yesterday afternoon, scooching to reach under the workbench for an almost-empty propane cylinder, I lifted it out to take a look at the capacity and instantly collapsed. the pain in my lower back was excruciating, and still is, intermittently.
the cylinder didn't have what I was looking for anyway. I was hoping to find out its capacity in gallons or liters. my Mexican cylinder only had its capacity, and tare weight, in kilograms.
I could have avoided the whole episode by Googling, which I eventually did. I was trying to find out why my Mexican cylinder, visually identical to an American 5-gallon cylinder, only held about 10kg; 20 liters is 20kg, right? sure, with water. but LP gas only has about half the density of water, it turns out. so 20 liters is approximately 10kg.
I can't remember how long this sort of back pain lasts me. presumably it's in my blog somewhere, but with the pain shooting through me every few seconds I don't feel much like searching right now. gonna try and get back to bed.
last updated 2017-03-21 16:10:17. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com