LP gas line dripping water

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cliston

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Joined
Oct 11, 2011
Posts
193
My LP gas line is dripping water.  About 3 feet from the LP gas tank the metal pipe is dripping water appears to be water.  Looks and smells like rusty water.

There is nothing on in the MH, fridge is off, hot water heater is off, furnace is off so there is no LP gas being used. 

Any idea what this could be?
 
If it's really water, then I would be looking for a leak in the water plumbing.
 
Ned said:
If it's really water, then I would be looking for a leak in the water plumbing.

I have been. 

But the water is dripping straight from the LP line (1/2" or 3/4" metal pipe).  This is on the underside of the MH.  There is no plumbing pipe anywhere near  this.
 
If the pipe is sloped, the leak could be many feet away and the water would run down the pipe to the lowest point.  Again, are you sure it's water?  If it's really oil from the propane system, then you have a serious problem.
 
This why we install drip legs and dirt legs on gas piping. You don't want that oil getting to the appliance...if it turns out to be oil.
 
Ned said:
If the pipe is sloped, the leak could be many feet away and the water would run down the pipe to the lowest point.  Again, are you sure it's water?  If it's really oil from the propane system, then you have a serious problem.

Am I sure?  Not now that you mention this, but I will know more tomorrow when it is light out.

If it is oil from the propane system, what would that mean?
 
If it really is oil from the propane tank then you have a serious propane leak also.
 
Wizard46 said:
If it really is oil from the propane tank then you have a serious propane leak also.

To my knowledge there is not enough odorizer added to propane to leak oil out on the ground..
Nor should water be dripping from the line unless a massive amount of gas was being used and causing the tank temperature to lower to the condensing atmospheric vapor dew point..
I have to agree with the general consensus of some water migrating from some source..be it a leak or maybe the a/c dripping condensate or even from the fridge condensate run-off.
Good luck.

George
 
Sounds like you have everything turned off to stow the rv for the winter time or something. 
Here is my suggestion. 
I would drain the water system and ''blow out the lines''.  I would drain everything including the hot water tank and the stowage tank.  Completely eliminate ''water''' from your system and then WATCH FOR THE WATER LEAK......  If you get no more ''water leak'', the problem is in your water supply system.  Also, you can partilly  refill the system and put some ''food coloring'' in your water tank, pressurize your water system and watch for leaks of the colored water and fix as necessary.
Remember,  LP GAS IS VERY DANGEROUS.  SOAP TEST ALL JOINTS AND DONT SMOKE CIGGIES WHILE YOU MESS WITH IT.....
All this fine information will cost you ten cents and you can pay me the next time you see me and here is one more word of advise........ NEVER TAKE MY ADVISE BECAUSE I AM SOMETIMES WRONG......

Go VOTE...  Lots of fine people died so you can do this .......cj
 
Phew.....you guys are right.  It appears to be a water leak coming from above the LP gas line. 

I have all drain valves open, but I am still showing 3/4 full in the water tank.  I am about to blow out the lines.  Will report back.
 
It sounds like you're on the right track here and hopefully you'll be able to find the leak and fix it but I will add....

If the substance were truly mercaptin (the odor in propane) it definitely would not smell like "rusty water", that stuff is nasty!!

This is a long shot here but is it possible that since you're in FL and it's cooling off (hopefully) that this might just be condensation??  We're in south TX right now and every morning the water is running off the rig like it's practically raining.
 
My main drain line is the culprit.  The PVC right before the valve is leaking, not sure how, but this is directly over the LP gas line.

That is an easy fix! 

Thanks for the help guys.
 
I have been thinking about this.. I'm going to hazard a guess...

The fridge is a Dometic isn't it...

I am tempted, seriously tempted, to save the rest of this for tomorrow but.. I will not put you through the anguish

One of the differences between Dometic and Norcold is how they handle condensation (the water that drips off the fins)

Norcold runs it outside into a cup, where hopefully waste heat from the heaters evaporates it,, I can imagine in very high mositure conditions (VERY HUMID) it might overflow but I've never read of it happening.

Dometic just runs the tube out, it is **SUPPPOSED** to be extended out one of the holes in the cover so it can drip on the ground but when I got my coach new it was not so routed.  When they did the Dometic recall I mentioned it to them and the tech, handing the keys to the service consultant, said "I always put it out through the vent hole"  Guess what.. He did not.

And that's where the water is coming from.

Route the black ribbed hose with the thingy in the end through a vent hole and watch that water drip down noto the ground.
 
Actually, I have a Norcold.  I did always wonder why the drip pan didn't have its own drain.  Did not know that it supposed to evaporate from the drain pan.  Good to know!
 
John From Detroit said:
I can imagine in very high mositure conditions (VERY HUMID) it might overflow but I've never read of it happening.

I can help you out with that John.

Norcold fridge 50 miles inland from the Gulf Coast of Texas in late April & May of this year.  Yup that little bugger will definitely overflow, more so when running on electric than gas, apparently the gas provides enough heat to evaporate the moisture "most" of the time.  Electric, not so much.  Every few days I'd come out and open the access door and soak the water out of it with a rag because the container is mounted solid and can't be removed without effort, also the hose isn't long enough to route out of the door and I never did have the time to track down the appropriate spike and hose to make it longer.  Running on gas I never saw it actually overflow but it came really close.
 
cliston, did it indeed turn out that water leaked into your LP line, and if so, how? I was told by RV repairman that I had a lot of water in my LP line, which was causing my Dometic refrigerator not to cool properly. Wondered what your outcome was?  Thanks!  efnatter
 
One more thought.... Propane is cold stuff. in fact the vapor temp is right around -40 (rounded it is -40) and at that temp you do not ask which scale (Crossover point).

That manifold pipe handles ALL the gas, no matter if it's going to fridge, water heater, Stove, Oven or Furnace.

I can see where in high humidity water might condense there.  The rubber line from the regulator to the pipe would not let that much heat in  (The regulator might ice up too) but the gas will still be around zero or colder when it gets to the Manifold pipe.
 

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