buylow12
May 01, 2015Explorer
Propane smell from water heater
I'm currently boondocking outside of the Grand Canyon and when we were setting up today I smelled propane from the water heater. We've only been using the electric for hot water while in campgrounds and don't bother with hot water while boondocking.
I figure tomorrow I'll go try to find a squirt bottle and test the connections around there with soapy water. If I find a leak what can I do to take care of it, at least temporarily? I'm thinking I'll plan on going to las Vegas Monday if I can't get it figured out.
What if I don't find a leak, could it be the hot water heater itself leaking the gas? If so anything I might be able to do? Would having the water heater running in that case make it safe to have the gas on? Anyway to just shut the gas to the water heater off? I'm not using it anyways, lol.
I had a ventless heater installed just a week ago and the connection is very close to the water heater so maybe that's the issue. The techs checked the connections at that time though. The smell really seems concentrated in the water heater, the smell seemed stronger when I pulled off the cover.
It's a big issue for us since we've been doing a lot of boondocking and need the gas to run the refrigerator. Not to mention it's cold up here for a Florida boy, we need our heat.
Thanks for any help (or just moral support). Recommendations on someone in Vegas to look at it would also be great(or even better here, tomorrow, I can dream can't I)
Tim Czarkowski
TotalTravelers.com
I figure tomorrow I'll go try to find a squirt bottle and test the connections around there with soapy water. If I find a leak what can I do to take care of it, at least temporarily? I'm thinking I'll plan on going to las Vegas Monday if I can't get it figured out.
What if I don't find a leak, could it be the hot water heater itself leaking the gas? If so anything I might be able to do? Would having the water heater running in that case make it safe to have the gas on? Anyway to just shut the gas to the water heater off? I'm not using it anyways, lol.
I had a ventless heater installed just a week ago and the connection is very close to the water heater so maybe that's the issue. The techs checked the connections at that time though. The smell really seems concentrated in the water heater, the smell seemed stronger when I pulled off the cover.
It's a big issue for us since we've been doing a lot of boondocking and need the gas to run the refrigerator. Not to mention it's cold up here for a Florida boy, we need our heat.
Thanks for any help (or just moral support). Recommendations on someone in Vegas to look at it would also be great(or even better here, tomorrow, I can dream can't I)
Tim Czarkowski
TotalTravelers.com