Quote Originally Posted by this1guy
can you use propane instead of butane?
You can use any of the 12 simple alkanes! As many of you know, the alkane hydrocarbons are simply carbon atoms with hydrogens attached.

The older "Mary eats peanut butter" designation for the first four gases is followed by the greek alphabet.

Methane has one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms attached to it's four potential bonds.

Ethane has two carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms, attached to it's four potential bonds

Propane has three atoms, butane four, pentane five, hexane six, heptane seven, octane eight, and so on.......

The stumbling block is that in the USA anyway, they are required by law to add methyl mercaps to propane as a leak odor detector. The threshold sensory level for methyl mercaps is 2 parts per billionth, and they are extremely hard to remove, besides smelling and tasting like rotten eggs.

If you can get a clean source, it will without question work.

One advantage to using the longer molecule chains, is that they become less polar as they get longer, and pick up less water solubles.

The disadvantage is that the longer the chain, the harder it is to purge.