Can you use a 20 lb. propane tank on its side?

Question

Can you use a 20 lb. propane tank on its side?

Answer 1

Yes you can, think about fork lifts that run on propane they are always on their side. My motor-home has both tanks laying horizontal. I don't think it matters when it's in a gas form.

Answer 2

it's a liquid propane and has to have an area for conversion (expansion) into a gas vapor, Your direct answer should be NO because you will draw liquid into your service line.... .   HOWEVER there are things such as  "a converter back-ups/heat exchangers" systems that can allow liquid to convert to vapor. .... Military aircraft use liquid oxygen.  they channel it from the LOX bottle/converter through an "extra" expansion chamber making sure only  aerosol, vapor is delivered to the pilot for breathing (inverted flight etc etc )

Answer 3

Yes.

Answer 4

There's a little bit of truth in each of the previous answers, but sorry gang! nobody's got it completely right yet!!

A propane cylinder contains liquid and vapour. We only fill cylinders with liquid to 80% to allow room for the propane to grow if the temperature increases. This is done because we don't want liquid to be in contact with the relief valve, which is built into the service valve. If the relief valve were to vent due to an overpressure situation, it will vent vapour. Not necessarily something we want to happen, but if it does, we have a bit of propane vapour in the air. One of the properties of propane that you must be aware of, is that propane expands 277 times when it changes state from a liquid to a vapour! So if the cylinder is on it's side and vents liquid, that little bit of liquid just made a VERY LARGE amount of propane vapour!

Some cylinders ARE designed to lie horizontally for RV's and forklifts. If you look at these cylinders closely, you will see that the relief valve is mounted in the upper portion of the vapour space so that it will not vent liquid. The service valves on these tanks has a tube inside that curves upward to the top of the vapour space for the same reason.

There are specific types of torches and burners for liquid service. They use cylinders with a specific type of connection. These cylinders stand upright so the relief valve is again, in communication with the vapour portion of the cylinder, and a tube on the service valve, which you cannot see, goes down to the bottom of the cylinder to draw out liquid.

Forklift cylinders are different again! They have a locator pin on the forklift that must go into a hole on the cylinder when you put it in place. The relief valve is placed in those cylinders so that whether it is vertical or horizontal, the service valve is still in the vapour space. They too have a tube on the service valve that will either point up or down depending on whether the cylinder is meant for liquid or vapour service...

Too make a long story short...Any appliance like a BBQ or stove  that might be commected to a 20LB cylinder should have the cylinder always in an upright position! Sorry to make this answer so long winded, but I wanted to address the misinformation here...

Good Luck!

Answer 5

Not recommended, the tanks are built to be standing straight up.  The valve system is not designed to lay on it's side.

Also if it's sideways you may get liquid propane rather than gaseous propane which is what you use to burn.

http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/EMD/solidw...

Answer 6

No, never even think of it.

Liquid propane will pass to the burner and cause a huge fire as it instantly vaporises to around 270 times its liquid volume.

(i.e. 1 cubic foot of liquid forms 270 cubic feet of vapour).

Riverman, the cylinders used for fork-lifts are specially designed.

Answer 7

Do you want gaseous propane or liquid propane?  Most everything you want to use should have gaseous propane, so keep the tank upright!

If you know what and why you want liquid propane, and what you are doing, then you could use the tank on its side.  Modern propane tanks have valves which may cut off flow when liquid would come out of the valve assembly.