Removing valve from 30lb tank

If you have a solid bench with a solid vise you could run a strap around the tank and through the vise (tank propped up horizontal over the vise), if you pull down on the straps running through the vise and tighten the vise, it might grab tight enough depending on the strap material.

Some variant of this will work- if you can strap onto part of the casing you don't care about, you can use a chain for this. Wrap chain around tank, run a bolt through the chain so that when you tighten the bolt you pull the chain tight around the tank. Then put the chain into the vise.

I have a bunch of old motorcycle chain, so I'd prob. use this as an excuse to make myself a large chain wrench.

Dave

If you're not going to need the flat bottom part you cut off, (assuming your bell includes the "top" of the tank) then drill holes in the end and make up a "spanner" to hold it still, or just drill across the diameter and stick the end of a stout rod (rebar?) through it, and into something bigger than you. Like the trailer hitch on your car, or pound it into the ground. Apply big honkin' wrench to opposite end. Ensure that you know whether the valve is right-hand or left-hand thread.

You could also cut the valve off, (leaving 1/4" or so) then use a hacksaw blade to saw a couple of slots internal to the remaining stub. Saw from inside towards the threads, in a couple of places. If the tank threads are important, stop before you hit 'em. Then some gentle tapping with a cold chisel should let you peel the segments back and remove. Only works if there's enough room to get a saw in there, and if the valve is relatively soft.

You also might consult the source of the tank, and ask them if they'd like the valve back. All they gotta do is take it off...

"Chip"

Maybe just weld a lever onto the end you aren't going to use.

Pete Stanaitis

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mlcors> I've aquired a used 30lb soda machine steel CO2 tank, and plan on

I once had this problem trying to remove the valve from a scuba tank. I tried ratchet straps, strap wrenches and anything else you could think of. What finally worked was putting the wrench on the valve, and laying the tank on the floor. I rolled the tank sharply until the wrench hit the floor. The momentum of the tank acted like an impact wrench.

If that doesn't work, just weld the bottom to a steel plate.

I once pinned a tank between a parking lot tire stop and the rear tire of my van.

And heat the valve with a torch - they use a sealer on them that behaves like locktite - ALMOST impossible to break loose cold, but significantly easer at 600F.

Do nothing to it, if it's still a good tank!

You can trade it in for cash money (they have a deposit value) and they'll probably give you a few free tanks that can be cut up, too!

Call your local welding supply or beverage distributor, they'll be glad to give you a 'condemned' tank or two that has failed the 12-year hydro-test and has a suspected weak spot - they're scrap already. The tank will already have the valve taken out of it so they could put it in the testing tank.

The supply companies want the bad tanks cut up or otherwise destroyed, so they don't get back into the system - some unscrupulous dope might stamp a fake test date on it and get it filled again, and tragic things can happen if a tank fails in service. And then the heirs of the deceased/injured start looking for people to sue...

As to holding the tank if this one you have is already condemned: Get a length of trucker's binder chain and a binder, chain the tank to a convenient phone pole with several wraps, tighten with lever binder. That ought to keep it in place long enough to get the valve out.

The shops that do this all day have a big chunk of C-Channel buried like a fence-post, with a modified chain vise to hold the tank.

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Not to nit pick here, but is the valve threaded into the tank, or onto the tank? If it's threaded into the tank, then you wanna heat the tank, not the valve. Heating the valve only expands it tighter into the threads in such a case. That's what I was told, and the way I've always done it.

I use a chain when removing valves from propane tanks:

I usually have to use a large vise and long pipe extension for the wrench.

mlcors> I've aquired a used 30lb soda machine steel CO2 tank, and plan on

Stomp it into the ground with a backhoe bucket - this works - I know.

Ken.

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 14:54:49 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Tom Gardner" quickly quoth:

What, it was trying to make a getaway?

No, you silly, I could then knock off the valve of the O2 cylinder with a hammer and the tank was held in position until max force developed before it shot out like a watermelon seed and torpedoed a Honda.

hammer and the tank was held in position until max force developed before it shot out like a watermelon seed and torpedoed a Honda.

It's not expansion I was talking about, but breaking the bond of the sealer. Alsp, to remove a seized stud or whatever, I've found heating the stud, not the block it goes into, then quick cooling the stud with a blast of water works a whole lot better than heating the block of material around the stud.

On 14 Apr 2006 11:23:58 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, "mlcorson" quickly quoth:

I truly hope youse guys had cameras handy for those Kodak Moments!

I read somewhere that the reason that heating a stud to remove it from a block works is that when heated it is constrained and can only expand axially. When it cools it contracts in all dimensions and becomes 'thinner', thus loosening.

Mickey

If you have a vise, you might be able to just grab the valve with the vise and bear-hug and twist the tank off of the valve. I've tried this twice, worked once. The other time took a chain, vise, pipe wrench, and a hammer.