"Disposable" propane bottles - Montana Owners Club (2025)

Montana Master

"Disposable" propane bottles

begin rant
The use of small "disposable" propane bottles is a pet peeve. Our Canadian home/outdoor marketing giant, Canadian Tire, puts skids of these things out on the floor. Meanwhile, there is no disposal system for them except landfills. They cost the parks system big $$$ to handle them as hazardous waste. What about a recycling fee, collected at POP and distributed to the various municipal disposal sites on a per-unit basis? Meanwhile, sell 5 and 10lb refillables in the same stores? If the little ones get very expensive, then people may switch to the refillables.
end rant

Montana Master

We went with the 10 lb tank a long time ago. The tank is refillable and lasts all summer and part of the next year.
They do sell a kit that allows you to refill those little bottles, but I'm not too sure I want to try that. I use the tank for the small grill and stove we use in the camper. The bigger tank does away with trying to get rid of the little bottles.

Montana Master

We had always used those little chuckable bottles and probably would still be using them. Last year doing my Yard/Garage sale thingy I came across a full 20# refillable. I checked it out real close and found it to be just 2 years old. Asked the lady how much and her response was $5.00, YES I SAID 5 BUCKS. Normally I always dicker on price but in this instance I gave her the 5 bucks without thinking twice. About a week later a neighbor gave me a hose with all the fittings. At that point I gave another neighbor my last 3 throw-away bottles.
BUT, I should have kept one throw-away for my propane torch.

Montana Master

Our complaint regards what "chuckable" really means. If they were recyclable for a fee, like beer bottles, then there would be an incentive to handle them differently, not just chuck them. They would still be useful and perhaps become refillable on a large scale.

Montana Fan

I like your rant. There may be occasions when they are needed and a recyclable fee would make since. My solution on my last three campers is a long hose that I conncect to the regular propane tanks. I use a tee at the tank then a short hose to a connector near the frame so I can hook up my stove or grill easily with a 15 foot hose that give me quite a bit of room to move them about. Much like some of the units that have a outside grill with a connector except that I use high pressure hose and connectors so it works for those appliances that normally at 20lb tanks or the small tanks you are talking about.

Montana Master

You can get fittings to change over the small bottels to fit on your 30 lb tank a,,,,,i got the fittings from the rv dealer and a 12' hose to the grill and go out the bottom of the tank spot and to the weber grill ,, works great ,,, no extra tank to haul around , and we always have gas ,,, sailer

Montana Master

We are with you Dave and Kathy, obviously you camp at some of the same places that we do!

Montana Master

I agree with you I hate filling the landfill with stuff like that, espesially when you have an option.
I have used a 2 gal tank for years, but I still keep a couple of the small one around for the lantern. You can refill the small ones but it is not legal in all states. I use to do it but found that some times they don't alway reseal.

Montana Master

Without Land fill, half the State of Florida wouldn't be there!

Seasoned Camper

I have a 20 pound tank as well. A friend of mine got it for free from a moving company. Apparently, moving companies frequently run into people asking to move grills that have tanks but they will not move them. Maybe a way to even beat the $5 option!

New Member

You can buy a fill hose from Amazon to fill the and reuse the small LP bottles. Connect the hose to a 20, or 30 pound tan. The hose has a gage on it.

Montana Fan

What does this have to do with a Montana trailer?

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Montana Master

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Montana Fan

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2022 CC LB F350 SRW--Diesel; 50 Gallon Titan Aux Pack Tank; Airbags with onboard Air
2022 Montana 3231 CK (Lower 48 Winter Rig)
2007 28' Desert Fox Toy Hauler (Alaska Summer Rig)

Montana Master

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