Hi,

I like the compact butane stoves that use an 8 oz bottle and am interested in refilling them with propane. I've refilled the 1 lb propane bottles from 20 lb propane tanks many times with no problems by the following method: Put the empty 1 lb bottle in the freezer 'till it gets cold, attach it to the adapter on the 20 lb tank and turn the rig upside down, open the tank's valve for a minute or more until it stops hissing into the bottle, then close the valve and remove the filled 1 lb bottle.

Will that same or a similar method work to refill the 8 oz butane bottles from 20 lb propane tanks? Is there a danger of over pressuring the 8 oz bottles since they don't seem to be as strong heavy metal a container as the 1 lb propane bottles?

I've found a couple of adapters that look made for the job, but would be glad for any additional suggestions. These are what I've found so far:

https://www.amazon.com/Propane-Refill-Ad...21824&psc=1

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-Campi...amp;athena=true

Thank you for any help learning to do this!
David
Maine, USA

Those butane stoves are not designed to burn propane and the butane bottles aren't designed to be refilled. I'd be very leery of this whole idea, but especially refilling them from a 20 lb tank.

Listen to Aimless and don’t ever fill an isopro canister with propane. Here is a link to Hikin’ Jim’s experiment if you scroll down. Look at the destruction. I try and think real hard on how to protect against forest fires so I’m not advocating that procedure.

Never fill a backpacking gas canister with 100% propane.

The pressure of propane is about three times that of butane, so taking a tank made for butane and filling it with propane is very dangerous. Iso-pro tanks typically made for backpacking are mostly butane with some propane mixed in to decrease the boiling point so they are usable to a lower temperature. Mixing gases, the tank pressure is determined by Dalton's law (generally). If you know what you are doing it can be safe, but if you screw up the ratio you have just built a bomb. It is not recommended you do this without really knowing what you are doing.

Please read the whole link. Quite sobering!

When I read the original post yesterday, I could only think, does this guy want to commit suicide? But I didn't have the numbers at hand. Nor had I read the linked post from Hikin' Jim, the acknowledged expert on backpacking stoves.

Many thanks to all of you who posted the details above! I hope you have persuaded the OP not to pursue this most hazardous folly!

Please, please, OP, read and heed! We care!

Like you, I say DON'T DO IT!!!

If the OP persists after all of our warnings, it will simply prove (yet again) that we can't fix stupid.