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Storing 1 lb. propane cylinders

Over the summer, I bought a camp stove and a couple of 1 lb. propane cylinders. I also bought a couple of the small propane/butane backpacking stove containers. I’m trying to figure out where to store them over the winter. From a quick Internet search, it looks like they should be stored outdoors year round, and I don’t have to worry about them freezing in my cold climate. 

I live in a condo with no garage. There is an uninsulated storage shed attached to the condo. While it’s not detached from the living space, it seems like this would be my best option. Do you agree? Maybe store the cylinders upright inside a storage cooler (the kind for storing food during a camping trip)? Or? Thank you.

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  • Comments (51)

    • 6

      I store some of mine in my storage building and some in a bedroom closet. I think either way is fine.

      • 4

        I’ve thought about what you said about a bedroom closet. I could do that, then it wouldn’t get damp, too hot or too cold, but now I’m nervous reading about explosions and gas leaks.

      • 5

        Cia, It’s worth a trip to your local fire department and ask what’s a good way to store fuel cartridges that are flam and explosive.  They’ll be familiar.  The ideal outside storage might not be ideal if “tresspassers” smoke cigarettes around area and et cetra. 

      • 2

        Thank you! I don’t think smokers would be a problem, no one has smoked here since I had parties many years ago.  It’s a good idea to ask the fire department, thanks! I’m nervous thinking about how hot it gets here in summer.

    • 7

      Thanks for bringing up this topic! I have some currently stored in my garage and you made me wonder now if I am doing the best thing that I could be. So I did a little research and this is what I found.

      I went to two websites. Amerigas and Lakesgas.

      They say not to store propane in your home or in areas connected to your home. Probably less likely to blow yourself up if you don’t have it in your house, also less of a chance of a gas leak.

      They say to store bottles upright, don’t let them get above 120 degrees, keep out of direct sunlight, and don’t let them get below -40.

      Since the best place that you have is that storage shed, I think that would be good for you.

      One more thing I would add is to make sure they are up off the floor. You don’t want moisture from the concrete or flooding to rust the bottoms of the tanks and damage them.

      I will be moving my tanks from my garage to my shed. 

      Thanks again for asking this question. I hope this helps you too.

      What camp stove did you get Seasons4? I am interested in getting a new one and could use your advice. 🙂

      • 9

        Hi, Dragoon. Thanks for your reply and your research. That helps me decide to store them in the attached, uninsulated shed. I’ll just have to bring them into temperature-controlled space in the very worst of winter and worst of summer. Regarding the camp stove, I went with a Coleman two-burner stove. I only used it a couple of times over the summer. The camping equipment I used the most was a hammock attached by cords to trees. Best regards.

      • 4

        That is awesome! I have a cool handmade hammock that I got in Argentina, but after all these years it has just been in storage. I really need to break it out and use it!

      • 4

        We finally setup the hammocks that had been stored for 3 or 4 years in our backyard.  Do it when the weather permits, Dragoon.  One of the better things we did during this pandemic.

    • 6

      keep them out of the fire and don’t unnecessarily expose them to high temps like an attic >> that’s the extent of the safety precautions ….

      the propane won’t flow worth a damn freezing cold – keep that in mind if you want to power a Mr Heater Big Buddy in an emergency or brew up a cup on the Coleman ….

      keep the bottle end seal/threads protected by the retail caps – they take a hit the bottle could be ruined or could possibly leak when you use it …..

    • 6

      I store them under the gas grill that is outside.  It already had a large propane tank and closed storage from direct sunlight (plus the cover).  Didn’t seem like your condo had that option, though.  

    • 4

      Could you put a horizontal shed away from the condo?  It wasn’t clear if you have any yard space relative to your condo.

      • 4

        There is no yard space near the condo, but your question caused me to think harder. There is a “trash corral” — a shed for the trash and recycling dumpsters. There is also a small storage area attached to that which is available for the use of any condo owner. It is where rakes, ladders, garden hoses, etc. are stored. I could potentially store the propane canisters there if I wanted them out of the residential building. Thank you!

