Propane Tank Specs for Dummies

As you might guess from the name, the site eHow.com originally published "how-to" content on topics harvested from internet search queries. As the site grew, they branched out into articles containing lists of "facts" about topics harvested from internet search queries. The site's contributors, most of them as clueless as the people who originally asked the questions, pounded out tens of thousands of half-baked answers to those queries at anywhere from three to twenty-five bucks a pop. Many, sadly, were as uninformed as "Specifications for a 20 Lb [sic] LPG Tank,"¹ a Robert Alley production at HomeSteady.com.

What are "specifications," anyway? Well, according to Alley, they're the dimensions and capacity of a the familiar 20-lb tank found underneath consumer gas grills. To that end, Robert did... okay: he managed to regurgitate the height, weight, diameter, and volume of a tank; as well as its weight when full. He even coughed up the weight of a tank if it were full of water. Useful information... except that may well have not been what the OQ wanted to know.

Now that consumers take their propane tanks to the store and exchange them instead of standing around getting them filled (a convenience that adds 20 to 50% to the cost of propane), the safety requirements for a tank have become important. Those are more likely the specifications the OQ wanted to know, specifications such as

The tank must be equipped with an overflow-prevention device (OPD) The tank must have a protective collar and a foot ring The body of the tank must be free of dents and bulges The tank must be certified: check the manufacturing date stamped on the protective collar; most places will not refill or exchange a tank more than ten years old. Alley barfed up some slightly useful information about "length of use," somehow determining that "This specification refers to the length of time the tank can be used until it runs out of gas..."

...in which he spit out some basic math that did little more than help meet his minimum word count.

In other words, Alley considered only the physical dimensions of one of these tanks, but failed to even approach the safety requirements. Unless someone needed to know the dimensions of a tank for a building project (in which case you'd think the OQ would have a tank on hand), it's the specifications in the safety regulations that would be important.

It's by no means a certainty, but given his unfamiliarity with propane tanks, we think our Dumbass of the Day grills on charcoal.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/list_7495888_specifications-20-lb-lpg-tank.html

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