Newbie first experiences

[us71na]

Originally Posted by BeGin

Newbie experiences

Reading the manual (trying to figure out what was going on) we discovered when filling the fresh water tank you should open the kitchen sink taps and the taps on the outside shower to vent trapped air. This was not mentioned in our “orientation”. This appears to work as on our latest attempt the fresh water indicated full after filling with this new method. (although it still seemed like there was a lot of water that poured out of the aforementioned drain hose until it stopped)

This is a really strange recommendation. The pump would block any flow in or out of those taps. Your tanks has to have an air vent that would let air into the tank as water is pumped out and should also let air out as water is put in from the fill port. Read the post on water siphoning

Originally Posted by BeGin

3- Furnace quit working near the end of second week. Cooking stove propane burners lit up so I had gas (I thought) Also orientation guy told us the two propane, 30lb tanks, would last all season so gas shouldn’t be the problem. Found furnace fuse and pulled it. 15 amp fuse was good and 12 volts was across terminals. Reinserted the fuse and furnace turned on. So I assumed somehow this had reset it BUT we still didn’t have heat as only the blower came on and then stopped when burners wouldn’t light. Rechecked cooking stove gas and burners lit up no problem. Out of desperation, I switched to the full second tank in the hope that perhaps furnace needed a ‘fuller’ tank with lots of pressure to function... yahoo furnace was now functional. I took the first tank to get a refill the next day and it was nearing empty so my lesson here was low propane tank may be sufficient for a cooking burner but not a furnace.

You have/had a different issue, not the fault of the propane level in your tanks. You burn gaseous propane. Your tank holds liquid propane and has a portion of the tank that is gas above the liquid. As you use gas, more liquid propane boils off to become gas, the pressure in the tank remains constant until the liquid is completely gone or in cases where it is really cold out side (-20+) you might see a slight pressure drop in the tank. Remember, whenever you open the valves on your propane tanks, open the valve very slowly. Opening the valve quickly can activate the safety system that would normally work only when the line ruptures, this would cause you to have low pressure in your system until the safety device resets.

There have been lots of problems with the air flow switch in gas fired furnaces. If the switch doesn't make when the fan starts, the furnace won't heat.

[BeGin]

Originally Posted by us71na

This is a really strange recommendation. The pump would block any flow in or out of those taps. Your tanks has to have an air vent that would let air into the tank as water is pumped out and should also let air out as water is put in from the fill port. Read the post on water siphoning



You have/had a different issue, not the fault of the propane level in your tanks. You burn gaseous propane. Your tank holds liquid propane and has a portion of the tank that is gas above the liquid. As you use gas, more liquid propane boils off to become gas, the pressure in the tank remains constant until the liquid is completely gone or in cases where it is really cold out side (-20+) you might see a slight pressure drop in the tank. Remember, whenever you open the valves on your propane tanks, open the valve very slowly. Opening the valve quickly can activate the safety system that would normally work only when the line ruptures, this would cause you to have low pressure in your system until the safety device resets.

There have been lots of problems with the air flow switch in gas fired furnaces. If the switch doesn't make when the fan starts, the furnace won't heat.

Re Filling fresh water and venting.
Pg 111 in my manual “Open both the hot and cold water faucets, along with outside shower faucets (if so
equipped) when filling the fresh water tank to allow air pockets to be forced out of the
system.” May appear illogical but it did help

Re propane: What you say sounds correct so perhaps it was coincidental that the furnace started when I changed tanks.

[us71na]

Originally Posted by BeGin

Re Filling fresh water and venting.
Pg 111 in my manual “Open both the hot and cold water faucets, along with outside shower faucets (if so
equipped) when filling the fresh water tank to allow air pockets to be forced out of the
system.” May appear illogical but it did help

Re propane: What you say sounds correct so perhaps it was coincidental that the furnace started when I changed tanks.

That would imply that the water pick up for those faucets are at the high point of the tank, which would preclude them getting any water once you start drawing any water from the tank. Your water system when using the tanks has a pump between the tank and the faucets. Trailer water pumps don't allow air through them unless they are running. It has to be coincidence that it seemed to help stop the siphoning.

[wcowan]

It's not unusual for the safety device in the regulator to cut off the flow of gas, especially when the valve is opened quickly (Lord only knows why.) The easy fix is to disconnect the hose from the tank to relieve the pressure and then reconnect it. In all likelihood this is effectively what you did when you refilled your tank. (That said, there is an immutable rule of camping that says you will run out of propane at exactly the moment when you most need it. If you just put a $20 t bone steak on the grill and freezing rain is coming down, that's when the gas will run out.)

So much to learn when RVing. I had a good laugh at your "learnings". Thanks for sharing!

[us71na]

Originally Posted by wcowan

It's not unusual for the safety device in the regulator to cut off the flow of gas, especially when the valve is opened quickly (Lord only knows why.) The easy fix is to disconnect the hose from the tank to relieve the pressure and then reconnect it.

It is a saftey device that prevents rapid loss of propane should the regulator fail, a line rupture or be chewed through by a rodent.

[skids]

I have even experienced a greatly reduced gas flaow rate with my gas grill in the garage. So I unhooked the coupler, weighed the tank, put it back in, and then everything was normal (big flames on high). I learned that turning the gas on slowly does help.