Propane. Can’t live with it. Can’t stop talking about it. I like to call it the “friendly flammable.” But what is it exactly?
WHAT IS PROPANE?
Also known as liquid petroleum gas, LP-gas, and LPG, propane is produced in roughly equal amounts from both natural gas and crude oil sources. Propane is nontoxic, colorless, and odorless.
(WARNING: technical talk coming) To make propane from crude oil, the oil is separated at a refinery using a fractioning tower. It is refined into different levels of purity depending on what height of the fractioning tower the propane is pulled from. The higher the point on the fractioning tower, the higher the purity, or quality, of the propane.
According to the US Department of Energy, the southern states sell propane with more butane, which is at a lower cut point, in the fractionating tower. In the colder states, the propane sold is from a higher crack that is more pure. All of this to truly say that if you are taking your tiny house from a warmer climate to a colder climate you should either use up your propane before reaching cooler weather or simply exchange your tank at the new climate center. However, the quality of colder weather propane is better, so if you are toting propane from cooler to warmer climates you should be okay. Rule of thumb: use propane from the climate you are in.
The use of propane is one that can all at once seem like common sense and like rocket science. It has been used by campers for years. However, it is relatively new to the tiny house community since the modern tiny house movement itself is rather new. If you consider the use of LP-gas for sticks ‘n bricks though it only makes sense. Propane keeps water hot, it makes stove burners blaze, and it allows furnace air to be toasty. Put those items on the road and you have a need for a system both new and old. But before going into those areas it is most important to know how to hook your propane tanks up in the first place. The process can be scary for some and even a bit perplexing.
In the next three minutes or so I hope to show you how easy hooking up a propane tank to your tiny house or recreation vehicle can be and even how safe it can be. Just click on the standard YouTube play button on the screenshot below. When you’re finished watching be sure to subscribe to the Tiny r(E)volution YouTube channel.
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