      • 5

        Storing potentially hazardous material in a common area is not a good idea. Some unsuspecting smoker might cause an unfortunate event. 

      • 7

        That’s a very good point. There is one smoker in the complex, and there could potentially be guests who are smokers. Upon reflection, it might be best to move the propane to a concrete block out building on the property of family members, the spot I would use as a bug-out location.

      • 7

        It sure is hard to really get into certain aspects of prepping when we live in condos or apartments. But good job thinking of other alternatives and making things work. 

    • 9

      One thing I would definitely invest in is the solid brass caps with rubber gaskets inside. You can buy them on Amazon (etc) and they screw on to the 1 lb propane bottles to protect the threads and prevent slow/small leaks. I have been using them for years on my small bottles, after discovering that small leaks are common from store-bought (commercially filled) bottles – which led to a near-disaster in my garage once. With the caps, no leaks, and no worries about damaging the threads while transporting the bottles. You can superglue a magnet on the top of the flat brass cap, so you can store the cap ON the bottle itself while in use (no looking around for the cap when you remove the half-empty bottle from your camp stove later, etc).

      • 4

        Thank you, I would never have known that!

      • 3

        Matt, real good, Thank you. Are all, or at least the prominent US brands, of these bottles standard sizes? I forgot. Using the Coleman Propane 16 oz as standard, do you know if screw fitting on SnowPac and MSR the same size as Coleman ?

        Merci in advance.

      • 6

        Bob, the MSR camping fuel (and other brands) is a fuel blend (isobutane and propane). The containers have different threads than the Coleman propane bottles.  Most of the standard portable heaters and stoves/grills will use the propane connection. 

      • 4

        This is appreciated.  Thank you.

      • 5

        Thanks Matt!  Getting those now. 

    • 4

      Dont forget both Butane and Propane dont like to be to COLD when in use,  wisely store tham outside but bring it indoors an hour or two before you need it to let it warm up a while or it wont vapourise when you need to light it.

      • 5

        Thank you! I’m going to make a Word file with this and the other advice, print it and store it with our passports. This is all new to me!

    • 4

      Pay close attention to the heat tolerance of propane storage. People forget how hot an outdoor area can become. Make sure you check your tank dates or track them. Improperly handled or stored propane can do a lot of damage.

      Propane is a heavy gas that descends during a leak. When it explodes it burns from an area below where you think it would be and then travels rapidly upwards.

      I have witnessed an explosion from a barbeque fueled with propane. I actually saw the point of explosion. It was situated on the deck of a row house condo. The resulting and very rapid fire took out half of the condo units and smoke damage to all. We were in a neighbouring apartment, situated perpindicular to the condos. The fire department almost lost control of the fire and were at the point of giving up and just trying to save our apartments.

      From Amerigas, this may help

      Proper propane storage safety tips

    • 7

      I’d not store propane indoors or anything attached or comunal for all the reasons mentioned. One thing to remember is even the little propane bottles will vent if the pressure rises above 250psi, that can happen when they get hot —and they don’t need to get super-hot. So always store them upright, out of direct sun. I also had a dedicated, vented little storage box on the back fence to protect them and other flammables from rain and sun. 

      As someone else said, propane is heavier than air (unlike methane, normal natural gas) so will “flow” downhill and pool like water so be very careful in garages and especially around crawlspaces/cellars. This goes for using as well as storing, my experience is the valves on stoves etc aren’t very good.

      What is in the bottle is a liquid, it vaporizes at -44F and the vapor is what you use so it works most of the time unless very cold, but realize the escaping gas can actually burn you because it is also that cold. Finally using a camp stove indoors is hazardous and those little bottles don’t last long anyway.

      I think a solar oven, either store-bought or homemade and practiced with is a better solution for much more than a day or two in an apartment situation and you could take it with you if you need to go. If you are in a really low sunlight area, or north side, as a backup, think charcoal and rocket stove—you can store as many bags of briquettes as you like as long as you can keep it dry and a rocket stove is very efficient. Again, either bought or made. You would need a place to use it outside though, just like the stove.

      Whatever you do, stock up and rotate some ready cooked food, good old pork-n-beans in addition to dried pintos. Also learn to cook with less heat: soak yer beans, sprout them even, ditto your whole corn, wheat berries, etc.

