Refrigerator, how does it work?

Thanks for the update. Will take awhile to get the hang of all the systems.

Just to let you know that the problem was on the pipes, just some cleaning and started to work just fine. Thanks for your tips, now everything is working perfect!

I am now in Guatemala and heading south to Peru. If you want to follow the adventure you can do it here:

www.facebook.com/KeepMovingPeru

I also know the meaning of "Purge". It means to remove something we don't want (air) and replace it with something we want (gas). If Doug is to stand by his position, he should stick with "refill"

I may not be an "RV" specialist but I am a flow, pressure, control valve, burner and regulator specialist so I believe I am qualified to make an observation.

First of all, I seldom run my tanks empty. I remove my tanks when low and take them for refill. When full I reconnect them. The disconnect time can vary from 10 minutes if my RV is at the refill station to hours if I have to take them for refill. Usually it is the longer.

When reconnected, I open the tank valve. When that valve is opened, all the lines are charged by the regulator, to regulator pressure, in a very short amount of time. Now if the lines are full of gas but at a low pressure then they should pressure up with gas to regulator pressure and if it is all pure gas then the stove burner should light instantly. Mine doesn't. If you don't try to light it, you should be able to smell it. I can't. You should be able to hear it, I can. This tells me there is an unburnable mixture coming out of the burner. If it were too rich, I should be able to smell it while unlit, I can't. If it is too lean, i.e. too much air, there would be very little if any odor, which is my experience. The only way to tell for sure would be to take a portable flammable gas analyzer and test what is coming from the burner. Since I work in the O&G industry overseas, I can't check one out for the month and test it. I can only rely on my observations and experience. My observation is it acts like air. Unless someone proves me wrong by gas analysis, I stand by my observation.

opnspaces wrote:
I always light the stove burners and let them run for about 30 seconds before I try to light the refrigerator on gas.

Say what you want about the idea of air in the lines. My trailer gets parked in storage with the bottles off. After a month or two I pick up the trailer and try to light the stove.

There is a hiss like the propane if flowing but it just blows a match out. If I lean down and sniff I don't smell anything. After a good 20 - 30 seconds a the burner will light. But, it just lights one or two of the holes in the burner for a second or two, then the flame finally marches around the burner.

To me that is air in the line. It has behaved this way for the 9 years that I've owned it.

My experience exactly! BTW I have worked in the gas industry for almost 40 years and I know what mercaptan smells like.

dougrainer wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Where is everybody getting all this air in their propane systems?

I always shake my head at that too.. Grew up with propane in the kitchen, We never lit the stove immed after changing bottles, never had "Air in the line" enough to notice, NEVER, not in over 20 years on the farm, with 3 buildings with propane used for cooking and some heating (Water mostly).

Of course on a motor home after the initial use during PDI at the dealership.. the word "Impossible" comes to mind.

HOWEVER: Lighting the stove top is a test of the propane delivery system, Many problems can exist, Including such things as,, Closed gas valve, Empty tank, Bad regulator. and if this is the case, no flame at the stove top will be a symptom.

Because BOTH of you do NOT have the years of experience dealing with RV's. The most common reason is VERY simple. The RV'er runs the tank or tanks empty and then refills. OR, he has the tank/s shut off and runs an LP appliance until the lines are empty. He then has to purge the complete system since it has been run "dry". I see this all the time. It just takes a few minutes to purge and get the LP thruout the system. Doug

On edit, it is really not "air" in the lines on a system that has been in use. It is a LACK of LP in the lines because the LP has been purged by the appliances. You have to refill the LP lines(purge).

Exactly my point.......

It is NOT air in system but lack of propane flow
Using the stove top burners establishes that flow....where trying to get flow going using fridge/water heater/furnace will need several attempts due to those appliances timing out.

wa8yxm wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Where is everybody getting all this air in their propane systems?

I always shake my head at that too.. Grew up with propane in the kitchen, We never lit the stove immed after changing bottles, never had "Air in the line" enough to notice, NEVER, not in over 20 years on the farm, with 3 buildings with propane used for cooking and some heating (Water mostly).

Of course on a motor home after the initial use during PDI at the dealership.. the word "Impossible" comes to mind.

HOWEVER: Lighting the stove top is a test of the propane delivery system, Many problems can exist, Including such things as,, Closed gas valve, Empty tank, Bad regulator. and if this is the case, no flame at the stove top will be a symptom.

Because BOTH of you do NOT have the years of experience dealing with RV's. The most common reason is VERY simple. The RV'er runs the tank or tanks empty and then refills. OR, he has the tank/s shut off and runs an LP appliance until the lines are empty. He then has to purge the complete system since it has been run "dry". I see this all the time. It just takes a few minutes to purge and get the LP thruout the system. Doug

On edit, it is really not "air" in the lines on a system that has been in use. It is a LACK of LP in the lines because the LP has been purged by the appliances. You have to refill the LP lines(purge).

I always light the stove burners and let them run for about 30 seconds before I try to light the refrigerator on gas.

Say what you want about the idea of air in the lines. My trailer gets parked in storage with the bottles off. After a month or two I pick up the trailer and try to light the stove.

There is a hiss like the propane if flowing but it just blows a match out. If I lean down and sniff I don't smell anything. After a good 20 - 30 seconds a the burner will light. But, it just lights one or two of the holes in the burner for a second or two, then the flame finally marches around the burner.

To me that is air in the line. It has behaved this way for the 9 years that I've owned it.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Where is everybody getting all this air in their propane systems?

I always shake my head at that too.. Grew up with propane in the kitchen, We never lit the stove immed after changing bottles, never had "Air in the line" enough to notice, NEVER, not in over 20 years on the farm, with 3 buildings with propane used for cooking and some heating (Water mostly).

Of course on a motor home after the initial use during PDI at the dealership.. the word "Impossible" comes to mind.

HOWEVER: Lighting the stove top is a test of the propane delivery system, Many problems can exist, Including such things as,, Closed gas valve, Empty tank, Bad regulator. and if this is the case, no flame at the stove top will be a symptom.

Old-Biscuit,
Sounds reasonable. Whatever the cause, the solution mentioned works.

It's not air......

When disconnecting hoses from cylinders there is a check valve inside the ACME screw on hose which keeps line pressure in hose/system.

What is needed is a demand on the system for flow.......so regulator will open.

Lighting off the stove top burners creates this demand for flow quicker than the tiny little flame in fridge.
Furnace/water heater will also create this demand for flow except the timing/flame proofing circuit on them shuts down ignition/main flame before sufficient flow can occur.

Air in system would mean propane leaked out and would continue to leak out when cylinders/tanks were valved in.

Its demand for flow.........not purging air.