Testing propane heater

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stepbill

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Posts
70
Location
Aberdeen, NC
We just bought a used 2014 travel trailer and it is still winterized.  I wanted to test the propane heater and was wondering if it was OK to do this.  We currently have the trailer plugged into a 15 amp outlet just to check out the lights, radio and TV hookup.  Thanks for your help!
 
If you mean testing the propane furnace, then yes, it's perfectly ok since the power it draws comes from the 12-volt battery. If you mean testing the propane water heater, then yes, that can be done also, but only for 15-20 seconds at most since there's no water in the tank. A 120-volt electric water heater immersion element should never be live tested without water in the tank.
 
Make sure the propane is turned on at the tank, if it's been turned off you'll have to purge the air from the propane lines.

The easiest way to do this is to take a gas match (i.e. BBQ lighter) and try to light a stove burner.  You may get nothing but air blowing against the match flame for a few seconds until the gas displaces the air in the lines.

If you don't do this, that same air in the lines may make the furnace fail to light because of the flame interlock, if the control board doesn't detect a flame within a few seconds, it shuts off the gas flow until you turn the furnace off to reset it.
 
Lou Schneider said:
Make sure the propane is turned on at the tank, if it's been turned off you'll have to purge the air from the propane lines.

The easiest way to do this is to take a gas match (i.e. BBQ igniter) and try to light a stove burner.  You may get nothing but air blowing against the match stick for a few seconds until the gas displaces the air in the lines.

If you don't do this, that same air in the lines may make the furnace fail to light because of the flame interlock, if the control board doesn't detect a flame within a few seconds, it shuts off the gas flow until you turn the furnace off to reset it.

Thanks, sounds like great advice!
 
Probably try to light the water heater and/or furnace.  Just be prepared for it to take several tries if there's air in the lines.

The problem is the gas inside the lines expanding and contracting with temperature changes.  As long as the tank is on, any seepage will be replaced with fresh propane from the tank, air seeping in will only be a problem if the propane tank is turned off while the RV is in storage.
 
grashley said:
When a camper is winterized ONLY water lines are affected. And holding tanks.

Not necessarily.  I always turn the propane off when I place an RV in storage.  It's just another step along with disconnecting the batteries to ensure there aren't any surprises when I go to reactivate the rig.
 
grashley said:
When a camper is winterized ONLY water lines are affected. And holding tanks.

Technically, that is true/correct.  But over time, and if you turn off the propane at it's source (tank valve), the propane will slowly leak out and will be replaced by air.  So even though the trailer's propane system is technically not winterized, there will usually be some amount of time before the actual propane makes it's way to the device.....furnace, refrigerator, stove, ect.  Since the stove really doesn't (in most cases) have any kind of safety device to keep it from shutting the propane off if it doesn't lite, it will continue to allow flow until you turn it off.  And of course if there is air in the lines, it will not lite right away either.....but there's no safety shut off to stop the flow....so that's on the operator.  Once the propane has reached the stove, that means the supply line is full of propane and now the refrigerator will light much easier.  I once tried for 5 times trying to get my frig to light (having to turn it off then back on each time it failed), until I realized what was going on.  Now, I use the above procedure and it will usually fire off either the first or second time.  The "burner" in the refrigerator is a very small flame (about the size of a pilot light on a furnace or water heater) and so it takes forever to bleed the air out of the system....this process just cuts down on the time by bleeding the lines first.
 
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