Barely related, we generally use a pair of 11-lb Manchester cylinders which I bought to reduce the Casita's tongue
weight, and to generally facilitate lugging around. They are the same diameter as the standard 20-lb cylinders, so I've been able to mount them on the A-frame of the
Casita and the
Escape by simply dropping the retainer clamps on the all-thread downward. Incidentally, they also work nicely with the "standard" white plastic cover.
Now, here's the possibly interesting parts.
I wanted to get the new cylinders purged, but was stymied by several fill stations that had no idea what this entailed, and another that told me it was too time-consuming. So, I ended up purging them myself. I did this by using the 1-lb fill adapter, with new 11-lb cylinders empty and a 1-lb cylinder that had some remaining propane. After a few repeated cycles of "filling" the larger cylinders with a squirt of gas and then releasing the pressure of the air-gas mixture, I was good to go. It was a very simple operation that took perhaps ten minutes.
Then, when I went to get the new cylinders filled at a station, it emerged that one of the new cylinders was resistant to filling. It would simply stop the propane almost immediately, remaining stubbornly near-empty. One kid unhelpfully banged the bottom of the cylinder on the gravel in an effort to knock loose the internal float valve.
I contacted Manchester and they told me the solution is to have the operator start the fill operation with the cylinder's valve
closed. After the connection is made and the valve from the source bulk tank is opened, you
then open the cylinder's valve. It worked like a charm.
I printed the instruction sheet from Manchester in case someone at a fill station wanted "proof" of this non-traditional approach, but so far everyone's taken me at my word.
Maybe this information will be helpful to someone. I guess this issue is uncommon enough that most attendants don't know about this, but common enough that Manchester has a pre-printed instruction sheet.