Stipping the propane and reading that label

[mr matt]

Tank was getting rough looking, and possibly soon need to get it refilled. In Pa tank now needs to be inspected to be filled. So want to make it pretty for the inspector and to preserve the thing


Tank start

Paint stripped, put in electroysis bath. Choose this way to get into all of the nooks and crannies to remove rust. Seems like under the factory paint the tank was powder coated (?) by the factory. A lot of this came off during the electrolysis, made a mess of my plates. Have 2 plates, one on side of tub, the other at bottom below a thick plastic grid preventing contact of the tank to the plate. Electrolysis also removed any remaining paint not stripped off.

I did not put the whole tank under as I was not sure what would happened to the taped threads with electrolysis working underneath of that tape, bubbling out.. and concern with the propane leaking out (?)Just did not feel comfortable

Tank in bath

Time-1 plastic tube is there to hold the tank at a certain angle

Time- 2

Sacrificial plate showing the rust and powdercoat or whatever it was sticking to the plates. The bottom of my tank had a lot of the black goo.

Cleaned these plates and ran the electryolyis again, after this run was jsut about all rust on the plates not as much black stuff

Finished, washed briefly with power washer.

After some wire brushing...

Coated in Rust Bullet, dropped the brush in sandycrap, had to use a somewhat stiff -( from and earlier paint ) brush to finish the job, hence some streaks.. but what do I care? just want to preserve the thing

Final gray paint coats

While stripped, thought I would check out what the words of the tank label showed



Was hard to read, but this is what I got out of it...


GREGG MFG CO
SOUTHGATE CALI

DIV OF MANCHESTER T_A?

ABOVE GROUND ONLY
MFC SER. P 118385 YR 1976
MAX.W.P. 312 AT 300 F
W.C. GALS 2.4
SH.TH. 118 SA4550
HD.TH 104 SA4140
O.D. 6 0.L 22 HD. 2

THIS CONTAINER SHALL NOT
CONTAIN A PRODUCT HAVING A VAPOR
PRESSURE IN EXCESS OF 215 PSIG AT 100 F
FOR LP GAS ONLY


What was strange to see was a stamped number 3 on one of the welds fixing the end of the tank...

I see Gregg"s symbol top left of tank, and a large "W" underneath..whatever that means

Not sure what SH.TH or HD.TH means either.


Tank back in with maybe new hose from stove to tank...have to locate one.
_________________
1955 3-fold semaphore Oval beetle
1971 Convertible beetle
1977 Westfalia, FI, Berlin interior

[Abscate]

Deep in my memory banks of oil/gas industry work I recall shell and head thickness as parameters of interest. Do the numbers seem reasonable for that?
_________________
.ssS!

[mr matt]

Shell and head thickness seem to be the right nomenclature for the abbreviations..

but shell thickness 118 and head thickness 104 , ..have no idea what those units are for those numbers. Cant be mm, as then S.T. would be 1.18 cm..really thick!!



Not sure what the numbers are after SA for each

I see these tank have a water capacity of 2.4.
Meaning it holds ~2.0 gallons of LP?
_________________
1955 3-fold semaphore Oval beetle
1971 Convertible beetle
1977 Westfalia, FI, Berlin interior

[Abscate]

[mr matt]

0.104 = 1/32nd of an inch

..thinking that is too thin..? 4/32 = 1/16th of an inch... (for my perspective)
_________________
1955 3-fold semaphore Oval beetle
1971 Convertible beetle
1977 Westfalia, FI, Berlin interior

[Abscate]

Math check??
_________________
.ssS!

[andrewtf]

long division is a lost art.

After receiving my first TI-51 graphing calculator (that ages me) I lost interest in utilizing my pencils too.
_________________
'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' (Pan American highway trip paused for a make over)
'77 Riviera - Murphy' (being reborn.... slowly)
'63 Austin Healey

[andrewtf]

Question - because I don't know.......and like to be educated......

It seems you did this entire process with propane remaining in the tank?

That seems a bit sketchy to me - but perhaps I am over thinking things.
To me, it would just be safer/simpler/give me more ease, to purge the tank, remove all the fittings and go at it.

Yea or nay?

(Big Emma has a tank that could use some sprucing up)
_________________
'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' (Pan American highway trip paused for a make over)
'77 Riviera - Murphy' (being reborn.... slowly)
'63 Austin Healey

[calvinater]

what if you removed all the fittings, purged with compressed air/water and Ospho/ master series the inside? would that work?
_________________
"Albatross"!

[alaskadan]

I thought the same thing as far as it be sketchy to do this with propane in the tank. Glad it didn't blow up. .104" is more like 3/32".

[EZ Gruv]

When you're ready for new decals, they're available here:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2390722

_________________
Eric
1977 Deluxe Westfalia - 2.0L FI Type IV, Completely Original
Photographer for HotVWs, VolksWorld, AirMighty, VW Camper & Commercial, Hayburner, and more.
My Photography Page.

[mr matt]

Sorry about the math.... I'm on vacation.., and sad to say my job is heavy in math..so am embarrassed...maybe my brain refuses to do good math while on vacation.......

I do not know all of the new laws in PA regarding old tanks. Even tho tanks may be in great condition, they may refuse to fill based on age or whatever. So if I emptied the tank, the best I could do to get propane back in my tank is to hook up a traditional propane tank to it, which would only give me 1/2 the pressure and not much fuel am guessing from the 20lb..even if invert the 20lb tank,. Don't really know how that would work out, but my guess

I have not yet been able to go to a propane dealer where they should tell me what the state laws are. Possibly today I can make it.

I thought quite a bit of the danger of this, but there are no sparks whatsoever from the electrolysis. I have done many parts before over the years, so I realize this. I could not see what danger there could be ... I would need a gas leak from the cylinder(I checked prior and there was none) and a spark or something. Neither was occuring, but as I said I was apprehensive about immersing it fully in the tank due to possible leaks around the threads/thread tape during the process... so I went safe on that route. Sometime I would like to test that out on a tank filled with air.

If the tank passes PA inspection, I will ask the propane-person the probability of rust in propane filled tanks. If he feels they do rust from the inside, then I will empty the tank and do Master Series or such suggested by Calvinater. I think from the history of the vehicle, the tank was only filled once as the vehicle was in storage a very long time ( > 30 yrs.).

Yes, would be interested in the labels! Thanks for that link!
_________________
1955 3-fold semaphore Oval beetle
1971 Convertible beetle
1977 Westfalia, FI, Berlin interior

[Willin]

Tank looks great!
Don't know if this will be helpful, but try to find an independent gas station/convenience store, that sells propane.
There is a local place I go, and they don't care that there is no sticker on the tank for my grill. U-Haul would not fill it.
Good luck!
_________________
73 bus. Org. 1700 with dual Weber 40 idfs, bus header with Empi qp muffler, CB magnaspark 2 " ready to run kit".

[mr matt]

Thanks Willin,

I went to a propane store yesterday, referred to me to get tank inspected.

Nice people there, but they told me they don't do inspections//bummer. Told them it was a 1977 tank off of a VW camper, and they said, bring it in, we'll fill it up!

THey don't care about the inspection sticker either. Had to tell them it is like 80% filled, so no need to fill it now, but maybe later.

So I guess I have a place to go... if they say the same thing in about 2 years..
_________________
1955 3-fold semaphore Oval beetle
1971 Convertible beetle
1977 Westfalia, FI, Berlin interior