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Old 02-14-2019, 02:54 PM   #1
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Propane Tank Size and Small Leak!

I have a 2018 Isata 4 series and have a couple of questions. First does anyone know what size the propane tank is on this unit? The brochure states 20.3 (wc) and I am not exactly sure what that means. The second question is I have a very small leak on the bleed hose which goes to the propane access door. I had the propane filled the other day and they noticed a small leak after filling around the fill area. They also noted that the bleeder did not expel any gas. He crawled under the motor home and found the bleeder was closed at the propane tank. He opened the bleeder and the leak around the filler stopped. I have been checking and I am sure the bleeder hose has a small leak. If you turn the valve on at the tank and then shut it off and wait a few minutes there is no pressure in the line when the bleed cap is opened. Also with the tank bleeder valve open I have noticed a very slight propane odor occasionally. Any help is appreciated.
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Old 02-14-2019, 03:15 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by Oldnapapartsguy View Post
I have a 2018 Isata 4 series and have a couple of questions. First does anyone know what size the propane tank is on this unit? The brochure states 20.3 (wc) and I am not exactly sure what that means.

First question only: 20.3 wc is 20.3 gallons water capacity (wc). Propane tanks are full at 80% so you will have slightly over 16 gallons when filled.
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Old 02-14-2019, 03:20 PM   #3
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I should also add that propane weighs 4.2 pounds per gallon. So a full propane 20.3 gallon sized tank with a max of 16 gallons in the tank has about 67 lbs. of propane or about 3 1/2 propane grill cylinders.
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Old 02-14-2019, 03:37 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Oldnapapartsguy View Post
I have a 2018 Isata 4 series and have a couple of questions. First does anyone know what size the propane tank is on this unit? The brochure states 20.3 (wc) and I am not exactly sure what that means. The second question is I have a very small leak on the bleed hose which goes to the propane access door. I had the propane filled the other day and they noticed a small leak after filling around the fill area. They also noted that the bleeder did not expel any gas. He crawled under the motor home and found the bleeder was closed at the propane tank. He opened the bleeder and the leak around the filler stopped. I have been checking and I am sure the bleeder hose has a small leak. If you turn the valve on at the tank and then shut it off and wait a few minutes there is no pressure in the line when the bleed cap is opened. Also with the tank bleeder valve open I have noticed a very slight propane odor occasionally. Any help is appreciated.
Soap and water in a spray bottle and start looking for leaks . what kind of temperatures where you are . if bottle filled full when cold and temp rises could just be venting off .
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Old 02-15-2019, 01:52 PM   #5
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My understanding of the capacity of the tank is 20 wc (water capacity)=20 pounds of water which is roughly 5 gallons. A proper propane fill comes to about 4.7 gallons according to the guy at my local propane company. Feel free to correct if this is wrong.
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Old 02-15-2019, 02:10 PM   #6
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My understanding of the capacity of the tank is 20 wc (water capacity)=20 pounds of water which is roughly 5 gallons. A proper propane fill comes to about 4.7 gallons according to the guy at my local propane company. Feel free to correct if this is wrong.
I think he is misinformed. 20 pounds of water isn't anywhere close to 5 gallons. Water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon so 20 lbs of water is 2.4 gallons. That is a mighty small propane tank. A motorhome tank is much bigger than a grill sized propane cylinder. Five gallons of propane is approx 20 lbs. A standard grill sized propane cylinder is 47.7 lbs water capacity or 5.7 gallons wc.
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Old 02-15-2019, 02:22 PM   #7
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Sorry...I read over this one early.

They are correct...it means "Water Capacity", but it means it will hold 20 GALLONS of water. With LP you can fill that to 80% (20.3 gallon tank x 0.8) so you have 16.24 gallons of usable LP.

LP weighs 4.2 lbs. So you have 16.24 gallons of LP or 68.21 lbs of LP.

Dr. Safety is correct on all counts.
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Old 02-15-2019, 02:22 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by 2015 Flagstaff 21DS View Post
My understanding of the capacity of the tank is 20 wc (water capacity)=20 pounds of water which is roughly 5 gallons. A proper propane fill comes to about 4.7 gallons according to the guy at my local propane company. Feel free to correct if this is wrong.
Uhhh, there seems to be some misnomers here. This thread may help explain water capacity vs propane capacity where DOT cylinders are concerned. ASME tanks as in motorhomes are different. Bclemens explains this above.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ng-133760.html
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Old 02-15-2019, 02:37 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by 2015 Flagstaff 21DS View Post
My understanding of the capacity of the tank is 20 wc (water capacity)=20 pounds of water which is roughly 5 gallons. A proper propane fill comes to about 4.7 gallons according to the guy at my local propane company. Feel free to correct if this is wrong.

A US gallon of water weighs 8.34lbs or 3.78kg at 62 °F (17 °C), 5 gal of water will weight 41.7#, not 20#. 20 wc (water capacity) will be 166.8#.


There are threads on this forum that covers different sizes and types of tanks.


bclemens and wmtire beat me to it.
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Old 02-15-2019, 05:08 PM   #10
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For what it's worth

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Sorry...I read over this one early.

They are correct...it means "Water Capacity", but it means it will hold 20 GALLONS of water. With LP you can fill that to 80% (20.3 gallon tank x 0.8) so you have 16.24 gallons of usable LP.

