Water heater not heating

westend wrote:
I'd try this: Turn off valves on both (or single) propane tank/cylinder. Wait five minutes. Very slowly open service valve. Light stove top and let run. Try to start water heater.

It sounds like you have a mish-mosh of hoses and connections. There shouldn't be a hose clamp in the mix. The best situation is to have solid metal pipe/tubing to all appliances. A hose between a removable cylinder and the rest of the gas lines is perfectly acceptable.

A change in elevation won't effect any gas line attachments. There is a regulator between the tank/cylinder and the rest of the gas plumbing.

It may be that you are opening the service valve too fast and the cylinder's OPD is closing delivery or the same with a safety type hose.

Thanks for the post.

The tank is under the vehicle so its design is such that I don't open valves, though there is an emergency cutoff.

The clamp came into the equation here in Dallas. First, we had one end come off. We secured that and drove west. In Amarillo the kid took the whole hose off, disappeared, and came back with same hose, reattached it. Then it detached at other end somewhere between Moab and Colorado.

When we came back they did drop test---I don't know why, except that we lost gas, but if one end of a hose comes off I have a pretty good idea how it was lost. I said uh, no, we're wondering why the hose keeps coming off. Should it be held on with a clamp or something?

So I guess they thought that was a good idea. I'm no mechanic and I didn't insist, but they must not have seen a problem with it or had a better idea.

Edited: its, not it's