16 F and heat has failed...

[Twisties]

I have propane in both tanks. Heat was running fine all night set at 66 F. I turned it up to 72 at 6:30 am when I got up and now it's 57 and dropping like a rock.

I hear the furnace try to fire, but it goes right off, within a second.

[Tbos]

I’ve heard of people having their regulators freeze. They thawed them with a blow dryer and all was well. Hope you get heat back soon.

[chuckster57]

Have you lit the stove to verify you haven’t run out of propane? Are your propane cylinders out in the open?

[Twisties]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Have you lit the stove to verify you haven’t run out of propane? Are your propane cylinders out in the open?

Both cylinders have propane. They are enclosed in the 5th wheel as designed, however, I opened the door on the sunny side and the morning sun is hitting that container.

The stove will run, but the flame seems weak.

[JRTJH]

Propane "boils" inside the tank and the "gas produced by that boiling" is what flows to the regulator. The propane tanks are "vertical and limited in liquid surface area" AND at temps below about 25F, the "boiling slows down". That means there's less gas flowing to the regulator, even though the tanks are full.

What happens is the gas volume through the regulator falls below the level required to support the 35000 BTU requirement of the furnace. There may be enough gas pressure to run a stovetop burner (5000 BTU) but not enough "vaporized gas" in the tank to support the furnace.

The only way to fix that problem is to warm the propane tanks. One way is to put a hair dryer on the tank for a while. That can be dangerous, so use caution. Another way is to buy a magnetic or adhesive heating blanket and attach it to the bottom of the propane rack. DO NOT ATTACH IT TO THE PROPANE TANK..... The heat will rise, warm the tank enough to keep the propane above that "vaporization temperature" and solve your problem.

[Twisties]

Presently up to 25 F out there. The tank it was running on overnight has a hard frost on it. I switched to the other tank which is full and getting sun, but no joy. I'm thinking it's the regulator. Will try the blow dryer on it if it doesn't clear in a few minutes.

[Twisties]

Well, problem resolved -- partly user error... doh...

Apparently the tank it was running on overnight got too cold. The other tank was not properly connected... my bad. When I connected the other tank the sudden pressure may have triggered an over pressure protection... some sort of ball valve.... that restricted flow. Tech suggested turn off and disconnect all propane. Reconnect all propane and turn on valves very slowly.

That took care of it.

Thanks for all the help!

[flybouy]

LP tanks have a "leak" safety valve. When you open the valve rapidly it's the sudden high flow rate that triggers the safety device and shuts off the flow. When you shut it all off, open the lines and start over slowly then the valve on the tank doesn't "see" it as a leak.

[Stumpy75]

Originally Posted by Twisties

Presently up to 25 F out there. The tank it was running on overnight has a hard frost on it.

The fact that one tank had frost on it is an indication that too much propane was trying to be pulled from it(made worse by the low temperature of the propane). As was mentioned, a warming blanket would help.

Glad you got the problem solved...