LP weighs 4.2 lbs. So you have 16.24 gallons of LP or 68.21 lbs of LP.

Dr. Safety is correct on all counts.
For what it's worth, propane was $1.94 per gallon at Costco today, so a complete fill would cost $31.51.

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Old 02-15-2019, 06:12 PM   #11
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I like all the information about the propane tanks but if there is a leak no matter what size it should be taken care of as soon as possible.
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Old 02-16-2019, 01:08 AM   #12
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Ain't no such thing as a small propane leak.
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Old 02-21-2019, 01:28 PM   #13
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I don't won't to beat a dead horse but I still do not understand how "wc" equals propane capacity. I recently came across the following chart:
PROPANE CYLINDER (TANK) FILLING CHART
W.C. — Pounds Propane

2.39 — 1
4.78 — 2
7.17 — 3
9.56 — 4
11.9 — 5
14.3 — 6
16.7 — 7
19.1 — 8
21.5 — 9
23.9 — 10
So if this chart is correct 21.5 wc is equal to 9 lbs of propane. (9/4.2=2.14 gals)
Does the tank maybe hold 20.3 gallons of propane?
Here is another observation:
WC (W.C. WATER CAPACITY)
This is the weight of the water required to fill the tank (yes, water).
The typical 20-pound (5-gallon) barbecue grill tank will hold 47.6 pounds of water.
Regulations limit the propane level to not exceed 42% of the water capacity of the tank.
Hoping someone can clear this up. I can not find anything stamped on the tank.
Thanks
Long story short – The safe maximum weight of propane in a typical barbecue grill tank is 20 pounds (42% of 47.6 = 20 pounds).
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Old 02-21-2019, 01:32 PM   #14
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Our tanks are based on volume not weight. Where are you reading that tanks are based in water weight?
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Old 02-21-2019, 01:44 PM   #15
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I like all the information about the propane tanks but if there is a leak no matter what size it should be taken care of as soon as possible.
Your propane barbeque won't work at -43 F
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Old 02-21-2019, 02:17 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by Oldnapapartsguy View Post
I don't won't to beat a dead horse but I still do not understand how "wc" equals propane capacity. I recently came across the following chart:
PROPANE CYLINDER (TANK) FILLING CHART
W.C. — Pounds Propane

2.39 — 1
4.78 — 2
7.17 — 3
9.56 — 4
11.9 — 5
14.3 — 6
16.7 — 7
19.1 — 8
21.5 — 9
23.9 — 10
So if this chart is correct 21.5 wc is equal to 9 lbs of propane. (9/4.2=2.14 gals)
Does the tank maybe hold 20.3 gallons of propane?
Here is another observation:
WC (W.C. WATER CAPACITY)
This is the weight of the water required to fill the tank (yes, water).
The typical 20-pound (5-gallon) barbecue grill tank will hold 47.6 pounds of water.
Regulations limit the propane level to not exceed 42% of the water capacity of the tank.
Hoping someone can clear this up. I can not find anything stamped on the tank.
Thanks
Long story short – The safe maximum weight of propane in a typical barbecue grill tank is 20 pounds (42% of 47.6 = 20 pounds).



You are mixing WC weight (chart provided) and WC volume. The WC weight in pounds is then needed to be divided by the weight per gallon to get the WC volume in gallons. Look at your tank - If it was 20.3 in WC weight, then the tank volume would only be approximately 2.5 gallons. It would be a mighty small tank (less than 1/2 a barbeque cylinder). If your tank is bigger than that, then the 20.3 WC must be a volume measurement in gallons and then the capacity.


The wc can be stated both ways (as you discovered) gallons and pounds. The size of the tank will be the clue in which it is. I hope this helps.
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Old 02-21-2019, 02:28 PM   #17
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Ok so wc is the same volume as propane? Of course a propane tank can only be filled to 80% which would make the tank able to hold 16.24 gals or about 68 pounds of propane. Hope I am getting close. For some reason I have had a problem wrapping my head around this. Hopefully I have it figured out. Thanks
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Old 02-21-2019, 02:41 PM   #18
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You are mixing WC weight (chart provided) and WC volume. The WC weight in pounds is then needed to be divided by the weight per gallon to get the WC volume in gallons. Look at your tank - If it was 20.3 in WC weight, then the tank volume would only be approximately 2.5 gallons. It would be a mighty small tank (less than 1/2 a barbeque cylinder). If your tank is bigger than that, then the 20.3 WC must be a volume measurement in gallons and then the capacity.


The wc can be stated both ways (as you discovered) gallons and pounds. The size of the tank will be the clue in which it is. I hope this helps.
Funny...I literally just walked out to the line and took a picture of the tank to explain how it could not possibly be weight. 20.3lbs, as Mr. Safety points out is only 2.5 gallons of water and the tank we use is pretty big.

So re-confirming that post #2 and post #3 are still correct.
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Old 02-21-2019, 04:55 PM   #19
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Is that hot or cold water
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Old 02-21-2019, 07:57 PM   #20
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Ok so wc is the same volume as propane? Of course a propane tank can only be filled to 80% which would make the tank able to hold 16.24 gals or about 68 pounds of propane. Hope I am getting close. For some reason I have had a problem wrapping my head around this. Hopefully I have it figured out. Thanks
You are right on. The volume either water or propane occupies is the same. The weight is the difference as propane weighs about about 1/2 of water for the same volume.
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