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Mapp gas freezing???

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glousteau
glousteau Posts: 124
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Since becoming an egg owner, I've started using mapp torch to light my egg. Well, I went outside earlier while the sun was out and it was nice n warm, 15* :S to clean my small for a few steaks tonight. Well I went out just now, down to 12* to light and my mapp won't light and it sounds like liquid trying to make it thru a small opening. I'm assuming it is frozen somewhere/somehow? Others have this problem? I keep it in a small garbage can next to the egg with my lump in it. I've never had any moisture in there, so I don't think its a water issue. Does Mapp freeze? brought it inside and used a starter cube to get it going now.
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Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Mapp Gas or it's components is/are a refirgerant and exhibit the properties of refrigerants. Refrigerants have a pressure-temperature relationship. For a given temp of the refrigerant in the tank the liquid- vapor mixture inside the tank has a given pressure. As vapor is removed for burning, part of the remaining liquid vaporizes inside the tank to fill the remaining void left by the removing of vapor to be burned. When it gets terribly cold the liquid in the tank will want to stay liquid as it comes out instead of turning to a vapor that easily mixed with oxygen and capable of burning. Take your cylinder inside when it gets very cold and only bring it out to use it. HTH
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  • Ripnem
    Ripnem Posts: 5,511
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    Wonder why mine don't freeze here.

    My eggs don't freeze shut either. :whistle:
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  • hornhonk
    hornhonk Posts: 3,841
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    Be careful with cold mapp gas. I used it for many years in the phone company opening and closing buried splices. It can spurt out as a gel..on fire!..and is very dangerous.
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,771
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    never heard that, good thing to know. with propane a full tank is less likely to freeze than a full tank, have to bring a couple til the ice shanty warms up and you then can use the half empty bottles
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • B & C
    B & C Posts: 217
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    Any hydrocarbon (propane, methane, butane, ethane) that is a gas at room temp can be used as a refrigerant (broad statement). The hydrocarbon / refrigerant has a pressure / temperature relationship. As vapor is removed from the cylinder to burn, some of the remaining liquid in the cylinder turns to vapor to take the place of the vapor that was removed. The removal of the hydrocarbon / refrigerant vapor causes a drop in pressure. This drop in pressure causes some of the liquid hydrocarbon / refrigerant to evaporate (vaporize, turn to a gas).

    The conversion from liquid to vapor absorbs heat (becomes colder) as the liquid evaporates to a vapor. For every drop in pressure, the temperature of the refrigerant remaining in the cylinder will drop as long as there is both liquid and vapor remaining in the cylinder (the mixture is in balance at a temp and corresponding pressure, Saturation). The liquid hydrocarbon / refrigerant remaining in the cylinder becomes colder which means that it also drops in pressure.

    If the outside temp is terribly cold (below the saturation temp of the hydrocarbon / refrigerant) then the liquid hydrocarbon / refrigerant in the cylinder will not want to turn to a vapor so it can be easily mixed with oxygen to be able to burn.
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,771
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    something i hadnt thought of til now is when its really cold you can see the frost line of liquid on the outside of the tank, inverting it like we do to light an egg is putting that colder liquid down into the regulator and torch head. havent had a problem with my weedburner, bigger tank and the bottle stays upright
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • aem
    aem Posts: 146
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    I've been camping in sub-freezing weather and have had propane stoves fail. That's one benefit of white gas, it works in very cold weather. IIRC a butane/propane mix also does better in the cold.
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  • B & C
    B & C Posts: 217
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    Fishlessman, you bring up a good point. It does depend on whether the cylinder is upright or upside down. If the cylinder is upside down the contents are coming out as a liquid and the air temp has to be high enough and the barometric pressure low enough for the liquid to be turned into a vapor and mixed with oxygen to be able to burn.
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  • B & C
    B & C Posts: 217
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    The mix of butane and propane must have a lower boiling point than mapp.
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  • aem
    aem Posts: 146
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    B & C wrote:
    The mix of butane and propane must have a lower boiling point than mapp.
    I was probably thinking about Coleman's Powermax which gets its cold weather performance because the stove burns liquid not gas (vapor). Both Propane and MAPP have a fairly low boiling points but at cold temps they just don't generate much vapor pressure and torches run off of vapor not liquid.
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