How did the tanks (on the tractor) get filled on the farm???

[Farmritch]

I have asked this to many people many times and usually get a hypothetical answer instead of real life experience.

How did the tanks (on the tractor) get filled on the farm???

I know a gallon of LP is equal to about 1.25 gallons of gas and the BTU properties are less.
Also a 50 gallon LP tank can only be filled to 80% of capacity.
All things considered this would equal less time between fuel ups and the transfer of LP is not so fast.
Gravity would not work so well as the supply tank is usually on the ground and a pump is very expensive?
Did you just vent & fill?
I've got a bit of LP and LP tank experience but I've never had an LP tractor or vehicle myself, but again have studied them for years, we once ran our squad cars on LP here in Indiana.It was not good refilling them in the winter.
Thanks
 

[G1355]

Just hook the hose up to the tank, and fill it right out of the tank you have on the farm, the same way you would refill gas grill tanks, maybe you don't ever refill the propane tanks on a grill before, not to hard
 

[rpllr]

You need to have a liquid withdrawl valve on the big tank at home, you can pump it in pretty fast, I just bleed mine letting off vapor and the pressure in the big tank will fill the tractor kinda like syphoning gas, doent take too long.
 

[BT in NE]

The only time that the refilling is slow is if I just came in from the field and the tractor is hot. Then I carefully have to bleed quite a bit of vapor off, but when it starts to take, it fills pretty fast. When we were using them full time I would park by the supply tank and go in to eat dinner. When I came out, it had cooled enough to work. BT
 

[DEAN ZINGRE]

Most farm tractor tanks had a "fill" valve and a "vapor equalizer" valve. When the vapor equalizer valve was opened and the pressure in the tank was lower than the pressure in the supply tank the gas would flow into the tractor tank. The more the equalizer valve was opened the faster the pressure would drop and the faster the tank would fill.

You are correct "vent and fill". Didn't take long!! The same process is still used today. I only assume OSHA,EPA, and other well meaning organizations would frown on the "vent and fill" procedure. In the proper hands l.p. gas is the best type of fuel an engine can burn !!

I think many farms had l.p. tanks mounted on gears that could be pulled to the field for refueling the tractors.
 

[Albert Goerzen]

My dad had a G1000 Vista on LP. We filled it using the vent and fill method, but he used a long hose on the large vapour tap so it filled in a few minutes, in the mean time he used the vapour to blow out the rad and the air cleaner. It sure seems wrong by todays standards.
 

[Indiana Ken]

[quote="farmritch"](quoted from post at 16:46:55 12/27/12) I have asked this to many people many times and usually get a hypothetical answer instead of real life experience.


.... "a gallon of LP is equal to about 1.25 gallons of gas and the BTU properties are less".....

The above statement is inaccurate, if I may, the correction is a follows: A gallon of propane is approximately 4.2 lbs with a heating value of 91,000 btu. A gallon of gasoline is approximately 6.0 lbs with a heating value of 115,000 btu.

Respectfully, Ken
 

[majorlucas]

When we filled and vented, we used the vent line to blow out the air cleaner and blow the dirt out of the radiator....
 

[wisbaker]

Farm I worked at during high school ran an IH 806LP gas special and a JD 2010 LP gas tractor. If it was filled at the farm the big tank had a pump and actually pumped liquid LP into the tank against the pressure. However if you had to add gas in the field from the portable tank you had to vent the tractor tank so it would be lower pressure and the fuel would run from the portable to the tractor.
 

[Farmritch]

I got the Gas & the LP backwards.
A Gallon of Gas equals 1.25 gallons of LP

91,000 X 1.25 = 113,750 BTU that"s close enough for me
 

[redgems]

In the 50's &60's My Dad had tractors, cotton pickers, pick ups on propane.
Was all fill and vent. We had stationary tank at ranch and a 500 gal on wheels that was our portatable field service.
Today I have three restored antiques on propane,
I rent a 250 gal tank from propane supplier and its still fill and vent.
Fill each tractor about twice a year plus the fork lift and the BBQtank.
Tony
 

[jerry crow]

If it's late in evening, you come in from field, just hook up filler hose from large tank leave it overnight. The small tank cools much quicker than the large one thus filling the small tank, without bleeding.
 

[R Wyler]

I use a 500 gallon trailer mounted tank. I vent off pressure with the vapor valve to fill faster. Tank pressure works for filling them and plenty fast also.
 

[okcass]

We used to have a JD on propane for just occasional use. The local Coop propane truck driver would stop by whenever he was in the area and top it off, whether we were home or not. Sometimes we got a bill in the mail, sometimes not.
 

[JW/OK]

No pump here either. When we have to fill the tank on a hot tractor we run a water hose on the tank while you take a break. The tank cools pretty quick, lowering pressure in tractor tank allowing tank to fill.