Gas Bottles Recertification

 One of our Gas Bottles Leaked when at the refill station.

Eximius has two Propane Tanks, they are the Worthington Aluminum 6lb tanks, I had to change out the empty tank on board over the New Year's Eve Cruise and so had to take it to get refilled. The Propane station in Margate reported that the tank leaked, the guy demonstrated the issue. Needed to get a new valve. The Bottles cost over $200 in a good year, right now they are not available and on back order till June 2022.

We normally take the tanks to Ameri Gas in Fort Lauderdale, but when I asked them on the phone if they could replace the valve and recertify the tank, they informed me that they were only able to refill, all of their techs and office staff were out due to the pandemic, sounds a bit iffy to me.

I found the valve online and ordered one, also watched a YouTube on how to change the valve, it was easy, ok, easy in theory, difficult in practice. But with a bit of sweat I was able to change out the valve. 

The tank was new  in 2006, and apparently it has to be recertified after 12 years and then every 5 years. I had both tanks recertified a couple of years ago, but I'm pretty sure it was a rip off, there were no labels applied to the tanks.

The new Valve came from Nash Fuel via Amazon, it arrived ahead of schedule.

I always wondered what the inside of the valve looked like.

The attachment thread is on both the inside and outside of the valve so it fits our older style fitting on board as well as the newer style fitting on our Gas Grill at home.

The new valve installed, now I just needed to get the tank recertified and filled.

We found a company 'Hogans Gas' in Lake Worth that could do the refill, recertification and in a single trip. It was well worth the drive up there.

It cost $30 to get two tanks recertified and the empty filled, the second one was almost full, so they just recertified it and topped it up with Propane.

The guys at Hogans Gas were very polite, helpful and happy to share tips.

It turns out the Cylinders need to be recertified every 5 years from now on.

I'll put a note in my calendar.

As it turns out, I needn't have taken the trouble to change out the valve, Hogans Gas would have done it with a lot less sweat on my part.

So, we're all gassed up for the St. Pats Day Cruise. Hope to see you on the water.