I go camping pretty often at a local watering hole, about 20 miles away. Probably one weekend a month, whenever the kiddos are at mom’s place. As a result i have a modest collection of 1# LP cylinders. I got tired of finding a spot to recycle my empties, and at $10 a pair, can get costly over time. And my 20# hose with inches regulator got damaged and i havent repaired it yet so Ive been refilling the 1lb’ers, marking it on the bottle. I change out the gas rated schrader valves every 3 fills, and note this on the bottle as well. I bubble test each cylinder/valve before shelving, and each cylinder gets refilled to 80% capacity of what i buy it at (pressurized tanks like this usually follow a 80/20 rule - 80% capacity only, allowing for thermal expansion, and the weight i recieve them at is already 80% of its actual capacity.) When i refill it, its only being filled to 60-65% its actual capacity.
As the title states how many cycles can these bottles handle before it becomes dangerous? There is literature that the federal government puts out that says not to refill due to stresses from cycling full/empty. There is also literature that says these same refilled DOT 39’s arent transportable once refilled. While I understand this isnt implicit permission to refill, it is acknowledging them, and how they arent allowed to be transported. So, it sounds like its done, at least. There also exists off-the-shelf solutions for refilling bottles and youtube is replete with videos on how to do it.
Or am i reaching? Does anyone here refill their 1# cylinders for camping? Does anyone know how often this is safe? Is there literature elsewhere that can shed light on this? If i cant get a firm-ish number ill likely abandon doing this and just go back to my 20# tank and proper regulator out of concern for safety.
Thanks yall.