Propane valve

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almost13ranch

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2008
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24
I have a 2 tank propane set up in my TC. I've been getting conflicting information on how it operate them. Both tanks go to a single valve that has a lever that moves from right, center then left. Do I have to turn the valve to the tank i want to use? If I leave it in the center will it draw from both tanks? I've been told that it will switch automatically when one tank is empty. There is only a gauge on one of the tanks. Can someone tell me how to operate them? I'm going to try to attach pictures of my setup.
 
 

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Turn on both of the tank valves.  Turn the changeover valve on the regulator towards one tank or the other.  You will draw from that tank only.  When it's empty, the regulator will automatically switch over to the second tank and raise a red flag in the sight glass on the changeover valve.

After the regulator changes over to the second tank, turn the changeover valve towards it to make that tank the primary.  The red flag will disappear from the sight glass.  You can now turn off the valve on the empty tank and remove it for filling without interrupting the flow of propane to your appliances.

When you reconnect the full tank, turn on it's valve but leave the changeover valve pointing towards the other tank so the rig will continue to draw from it.  When the other tank is used up, the regulator will raise the red flag and switch back to the newly filled tank.  Then you can repeat the above process to isolate and fill the empty tank.
 
What Lou said is correct. The only thing is you will have to check every once in awhile to see if the first tank has run out and it is switched to the second. Otherwise you could run both tanks dry and not know it. The indicator is usually a green and red band in the center of the switch. Green is good. Red is empty.

I always tell customers to leave one tank off so you will know when the first one is empty. If you leave the rig for a few days and have the refer running then you will definitely want both tanks on.

Also Lou mentioned a very important step. Be sure to switch to the full tank before removing the empty one. If you don't then the switch will not actually take place and propane will be released through the open hose.
 
The sight glass is near the top of the regulator and appears as a clear circular area about 1/8" high...the red indicator rises inside this area as Lou says, when the regulator has switched over from the primary tank to the reserve.
 
The sight glass is the round glass tube with the black top in your second picture - the closeup of the changeover valve.  You can just see the edge of the red flag in the glass.  When the regulator switches to the second tank the red fills this area of the glass.

You can demonstrate this by lighting a stove burner (to draw some gas), then turning off the valve on the primary tank.  Once the burner has used the residual propane in the line between that tank and the regulator, the changeover valve will raise the flag and switch over to the secondary tank.  If the valve on the secondary tank is also on, the stove will continue burning, drawing propane from the second tank.

BTW - welcome to The Original RV Forum! 
 
I found it! I wasn't looking past the black knob, and the sight glass is rather narrow. When I get some time I'll do the test as stated above. Thanks for the welcome and all of your help.
 
One more thing I just thought of, since the left tank has the only gauge on it, do you think it would be smart to use the right tank as the primary and then I'd be able to monitor usage on the left after it switches?
 
I've always just alternated the tanks, which insures you have a full tank for the regulator to switch over to.  It's actually fairly rare to find a level gauge on a removable tank - usually they're only on the permanently mounted ASCME tanks used on motorhomes.

But it won't do any harm to use the unmetered tank as the primary.  Eventually you'll have to refill both tanks because you'll draw anywhere from a little to a lot of propane from the secondary every time the primary runs out.
 
I finally got a chance to test the system by lighting a burner as stated above. It works like a million bucks. Thanks again for all of your help.
 
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