JJBIRISH
Butler, PA, USA
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No pressure gage will be worth using… float level gages are needed but to add a float gage to the OPD currently in use might not work well enough on a 20# tank and not well at all on a 30# tank…
Two styles of OPD valves…
Of coarse they could make tank size specific valves with longer floats like the top one in the picture… that would require them to be approved for more than being a safety valve and is why in the past the float gage has been separate from the OPD…
I haven’t seen any with the gage in the valve yet but will be watching for them…
OP you could use your pressure gage by using a longer pigtail and turning the tank so it doesn’t interfere with the cover…
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beemerphile1
I'm 57, I'm not a
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mobeewan wrote:All OPD tanks have floats in them. It is part of the OPD valve. It is what is supposed to stop the flow of propane into the tank when the liquid reaches the proper level to keep the tank from being over filled. The factory installed gage doesn't do anything different than the add on gage except getting you to waste your money sooner.
I think you need to re-examine what is available. Your statement is wrong.
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mobeewan
Hampton, Va
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beemerphile1 wrote:mobeewan wrote:All OPD tanks have floats in them. It is part of the OPD valve. It is what is supposed to stop the flow of propane into the tank when the liquid reaches the proper level to keep the tank from being over filled. The factory installed gage doesn't do anything different than the add on gage except getting you to waste your money sooner.
I think you need to re-examine what is available. Your statement is wrong.
I don't need to reexamine anything. You say I'm wrong. Show me.
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beemerphile1
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mobeewan wrote:beemerphile1 wrote:mobeewan wrote:
...The factory installed gage doesn't do anything different than the add on gage...
I think you need to re-examine what is available. Your statement is wrong.
I don't need to reexamine anything. You say I'm wrong. Show me.
Sure, stop by my house and I will show you my DOT cylinders with factory installed gauges. Lean bottle to one side and gauge reading goes up, lean to other side and reading goes down, that isn't pressure, that is float operated.
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catdaddyxx
Dumas, TX
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Here's what I use when I want to know exactly what is in my tanks.
Berkley® Digital Fish Scale
The neck of the tank will list it's empty weight. Then it's just a matter of a little simple math.
I bought the pressure guages from Sams in the past. They're now in the trash.
When I want a guestimate I use the hot water method. That works suprisingly well, and doesn't require the removal of the tanks. Downside is that it doesn't work in hot weather.
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doublenot7
Clear Lake, Texas
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Those gauges are not very accurate and certainly do not fit on with the tank covers. I have one also but just leave it off, sometimes I check with it at the end of a trip.
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JJBIRISH
Butler, PA, USA
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Until now both the OPD valve and the gauge each required their own floats inside the tank, installed in a separate bore in the tank. … like this one about and cost about $60 extra…
This seems to be the valve with a gage that mowermech may have seen, but I didn’t find much info on them yet but they must have a duel float system…
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RinconVTR
Wisconsin
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mobeewan wrote:All OPD tanks have floats in them. It is part of the OPD valve. It is what is supposed to stop the flow of propane into the tank when the liquid reaches the proper level to keep the tank from being over filled. The factory installed gage doesn't do anything different than the add on gage except getting you to waste your money sooner.
Not true. OPD has been a requirement now for MANY years and has nothing to do with a visual gauge.
What people are saying here is they have seen something new, a gauge built into the actual valve assembly. I havent been so lucky to see one yet, but I'll be on the look out!
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mobeewan
Hampton, Va
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RinconVTR wrote:mobeewan wrote:All OPD tanks have floats in them. It is part of the OPD valve. It is what is supposed to stop the flow of propane into the tank when the liquid reaches the proper level to keep the tank from being over filled. The factory installed gage doesn't do anything different than the add on gage except getting you to waste your money sooner.
Not true. OPD has been a requirement now for MANY years and has nothing to do with a visual gauge.
What people are saying here is they have seen something new, a gauge built into the actual valve assembly. I havent been so lucky to see one yet, but I'll be on the look out!
I understand about the gage being on the valve. I have seen those types of valves on propane tanks as well as the add on gage that screws onto the valve outlet. However, with the OPD valve float below operating a separate shutoff valve, there being a positive seat when you screw the valve handwheel down and a check valve in the valve outlet I dont think that there is any way there is room for a second float assy going down through the valve body to operate a gage mounted in the side of the valve. I have seen a lot of valve designs in my 32 years of ship system piping design and overhaul experience and I don't think it is feasable to take a valve with the same size and shape as the standard OPD valve and add a second float feature for the gage. A "pressure gage" can be added by drilling a hole in the side and threading one in or by adding a threaded hole to the molds for the valve bodies, but not a float level gage. The valve would have to be larger.
Now, I have looked at the tank that JJBIRISH shows above and will conceed that tank probably (picture is a bit blurry) has a float operated gage, but that is because it has a separate connection in the top of the tank for the gage and float.
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JJBIRISH
Butler, PA, USA
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Apparently the new valve does have two floats…
in the pictures I posted the lever type float is connected to the gage… the one with the float down shows empty on the gage, and the one with the float in the full up position shows full on the gage… it sits to low in the tank to be the OPD, clearly its not a pressure gage…
The second float is a slider float for the OPD like this one and is a commonly used for this by some mfg…
I wonder how much the new valves cost??? I guessing they are pricy…
I still don’t have much need for them and wouldn’t change the valve just to have a gage…
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