Where does the propane go?
Ol biscuit and I disagreed on whether or not is was possible for there to be air in a propane system basically with the tank valve shut and all the appliances turned off(valves shut). He said impossi...
Forum Discussion
I want to thank all of you who were involved with this discussion, for making me think. One of you has a tagline similar to “Sometimes I like a good think”. So do I and resolving this issue was truly a good think, on one hand we had the “the propane leaked out of this closed system and on the other hand we had the group that believed the propane was still in the system. I believe now that both are correct. I am not ignoring anyone, I am just going to use two seemingly experts in the area of RV systems, Chris Bryant and OldBiscuit.
First a little background, I am 75 years and three days old and have tried to listen to the advise that the wonderful guy who raised me gave me. He believed in the Golden Rule, that things are not always as they seem and that you can add apples and oranges, it’s just that it is then fruit salad. I’m not an engineer like my DOD(Dear Old Dad) was, I am severely dyslexic so often I have a extremely difficult time explaining what I think. Sometimes I seem really weird, like saying propane somehow becomes an inert gas, I know that is probably impossible.
OldBiscuit is not really an old curmudgeon like me, he is just mischievous and as he told me, “don’t take anything we say here personally, we’re just having fun”. So if I offended any of you, you deserved it(now I’m having fun).
After THINKING about it for a while, and finally realizing that there were valves in the circuit other than the on/off valve on the tank, the solenoid safety valve that is part of the Propane detector and the on/off on the range, there are the electrically controlled valves on the fridge, water heater and furnace, and as Chris showed us, these are not the positive stop valves like the stop valve on the tank. They do and always have and may always continue to leak propane in minute amounts. On the other hand, Old Biscuit said there was still propane in the lines and could blow a match out without igniting, until flow through the regulator was re-established and the correct fuel to air ratio is reached.
Both guys are, in my beautiful and totally logical mind, correct. And in part validate my inert gas comment. Some or most of the propane leaks out through the individual appliance control valves and the remaining propane does not have the correct ratio of fuel to air to combust but it is still propane. It isn’t truly accurate to say it is inert, but, sometimes my beautiful and logical mind doesn’t have the correct words to express what I envision.
Therefore, in my exalted position as an elder statesman, I have determined that our RVs have closed propane systems which leak and yet, they always have propane in them. “Case closed” and so my fellow RVers, we were all correct but we just explained it differently.
Not to be corny, but, thank you and may who ever made your RV bless you.
First a little background, I am 75 years and three days old and have tried to listen to the advise that the wonderful guy who raised me gave me. He believed in the Golden Rule, that things are not always as they seem and that you can add apples and oranges, it’s just that it is then fruit salad. I’m not an engineer like my DOD(Dear Old Dad) was, I am severely dyslexic so often I have a extremely difficult time explaining what I think. Sometimes I seem really weird, like saying propane somehow becomes an inert gas, I know that is probably impossible.
OldBiscuit is not really an old curmudgeon like me, he is just mischievous and as he told me, “don’t take anything we say here personally, we’re just having fun”. So if I offended any of you, you deserved it(now I’m having fun).
After THINKING about it for a while, and finally realizing that there were valves in the circuit other than the on/off valve on the tank, the solenoid safety valve that is part of the Propane detector and the on/off on the range, there are the electrically controlled valves on the fridge, water heater and furnace, and as Chris showed us, these are not the positive stop valves like the stop valve on the tank. They do and always have and may always continue to leak propane in minute amounts. On the other hand, Old Biscuit said there was still propane in the lines and could blow a match out without igniting, until flow through the regulator was re-established and the correct fuel to air ratio is reached.
Both guys are, in my beautiful and totally logical mind, correct. And in part validate my inert gas comment. Some or most of the propane leaks out through the individual appliance control valves and the remaining propane does not have the correct ratio of fuel to air to combust but it is still propane. It isn’t truly accurate to say it is inert, but, sometimes my beautiful and logical mind doesn’t have the correct words to express what I envision.
Therefore, in my exalted position as an elder statesman, I have determined that our RVs have closed propane systems which leak and yet, they always have propane in them. “Case closed” and so my fellow RVers, we were all correct but we just explained it differently.
Not to be corny, but, thank you and may who ever made your RV bless you.