      • 5

        Unique and Pops,

        Thank you. That’s very scary! I’m not sure it’s worth the risk!

      • 6

        Hi Cia – There are alternative methods you can use. Pops brought up a solar oven which can work very well, the key being practice.

        I am including links for a simple stove that originated in The Great Depression. People were struggling, travelling for work, homeless and some were known as “hobos”. Here is the DIY link for the Hobo Stove:

        The Hobo Stove DIY Instructions

        Great ingenuity can happen in tough times. These folks found a way to cook using a humble tin can. Their method, the “hobo stove” was later commercially produced to accomodate hikers, campers and travellers under the name “Kelly Kettle”. Here is an example of one place that sells the Kelly Kettle and there are other retailers. It is to give you an idea of what it looks like:

        The Kelly Kettle

        The nice thing about evolving our preparedness, is that we can all do it to suit our needs, abilities and comfort, budgets and location. There is no one size fits all for how we choose to be prepared.

        As Pops also said, there is nothing wrong with rotating canned food or ready to eat foods. 

        What worked for me is to take care of water purification and safe storage first. Then I developed a pantry of nutritious foods with a basic start of canned fish (tuna or salmon), dried and canned legumes, and rice (I keep brown rice predominately because it stores well for me in my cold basement, white rice will store a very long time.)

        If you read from the Extension Departments of your local State, they have wonderful resources for food safety and storage.

        I made sure to stock what I eat. The reason I shifted from dried legumes only to include canned legumes, is because I got burned on some old dried legumes. It was a good thing I did a batch because they wouldn’t cook. I learned from that lesson and now I keep a qood quanitity of canned legumes. (Don’t forget a good can opener – I keep a couple in reserve).

        From there, I went to stocking a good medical kit. Then, well made four seasons clothing and footwear because of where I live.

        From there I worked on sustainability and the ability to repair or mend items.

        This is a very condensed and rough version of how I started. It is one thing to challenge yourself to learn new skills, which is great and the fun part of prepping. It is also another thing to acquire items that you may not be comfortable using or could actually be dangerous.

        As you learn and practice preparedness, you will find your comfort zone, Cia. The above is not to discourage you, but to encourage you to find your way safely, and as you evolve what works for you, more methods and skills will appeal to you.

        As a last aside on gases, my husband’s words this morning when he and I discussed this topic were simple. He said of all the gases, if they had to be approved for use today, the only one that would be declared safe enough would be natural gas.

        I hope this helps and keep asking questions. There are lots of really nice people here who will do their best to help and guide you.

        Happy prepping!

      • 5

        I wasn’t thinking about cooking, but about keeping one room warm enough to not freeze to death if the grid ever went down like in Texas.

      • 5

        Ooops…Sorry Cia, I am a total melon head today –

        I found an article on this website about best portable space heaters

        Space Heater Reviews The Prepared

        Hope this one is more what you were looking for,

      • 2

        Thank you. I bought a Mr. Buddy indoor heater, it runs on propane. Now I’m wondering if it would be better to wait until the blackout might occur soon and buy propane then.

      • 6

        Maybe.  Do you know a blackout is coming?  I found myself in a multi-state blackout just as I arrived to my new home in a new state and the moving truck had yet to arrive.  So I had zero of my home preps with me, just what I had in my car and EDC.  No one knew it was coming.  Luckily it lasted less than a day.  I learned from that.  And if it is predicted (winter weather), propane may not be available – or you may not want to go out to get it.  I got my Mr. Buddy in the last year – after the pandemic started –  and had trouble even in a major metropolitan area finding 1lb propane canisters for months.  

      • 9

        Reading Alecia’s comments prompts me to ask you folks, can you get disposable chemical hand warmers where you live?  We keep them in our cars as emergency heat.   Basically its a sachet of powdered iron that warms up for about 8 hours when its opened and exposed to the air

        https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disposable-Heat-pads-Handwarmers-pairs/dp/B000TP44PS

        81FRB7Ghu1L._AC_SL1425_

        81bGqgVDIAL._AC_SL1396_

      • 8

        Yes, hand warmers are readily available from sporting goods and department stores as well as online sites. 

