Propane

[quadrille38]

I have been watching this thread even though I do not use CNG. Safety aside..... I see everyone talking about how long X PSI will last. I think the REAL question should be how many cubic feet does the bottle hold and how long does that last. No matter how much the pressure, it's cubic feet that counts. Propane is a liquid under pressure. It turns to a gas when the pressure drops to close to normal so it's harder to figure how many "gaseous" cubic feet per liquid cubic foot. Greg

You are right. PSI is the pressure the gas is compressed to in the tank. It is NOT a measure of quantity. Cubic feet or pounds are quantity measurements. Your home gas grill usually has a 20 pound cylinder of propane. The CNG cylinders we purchased when we had our Catalina 34 was measured in pounds. As you said when the gas is compressed under high pressure it turns to liquid and the liquid is measured in pounds.


On how long will it last. Admittedly we didn't cook on the stove a lot nor did we bake bread in the oven a lot bit for weekender and vacation boater we found the CNG would last 2 to 3 years.

We now have a 5 pound propane tank on our Hunter and and It has lasted 5 years.

I buy the little camping size cylinders for the gas grill and they are 1 pounders. We grill a lot and uses 1 to 1 1/2 in a summer.

 

[ben solomon]

2 sticks,

We cook all the time on the boat (family of 5), both breakfast (eggs, pancakes) and dinner (casseroles, bread, boiling water, pan searing). Also, my son cooks Ramen noodles constantly for a snack. I have a 3000 psi tank, and it lasted all summer. I have about 2200 psi left after a whole season. I have a propane grill clamped to the rail for grilling meat and fish.

I really enjoy the saftey of CNG in that it dissipates in air and doesn't collect in the bilge, floor, etc. I also like the fact that I don't need power to cook (no solenoid), and the setup is so simple (tank, hose, stove).

Ben

 

[Stu Jackson]

Our boat has CNG, has had since it was built in 1986 and as the second owners when we bought in 1998. We are fortunate that there is a swap-tank chandlery minutes from our berth. If I ever left our area, I'd consider as2witching to propane, but since we're still here, so is our CNG. We have a backup tank on board. Everything works just fine.