While camping this weekend, I realized our LP tank was nearly empty. We drove into the local town and found a True Value store that filled tanks. The tank has an OPD and from what I have read since returning, I know that he just connected the hose and relied on the OPD to stop the fill. He did not touch the bleeder valve.When we got back to the camper, I hooked it up, opened the value, and could not get any gas to flow. I sat at our stove for 10 minutes waiting for something. I tried unhooking and hooking it up again. Nothing. At no time did I hear gas hiss while connecting or disconnecting the hose, which tells me no gas was ever leaving the tank.Everything I have read says that this is not an OPD issue as that would only prevent the tank from filling, not from releasing gas. Since the only thing that changed is we had the tank refilled, I have to think that something related to the tank is causing our problem, but I have no idea what.Looking for any thoughts anyone might have.Thanks

Close valve, open again VERY SLOWLY it has a valve that will shut off flow if opened too fast (as in leak). Try that.

shut valve and then reopen SLOWLY. Safety in OPD may have shut down.

had this happen to me couple years ago. my hose from the tank to the regulator had to be change. the end that go on the tank had cracked inside and it wouldn't tight enough to push the valve spring in to allow propane to come out out.

Did you watch the gallon gauge while he was filling it? I had a similar problem with a tank a couple of years ago. As it turned out, the tank was never purged properly on the first fill. As it was...the tank would only take about a gallon and the cooktop wouldn't light. I took it to another place and told them about it and while the guy was filling it he opened the bleeder screw to let the air out till the propane came..... Now that sucker takes around 6-7 gallons! Not to mention it's not "aired down" propane and everything works great!

Propane tank refilled, cannot get gas flow | Good Sam Community

19 Replies

joshuajim
Explorer II
Jun 22, 2013
mlts22 wrote:
If it was a 20# bottle, I wonder about just exchanging it. Won't work for bigger sizes, of course.

It wouldn't be a very class act to make it someone else's problem, would it?
mlts22
Explorer II
Jun 21, 2013
If it was a 20# bottle, I wonder about just exchanging it. Won't work for bigger sizes, of course.
jstorta15
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
So. I finally managed to get to the LP place today. Before I headed down, I flipped the tank over and banged it (gently) on the dirt a couple times and tried again. No luck.

At the LP place, the guy screwed on what I would guess was some sort of tester. As he screws it in, we hear the valve make a click and gas comes out as expected when he opens the tank.

He then attached the ACME nut that I just bought and gas comes out as it should.

I asked him if there was anything special about the thing he screwed in and he said no but sometimes dirt or something can get in there and keep the valve from opening. I can only speculate that whatever he screwed on was able to push open the valve a little harder than the ACME nut could.

So basically, there is no magic bullet. It seems to be working fine now. The shame is that since I still do not know the cause, I cannot say when/if it will happen again.

Anyway. I have a functioning LP tank again.

Thanks everyone.
sum1
Explorer
Jun 21, 2013
I also recommend giving it a good bang on the asphalt. I just don't remember which way I did it, right side up or upside down.
jstorta15
Explorer
Jun 19, 2013
I actually did flip it upside down and shook it a little. No change.

To be fair, I was not comfortable shaking/banging it too much.
nevadanick
Explorer
Jun 19, 2013
Turn the tank over and hit it against the ground. I had one that did this and took it to propane dist and the guy said the opd was stuck and did that and it worked.
SaltiDawg
Explorer
Jun 19, 2013
jstorta15 wrote:
...
I turned the bleeder screw a little and propane came out immediately so I think that confirms there is no air that needed to be purged.
...

I don't believe that this is a valid conclusion. When you have a lot of air in an LP tank and crack the bleeder you will always get a stream of a mixture of air and propane.

Generally on a backyard gas grill, the amount of air in the tank will not be obvious in that the burner will usually heat up just fine. That said, if using the tank to power a generator it will be very obvious.

That said, the symptoms you are describing do not suggest air in the tank to me.

Can you borrow a 20# tank from a neighbor and see if that works?

Best of luck.
mguay
Explorer
Jun 19, 2013
Keep us posted on what you find!
jstorta15
Explorer
Jun 19, 2013
Well. Did a couple things with no success.

I turned the bleeder screw a little and propane came out immediately so I think that confirms there is no air that needed to be purged.

I picked up a new ACME nut at Lowe's and screwed it on. After screwing on the nut, I opened the valve (slowly and then all the way) and not a bit of Propane came out.

This is the nut I bought.
Lowe's ACME Nut

I am presuming that screwing this on would have pushed open the valve and allowed gas to flow out when I opened it up. nothing.

So I am fairly certain that the issue is with the tank/OPD valve. I am going to take it to the LP shop down the street and see what they say.
red31
Explorer
Jun 18, 2013
jstorta15 wrote:
Thank you for the feedback.
I never heard the usual hiss as it disconnects. It was definitely like there was no gas coming out at all.

One feature of the ACME connector is to push the spring loaded valve open to allow gas to flow. If it does not push far enough to open then there will be no flow, this feature comes from a thermal bushing in the ACME so that when it melts from fire, the valve shuts. If this bushing has failed then the valve is never pushed open. New hose should fix it.