      • 2

        I have a Jackery solar-powered generator and bought a 2-person 12volt electric blanket for this very reason.  I was too terrified to use propane – anywhere – and from what I read on the Mr. Buddy website, because of changes in tariffs it is no longer possible to buy their heater with the fan (which to me sort of defeats the entire purpose of having it – what good is it to have a heater that won’t distribute the heat?)

        I haven’t had to use the Jackery/blanket combo yet but there’s plenty of advice elsewhere on this site about how to stay warm if the grid goes down. Just remember your pipes, too!  

      • 3

        FYI: You can still get the Mr. Heater Big Buddy heater with fan at Tractor Supply https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/mr-heater-big-buddy-portable-heater?cm_vc=-10005

      • 2

        It is extremely dangerous for me to shop at Tractor Supply.

        I want one of everything. 

      • 2

        But it won’t ship to all locations.  pooh.  I need to be happy without the fan that I already have.  

      • 10

        Well said, Pops! I know people who liked their solar ovens so much while running practice sessions on their preps, that they began using them regularly.

        I also kept plans for parabolic ovens.

    • 5

      While I do have 1 lb disposable propane cylinders, I’ve decided to focus on the 1 lb refillable ones and use my 20 lb tanks to refill them. I know people refill the disposable ones, but they are made for one-time use and the refill may have legal ramifications. 

      • 8

        Bigwig- I like the video you linked to in another forum post. I’m never going to buy the disposable tanks and am only going to buy these refillable ones.

      • 6

        Thank you Bigwig for this information.

    • 4

      Here is a very illuminating and informative link on propane storage:

      Safe Storage Of Your Propane Tanks: The Dos And Don’ts

      Looks like I need to rethink how I’m doing my outdoor propane storage . . .

      Thankfully, no mishaps yet 🙂

      • 2

        I’d be curious at what got you rethinking.

      • 1

        “DO store propane tanks in a cooler place, out of direct sunlight.”

        I’ve got a 20# propane tank on the tongue of my trailer that sits in the sun most of the day, pretty much every day of the year that I’m not traveling.  Logical storage spaces would be the detached garage or the shed, but they both get pretty darn hot in the summer time.  Need to find a sheltered, shady spot on the north side of the house . . .

      • 1

        Aren’t the mounts on the trailer specifically for propane tanks?  What the article doesn’t say is really how TO store it at a private residence.   I store a spare tank in the cabinet under the grill which is a “DON’T” but it’s sheltered and right next to the existing tank – I think I’ll leave it there in that fireproof stainless steel box with a rain cover. My plan is to store additional spares on a shelf area under a detached deck but that gets rain through the deck boards another “DON’T” and is sort of a shed another “DON’T”.  

      • 3

        Insulated foil bag over the top of it when parked up will work, But i normally move mine into the garage when not in use.

      • 2

        Thanks, Bill!  Sounds like a simple but effective solution–the insulated foil bag, that is.

      • 1

        Done properly it covers the regulator and rubber hose as well thus preventing them from perishing in the sun.

      • 2

        Good to know.  Thanks, Bill!

    • 4

      We had to lift our game on propane storage when we bought a dual fuel generator and started stockpiling a few  tanks and cylinders.  We’ve got a funky little (4×6) plywood shed that started life as a chicken shed but has since served innumerable functions, the most recent being propane storage.  It has a good sized “window” at the top on one wall and a small “chicken door” at the bottom of the same wall.  I screened those in with 1/4″ hardware cloth, and the little shed now meets all the requirements for ample ventilation, as well as an opening at floor level for any escaped propane vapors, and a solid wood floor with a rubber mat for the bottles to stand on.  The shed isn’t secure from theft, but we plant to drill a couple of holes on opposite walls and feed a very long chain through a wall, through all the tank handles, through the other wall, and lock the ends together.  The shed stands away from other buildings and is well shaded under trees.

      • 3

        Sounds like a very great place to store your tanks, and with the additional chain, it will make it more theft resistant.