I bought two old propane bottles off Craigslist this morning for $10.00 and promptly exchanged them at True Value hardware for $17.99 each for refilled and newer bottles. I didn't have any exchange at first and they are $49.99 without an exchange, so I did this instead.
Then, I went home and refilled my 1lb bottles (6 of them successful). I weighed them and I got 16oz in each by pulling the Schrader valve @ 2 oclock position until liquid flowed while filling. I started with 8 bottles, but had to discard two of them. I found that the Coleman bottles have better valves and do not leak after pulling the Schrader valve for filling purposes. The Ozark Trail bottles have a cheaper looking valve stem and they leaked some. I could not get them to completely stop after tinkering with them. Lessons learned.
Buy Coleman bottles if you are going to refill. They seem to be better.
Long story short, refilling the 1lb bottles saved me about $20.00 so that more than made up for the cost of the exchange tanks I bought for $10.00
When my side laying propane tank on the CTC runs out next time, I am going to replace it with one of these upright tanks. Easier to exchange or fill. The tank I furbished from the donor trailer does not have a current inspection date so folks don't want to fill it, and I cannot exchange. This will be better and much more convenient. :-)
I am working on the trailer today, so will have some photos later of the Cell Booster install and a few other minor things.
