LP Gas Not Getting to Appliances

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mshaver

New member
Joined
Jul 15, 2017
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2
Location
Queensbury, NY
I have a 2004 Fleetwood Tacoma pop-up camper that we recently purchased used. A few weeks ago we took the camper out for our first trip and were concerned when the gas on both the interior stove and and exterior high-pressure valve RVQ would not light. We took it to a local service technician who ran a check and stated that there were no blockages and that everything lit just fine for him- pilot, stove and high-pressure. He did replace the regulator as a precaution. We headed out for our next trip the following day and found we had the same problem- no gas! The tank is connected, the valve is opened and there is no gas coming out of either appliance. I'm not sure if I'm missing a step- a switch or shut off valve somewhere- but I want to be sure before I go back and have the technician check once again. Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.
 
I have the same problem when the TT has been sitting for a while. In my case it is the fridge that won't switch to propane. I have to open the stove valve (which is upstream of the fridge) to get the gas to start flowing to the fridge...and in effect prime the system. Is there something like a water heater upstream of the the other appliances that you might need to fire up first?
 
The new safety propane tank valves cause most of this kind of a problem.  They are designed to snap shut when they sense rapid lost of pressure due to a broken line or rupture.  They also act the same way if you rapidly turn on the valve into an empty line.  They will automatically close.  They will not reopen until the pressure is equal on both sides of the valve.

Solution.  Close all burners, close the valve.  Wait.  Now very slowly just crack the valve open a tiny bit and let the gas into the line and fill the lines at this point you will have mostly air and little gas in the line.  The pressure should be equal now.  Crack open a burner with a flame close.  Most of the first hiss will be air as soon as gas is present it should light.  Let it burn, slowly open the other burners and light them as well.

Now turn the burners off and you should be good.

Remember to thank some idiot bureaucrat for making us safe once more. ;D
 
Welcome to the RV Forum!!

First, when not in use, with the propane shut off at the tank, the lines to the appliances tend to lose propane and fill with air. It takes quite a while for even a burner on the stove to purge this air out so it can be lit. If you hold a match to the burner and it is blown out, you have air in the line, not propane.

How long did you wait? It sounds like by the time you got it to the service center you had purged most of the air, and the tech just finished the job.

The second most frequent problem is opening the main valve on the propane tank to quickly and activating the "leak safety valve". The solution to this is to turn the propane off,  wait a minute or two, then slowly open it.
 
mshaver said:
We took it to a local service technician who ran a check and stated that there were no blockages and that everything lit just fine for him- pilot, stove and high-pressure. He did replace the regulator as a precaution.

Did the tech show you that everything worked?
 
Not much of a tech, replacing the regulator as a "precaution". Going by what you wrote he already had everything going. If he thought the regulator was suspect, he should have hooked up a manometer to test it correctly.
 
X2 re: downline lighting first. We have the same problem every time we go to use the coach. The refrigerator and hot water heater pilots won't catch until I bleed the air out of the lines by opening the stove burners first because they are furthest downline. This will happen nearly every time you turn off the propane at the tank.
 
  Same situation when I light my stove after having the tank off for a while. I had a friend with an RV that had a similar problem, they had just bought it and she said her husband just couldnt get it lit so.... I offered to help. After patiently waiting for the burner to purge I finally had a flame. Apparently I did such a good job she wants me to come back and show her again........
 
catblaster said:
  Same situation when I light my stove after having the tank off for a while. I had a friend with an RV that had a similar problem, they had just bought it and she said her husband just couldnt get it lit so.... I offered to help. After patiently waiting for the burner to purge I finally had a flame. Apparently I did such a good job she wants me to come back and show her again........

Make sure Jane goes with you.  ;D :D ;)
 
catblaster said:
  Same situation when I light my stove after having the tank off for a while. I had a friend with an RV that had a similar problem, they had just bought it and she said her husband just couldnt get it lit so.... I offered to help. After patiently waiting for the burner to purge I finally had a flame. Apparently I did such a good job she wants me to come back and show her again........


OK so this time they were opening the valve too quickly and it was tripping the shutoff.  I think they have it under control now. My brother in law was throwing away his crawfish cooker until I showed him how to "slowly" open the valve.
 
Thanks for the information everyone! After a second thorough inspection with a friend, we ended up replacing the "pigtail" attachment and that seems to have solved the problem. We had initially ruled out the pigtail since air was clearly getting through. The pressure is still low on the stove top, but there is a flame.
 
The whole gas system operates at about 0.5 psi, so "low pressure" is the norm. Officially it's 11" of water column (WC) pressure. If you think it is less than that, maybe a construction in the feed to the stove?  Does the flame height stay the same if more than one burner is lit?  That's one clue to observe if the problem is flow volume vs the actual pressure.
 
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