Refilling Gas Cartridges.

[taxino8]

I recently watched a YouTube video about doing this and after a bit of research bought a Lixada valve thing off Amazon, link below.



https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0777DTWF5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I have lots of half empty cartridges lying about that I’m not prepared to take on the hills so thought I’d give it a go. It arrived yesterday and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make one full cartridge out of a few used ones.
This will save me a few quid and pay for itself in no time plus I can get rid of the now empty one’s.
Of course there are always warnings associated with gas but as long as you don’t overfill I can’t see a problem.
You can weigh the cartridge and this will tell you when it’s full, to be on the safe side I’ve gone a few grams under.
Anyone else do this?

[Patrick1]

Interested to hear how you get on with this. There's no doubt that the annoyance of multiple part used canisters is one reason why I've largely switched to meths. I'm a bit puzzled as to exactly how it works, though. Since its only a valve, not a pump, I'd have thought all it can do is equalise the pressure between the two canisters. So if you have one full and one nearly empty you could end up with two half full canisters, but I don't see how multiple nearly empty could be persuaded to make one full... I guess you could fill multiple empty small canisters from one full big one, is that the way to use it?

[taxino8]

You can put the receiving one onto a fridge to lower the pressure and the donor one into some warm water to increase the pressure of that one and also the donor can sits on top when carrying the transfer out.
I’m no expert but there are some YouTube videos showing it a lot better than I can explain.


MSR cartridges are good as they have lines on the side and when you place them in a bowl of water these marks indicated how full they are. I used that as a guideline but also weighed it.
If you find you have too much gas in you can also use the valve to release it or of course you can just attach a stove and vent or burn it off that way.

[ninthace]

...I'm a bit puzzled as to exactly how it works, though. Since its only a valve, not a pump, I'd have thought all it can do is equalise the pressure between the two canisters. So if you have one full and one nearly empty you could end up with two half full canisters, but I don't see how multiple nearly empty could be persuaded to make one full... I guess you could fill multiple empty small canisters from one full big one, is that the way to use it?

  The gas in the canister is present as both a liquid and a vapour.  If you invert one cylinder above another and connect them together the pressure will equalise as you suggest but the liquid element will drain to the bottom and the vapour will flow to the upper cylinder.  Imagine two half full lemonade bottles, if you connect them together and hold one upside down above the other the liquid fill flow down and the air will go up.

[fernman]

Ask Beefy, he's the expert 

[taxino8]

Another bonus of using this is you can buy the bigger cartridges which per gram of gas are a lot cheaper and use that to fill the smaller one’s that we typically take with us.
An example on Amazon right now, 445g for £8.96 (1.95p/g) whereas the same make of gas is £3.29 for 100g (3.29p/g).

[beefy]

http://www.walkingforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=31779.0

 

[richardh1905]

Interesting. I'm sure we all have half empty cylinders kicking around in the bottom of the cupboard.


I would caution against using the same cylinder too many times though - they are intended to be single use.

[alan de enfield]

Another bonus of using this is you can buy the bigger cartridges which per gram of gas are a lot cheaper and use that to fill the smaller one’s that we typically take with us.
An example on Amazon right now, 445g for £8.96 (1.95p/g) whereas the same make of gas is £3.29 for 100g (3.29p/g).

I posted some time ago about doing this but only received extremely negative comments and how dangerous it was and it shouldn't be done'.


I cited that many hikers / campers use them but it seemed no one on the forum knew anyone who used one.


This is the one I use mainly :




Anyway - their big advantage is that you can buy the 500g cartridge for less (or the same) as the 100g cartridge and refill the 100g cartridge 'for free' several times.
example : 6 x 500g cartridges £22.50, or 1x 100g about £4 - £5

If you are trying to refill 'in the field' and no access to a fridge / freezer than you will not get 100% transfer from top to bottom.






I also have adapters to refill the camping cartridges from Calor Propane cylinders (up to 47kg) but more care does need to be taken with these because of the pressure differences with pure propane and 'camping gas mix'.


I also have the adapter that can convert the standard 1/4 turn gas cartridge as used horizontally in some single ring burners, blow torches etc, and another than could work with 'ronson lighter refills'


These ensure that I can buy gas at a local petrol station, newsagent, diy shop or camping shop without having to try and find the 'correct' threaded cartridge.

[ninthace]

Alan, as far as I know burners are designed for specific gases and have different sized pinholes depending whether they are propane or butane.  This is why propane and butane cylinders have different threads.  What happens when you swap propane for a gas mix containing butane or a Ronson refill which I thought was pure butane?

[taxino8]

Alan, as far as I know burners are designed for specific gases and have different sized pinholes depending whether they are propane or butane.  This is why propane and butane cylinders have different threads.  What happens when you swap propane for a gas mix containing butane or a Ronson refill which I thought was pure butane?

Sorry to but in, you did ask Alan, but as far as I’m aware the stoves we tend to use can use either, after all you can buy different cartridges with different ratios of propane/butane mix depending on their use.
I’m not sure but I think the higher the propane content you get a better performance in cold conditions.

[ninthace]

Thanks. I was curious because my domestic cooker needs different nozzles depending on the gas supply whereas my gas BBQ can use propane or butane provided the appropriate regulator is attached.