[jeff5may]

Originally Posted by AC_Hacker

Haven't worked with these tanks you speak of, but I have used the little green camping gas bottles for recovery.

In the propane gas bottle, there is a small spring-loaded ball valve that keeps the gas in.

In a propane torch head, there is another one, that is located at the end of the part of the torch head assembly that inserts into the gas bottle. When you screw the torch head down, the tip pushes against the ball in the bottle and makes possible the release of propane.

So I performed a ball removal, and removed the ball in the torch assembly, which allowed me to have two-way access to the little tank when the torch assembly was screwed in.

I also removed the torch head and brazed on a Schrader valve (remove valve core before brazing), so it would be compatible with the rest of my equipment. I still have the torch needle valve, which is important to 'blank off' the canister before you unscrew the torch head, and has also been very useful when I used the gas bottle for other operations.

After my recovery operation, use the needle valve to blank off the bottle, then I unscrew the modified headless torch assembly, and the ball valve that is in the green bottle makes the seal.

It's actually easier to make and use than it is to describe.

But it works great.

-AC

With the camping gas cylinders, there are usually two valves. One is in the screw-on fitting that you attach a hose or torch head to, the other is in a refill port on top somewhere. These valves are both schraeders, and can be extracted for use in other places. I know for a fact they will work in auto and home air conditioning access valves. Before getting rid of cylinders, I yank the valve cores out of them with an extractor tool that came in a retrofit kit from the zone (r134 to r12).