adapters and haven’t bought or tossed a canister in almost 20 years.
wel now i know that will be good
I saw one the other day and was planning on getting it. Now I know I should, and it will work fine.
Thanks folks!
Liveoutside
well now
I too used to have one of them thar re-fillers. once I returned to my VW micro-bus and found it FULL of propane gas. seems as the re-filled, little bugger was leaking, very slightly. took a half hour to air out my mini motor home and it stunk for a month.
I always wondered why they have a warning tell ya it’s against the law to re-fill and transport them. now I know. propane is pretty nasty. saw a sailboat blow up when a tank leaked! amazing.
Now I splurge and just buy new canisters. big wooop.
steve
Risk/Benefit decision
Propane is scary stuff. Leaking propane has caused many injuries and deaths over the years. As Steve pointed out, carrying a re-filled cannister around in a vehicle is a dangerous proposition.
And Doc’s post was regarding the disposable butane/propane cylinders I believe.
Jim
Small Refillable LPs?
What is the smallest, legally refillable, LP container that anyone knows about? Any smaller than the 5 pounders?
not
any I know of. if you find one let me in on it!!!
steve