TurboTed

I could see propane being used as a refridgerant. However- propane tanks by law are filled only to within 20% of a tanks capacity, to allow for expansion. Propane when exposed to air/oxygen is highly flamable. If you compress propane inside a tire, do you fill the tire to max, or to within 20%? What happens when you are in an accident, and a tire blows apart? Doesn't the propane expand, becoming gaseous and possibly ignite from sparks, shorts, fire, etc.? I'm not an expert, but it doesn't sound safe to me.

kb5zcr

When I was a kid in high school (back in 1980), a friend of mine would grab a 20 lb. bottle of propane that had a tire chuck on it and air up low tires around their farm. I think they did it just because it was handy. I don't know if purhaps you can air up a lot more tires with a 20 lb bottle of propane than with the same size air bottle. Who knows, but they did it.

By the way, when you use something like "fix a flat" it is mostly propane that goes in your tire.

I realy don't think it is that big a deal. Using nitrogen in a high pressure aircraft strut is one thing but going to the trouble of putting it in your pickup truck tires is just being ****.

Remember, at the end of the day, these are pickup trucks. Not space shuttles.

Tim

Pop-Pop

I promise that this will be my last comment on this inane thread. In addition to being explosive, propane gets it pressure by warming up past it's boiling point. If you have propane below it's boiling point, it has no vapor pressure. In other words, on super cold mornings in the frigid north, your tires will be flat. To help offset this problem, they add more volatile liquids so the mixture will have a vapor pressure thereby being able to burn. Anyone in the deep south knows that butane will not work once the temperature dropped down in the 20's because, it wouldn't vaporize. Of course, you could always go directly with methane (natural gas) and not worry about flat tires on cold days.

By the way, has anyone ever heard of BLEV (Boiling Liquid, Expanding Vapor) explosions? That happens when propane or similiar type of liquid tanker ruptures, fills the community with it's gas and then somebody lights up for a smoke. It's a weapon of mass destruction!

pwabbott

Nitrogen is not an inert gas. It is not as reactive as oxygen. Every cell in your body contains Nitrogen combined with other elements such as carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Nitrogen in tires is just another Madison Avenue trick to make you think it is better than air. If you think it is go ahead and use it. More damage is done to your tires from the outside with the action of ultraviolet light than any oxygen on the inside of your tires. I have a degree in Chemistry and taught it for 31 years.

BearKiller

A lot of guys around here have one or two of those old 100# propane tanks, like the ones sitting at the hitch-end of mobile-homes.

They have installed air couplers so they have become giant portable air tanks, capable of airing up large rear-tractor tires.

When some nosey bystander inquires what they are doing, they tell them that they are putting propane in the tires.

texaspower19

inert mean that the gas cant combine with another and that it doesnt change or move

JAX

You know, Helium is lighter than oxygen also. I'm gonna fill the tires in my CTD with helium and then pull a Dukes of Hazzard and jump my truck to the moon, that would be awesome.

"One small step for mankind, one giant leap for a redneck with a Cummins!"

Dorkweed

Nitrogen filled tires????!!! You're picking pretty small nits IMNTBHO! Afterall, regular air is over 70% nitrogen to begin with. Not much of an improvement if you ask me.

jerky1280

My next business venture will be convincing people to fill their tires with argon.

herb

Hmmmmm I thought you were supposed to mix oil with the air to keep the valve stem lubricated

TN Redneck

I'm sure I'm going to regret getting involved in this highly technical discussion but if;

1) Air is 78% N2 and
2) Oxygen and othe gases escape faster than N2 and
3) More air is added,

Wouldn't the % of N2 be constantly increasing everytime till you reach a point that your tires are filled with almost pure N2?

Dorkweed

That's some pretty good deductive reasoning for a "Redneck"!!!! IAHT it makes sense to me!!