Had propane, then I didn't. Why?

I set up camp with everything going fine. The fridge was running on propane and I used the heater sparingly that night. The next day, I noticed the fridge flame was out (indicator showed off). I tried the stove and nothing came out, no air pressure or anything. I made sure both propane valves were on and just assumed I was out of propane. I filled up both tanks today to find that they both had 2+ gallons in each tank. I hooked them back up to the trailer and all propane appliances work perfectly. I did notice that one of the rubber hoses from the tank to the regulator has a slight leak I can hear.

I have no idea why my propane quit working while camping. It wasn't cold, getting down to 50 or so at night and up to 75 during the day. I had both tank valves on and had no propane for any appliances.

I'm leaning towards a bad regulator or some sort of safety valve closing due to that leaking hose. What do you think?

2002 towlite 22'.

Fireball,
My money is on your regulator failing. In 2001, while camping, we had a similiar problem, with the regulator not passing gas (heh, the stuff does stink!). I thought perhaps it was the cool temps, or the altitude (we were at Leadville, CO, 10,000 plus ft.). Next day we went touring, got back to camp, heard escaping gas noise as I approached the trailer, then SMELLED escaping gas. After shutting the tank valves off, and letting the gas clear away, I inspected the whole set-up and discovered the that the regulator had actually come apart (the top plastic "changeover" indicator cap had blown off). I'm sure an internal diaphram had failed. Lost most of a tank of propane!
The camp store had a new regulator, so it was an easy fix...and in spite of the cool temps and altitude, all the gas appliances worked fine afterward.

Please let us know if yours turns out to be a different cause.

Jim

Yeah, these things don't seem to be made for the life of the vehicle. Do you know of any brands that are better made? I found a marshall brand on amazon.com that at $40, was the most expensive regulator offered. I would rather pay more for a better made unit though, if any exist.

Fireball,
Sorry but I don't know enough about them to recommend one regulator brand over another.
Jim

The Marshall brand has been around for quite a while and is used extensively on many devices and RV's. But, of course, all brands are subject to failure.

Propane regulator

I worked on my HiLo restoration today and I looked at our two stage regulator. It is a Marshall and we replaced it three years after we got the trailer. Just made sense to replace the regulator and the hoses. Checked out my camping world catalog for price and info. They didn't list the brand. The price was $32.99 (Presidents Club) I liked the most deluxe model that has colored dots that indicate wich tank is being used and a low indicator. $60.00. This a good question as to how many years before the regulator should be changed. Should the regulator be only changed when it goes bad. We kept our old regulator for an emergency spare as it still works. Cheap peace of mind if you cange the regulator and hoses. Hard to get parts on an extended trip to say Alaska.

The regulators I've had fail tended to make noise when they did so. I can't say if this is a "sure fire" (no pun intended) way to detect failure however.

- Jack

Sorry,

But if the hose to the regulator leaks, then is it not going to be unable to produce enough PSI (when low?) for the regulator to keep letting propane goto appliances? Both hoses hook to same side of regulator, meaning would act (as if) both hoses/tanks have leaky hose then, is that not right?

I couldbe wrong, 2 tanks, 20lb type I assume, I have no idea how many gallons that is of propane, and I of course, probably assumed that 2 gallons is LOW.

probably half lucky nothing did light.

correct me if I am wrong there...

sting32 said:

Sorry,

But if the hose to the regulator leaks, then is it not going to be unable to produce enough PSI (when low?) for the regulator to keep letting propane goto appliances? Both hoses hook to same side of regulator, meaning would act (as if) both hoses/tanks have leaky hose then, is that not right?

I couldbe wrong, 2 tanks, 20lb type I assume, I have no idea how many gallons that is of propane, and I of course, probably assumed that 2 gallons is LOW.

probably half lucky nothing did light.

correct me if I am wrong there...

Click to expand...

You may be correct Sting, I don't know alot about the propane systems on RVs. A standard 20 pound Rv tank is a 5 gallon tank, roughly. I don't think they can fill em full. The tanks should produce full pressure till they are almost empty, less than a gallon of liquid propane.

Another question of mine is the pigtail hoses from the propane tanks to the regulator. It seems the acme hoses (hose with green fitting that screws onto the propane tank) have valves in them that shut off when a significant leak is detected. If more propane than the setting is called for flows through the hose, the valve closes. That may be what happened with mine. When I disconnected and re-connected the hose, the valve re-set.

In any event, I'll buy another regulator and pigtails so as to head the problem off at the pass.

Thanks for the info on the marshall regulator Sam, that's the one I'm going with. Amazon has it for $40. I don't shop at camping world.

Buying a regulator

It is just handy for me to have a Camping World Catalog here at my house. I can look up anything. I also use the internet to get the best price. Hubby is fed up with the lights/lampshade style on the end cap by our bed. I really like the style. I guess over time the spring action no longer works. You can soder the base of the bulb,but that doesn't last long. He wants to change over to LEd bulbs. I saved several posts on this subject and have several sites to consider ordering from. When we are done with our restoration I will order what he needs. I really don't want to give up the style lt. that is in there now.

FYi, propane tanks are filled to 80% capacity only by law. This allows for expansion in the heat.

If you have a leak, you could have triggered the safety valve built into the tank valve. If it detects too fast of a flow too quickly, it closes to prevent leaks... to demonstrate, turn your valves on a BBQ, then open the tank.. you won't get any propane flow, and you'll hear the click from the valve as it closes.

I think triggering that valve is what did it Morpheus. I've ordered new pigtail hoses and another regulator. I'll install everything but keep the old regulator as a spare because I don't think at this point, it was the problem. Since I'll have it apart, I'm going to replace the regulator so I don't have to worry about it for many years to come, fingers crossed.

morpheus said:

FYi, propane tanks are filled to 80% capacity only by law. This allows for expansion in the heat.

If you have a leak, you could have triggered the safety valve built into the tank valve. If it detects too fast of a flow too quickly, it closes to prevent leaks... to demonstrate, turn your valves on a BBQ, then open the tank.. you won't get any propane flow, and you'll hear the click from the valve as it closes.

Click to expand...

I had that problem with our Weber Q200 grill. I have to turn the gas tank valve on then wait a while for the pressure to equalize in the hose to the regulator before lighting. Otherwise, the grill may light then fizzle out in a few seconds. There may also be another check valve in the regulator to complicate matters. There were people blasting Weber in product reviews because of this. Weber has a statement on their website that addresses the problem and explains what to do. Mainly, turn the the tank valve on then wait a few minutes before lighting.

Having said that, the same practice of turning the trailer tank valves on and waiting a few minutes before lighting any appliances may be a good practice to follow.

I have the new marshall auto changeover regulator and new marshall pigtail hoses installed and so far, so good. The system charged and lit like normal. I haven't been out camping in the trailer yet but I hope to soon.