The real fear with refilling these things is the possibility of
overfilling. If there is not enough vapor space then a temperature change
could cause the can to burst. You could also feed straight liquid to an
appliance causing quite a hazard.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Troy
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 5:24 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: refilling propane bottles, potential hazards?

Just recently purchased a Mac coupler off of Ebay.  This is the device
that allows you to refill the small, 1 pound bottles from a larger source.
I am a bit concerned about the warning label on the bottle itself which
reads:

Do not refill: Federal law prohibits transportation if refilled -- penalty
up to $25,000 fine and five years imprisonment. Wow! that one heck of a
warning.

How common is it for these bottles to leak after being refilled? They are
meant to be disposable after all, so I doubt that the valves are very high
quality. Is the risk that great, or am I just being paranoid?

Troy