Lorengp Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Hi. Can someone offer some advice or point me in the right direction? I run three forges in my shop and I'm tired of having multiple propane tanks floating around. I would like to upgrade to a single large tank outside feeding a manifold of some sort with each forge having its own regulator control. Would it make most sense to install high pressure pipe through the wall directly from the tank to wall mounted regulators in the shop? Or should there be a step down regulator on the tank with final adjustment at the forges? Or is there a better way? Really appreciate the help - Loren Located in Washington state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Well it may depend a lot on what country in the world you are an and what methods are legal there. Here in the USA it may even depend on your state or even city/county. If you are not aware of the local legalities I would suggest discussing it with a local Propane supplier as they should be up on the local rules. Getting a good relationship with a supplier can help solve a lot of issues too. Mine even opened up on a day they normally are closed to refill my tanks for a class I was teaching! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Loren, I would recommend schedule #40 steel pipe to individual regulators on the walls, with shutoff valves at each regulator, with a short length of braided stainless steel sheathed fuel hose connecting between regulator and and forge. Whether you run pipe between the fuel tank and wall, or use a short length of braided stainless steel sheathed fuel hose would depend on the tank. Braided S.S. sheathed hose is becoming pretty economical, when ordered online, and even comes with regulators attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Welcome aboard Loren, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header we won't have to keep asking and a LOT of information is location specific. Telling us once in a post won't stick in anybody's memory longer than it takes to open the next post. Your question is especially location specific. There are a number of codes that apply from Fed down to local. Then you have your insurance company's policy to consider. I don't know if you CAN get a primary tank regulator that will supply enough psi to run forge burners so you might have to run tank pressure to your wall regulators. If so you need to plumb the manifold to take in excess of 200psi. This is no trivial project. Do it wrong and maybe lose everything in or attached to the building and your insurance company isn't likely to cover anything. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leather Bill Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 (edited) There's multiple way's to accomplish what you want. A couple that come to mind is (1). Use a tank capiable of storing as much (and the larger the tank,the better) fuel as you consume in a week. From tank,gas vapor to forge(s) can be plumbed any way you like AS LONG AS it's leakproof,resistant to damage that might rupture fuel containing parts and all parts are approved for the perpouse and each forge has it's own individual regulator. Stated another way,hook everything up exactly like you have been doing with seperate tanks (2). ( My preferance). Use tank of any capacity that alow's drawing liquid. Liquid line connect's to a vaporizer and vaporizer connect's to prerssure regulator. If all forges run near same pressure but not neccessarly same volume,one regulator can serve all forges through a manifold.. If you require precision control,regulator off vaporizer drop's and maintain's pressure at +-100 psi in manifold . Manifold pressure is futhur reduced and maintained by regulator at each forge. The last arrangment can run half dozen forges from a single 20 lb bottle until 80% of fuel has been consumed. Not the most ecconomical place to buy but vaporizer and liquid draw tank can be sourced from forklift parts distributors. Good luck and we love seeing pictures of shops to see what ideas we can steal. Edited January 7, 2021 by Leather Bill spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorengp Posted January 13, 2021 Author Share Posted January 13, 2021 Thanks for the input. My propane supplier is recommending that I put a first stage regulator set to 30psi at the tank, then run 3/4" sch40 into the shop where I split it to my forge regulators running around 5-15psi. since I don't plan to have more than two forges hot at once it seems suitable. Any thoughts? Thanks, Loren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 It looks like the right plan to me. Don't forget ball valves between pipe and regulators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leather Bill Posted January 15, 2021 Share Posted January 15, 2021 Dropping pressure in two stages alows smaller pipe for long distance between tank and forge. What it doesn't help is pressure drop if pulling vapor from tank. A large tank overcome's pressure drop. The supplier can do some calculations on minimunm tank size based on ambient temperatue,lbs per hour use and final pressure that must be maintained Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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