Getting a tad nippy out, living here in the TT.Supposed to get down to minus 32C tonight. (about -25.6F)Cooking dinner just now, oven on baking some salmon, furnace trying to keep this thing warm and 2 burners on the stove going. I noticed that although one burner was on high, the flame was only maybe 30% of what it should be. Furnace shut off and the flame jumped up to high.Don't think the bottle is near empty yet, I've only had it in use for a day and a half. I'm thinking maybe it is too cold for the propane to boil off and flow. Anybody know what temperature that propane stops flowing without warming the bottles?I should have listened to pianotuna and bought an electric blanket for the tanks. Meant to, but never got around to it - too busy trying to work outside in this cool weather.

Thats what I get for going to Calgary to work at this time of year! Yuk yuk!Coulda got a motel, but wheres the fun and challenge in that?

Don't forget, as propane (or LPG) evaporates to run your furnace/cooktop/etc., it cools the liquid in the tank. So while it might flow just fine at -39 under a light load, if you try to run a lot of stuff, it might stop being useful at much higher ambient temperatures. When it gets below -30, you might need a 'lectric blanket out there around the tank. And the problem would be much worse the smaller your tank is. Feeding all those appliances off a thousand gallon residential tank would work much better than off a 20 pound RV tank.

Propane boils at about -50C. However, vapor pressure drops as temperature drops. So... what happens is the max BTU/hr you can draw drops with temperature and with the size of tank, and how much is left in the tank.What your experiencing is probably a combination of all three. low temp, bottle to small capacity, bottle partially filled. I did a web search a while ago, and my memory may be bad but what I recalled was that for a 100lb tank, with 20lbs left, at 0F BTU/hr capacity was around 30KBTU/hr. you've got a smaller tank and lower temps!!!Add to that the oven, furnace, stove..... Ug... hope the WH doesn't decide to turn on!!time to put the tanks to bed with a electric blanket!!BTW my folks, further south than you hit -30F last night and they think it will be colder tonight. Reminds me of Xmas weather in the 60's and 70's with cold and snow!!

"Why do the sides of my propane tank freeze up?" "As you use the vapor propane (that resides in the top of the tank), the liquid (in the bottom of the tank) begins to release replacement vapors. The liquid propane inside your tank must absorb warmth from the steel walls of your tank in order to convert the liquid to a vapor. If your vapor withdrawal rate is larger than the liquid conversion rate, the steel will begin to freeze and ice up as the liquid propane is demanding more and more warmth."

What temperature are you at? Yep that is cold enough, just your luck.There is a propane pressure temperature chart, it is R-290. Yes a refrigerant.Here is a place to find it's pressure at various temperatures.http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/propane-butane-mix-d_1043.htmlSo it looks like -44 and the pressure will be 0 PSI. However recall that you will be boiling the propane inside a tank, so if it is -20 outside, then the tank can reach -44, depending on the speed that you are using the propane from the tank. The slower that you are going to consume propane, the closer you can get to -44 and still have it boil faster than the tank gets cold. If you can rotate tanks, and keep one inside for a while, you will be able to increase it's pressure, and thus have one ready to take outside and hook it up around midnight. (yes thanks for knowing that). If you are collecting a lot of ice on the tank, the ice will help insulate the tank from the heat outside, and make the pressure even lower. Putting the tank into a warm sink full of water is what I have to do when I empty a R-22 freon tank as a vapor into a air conditioner. It will also increase the tank pressure in your case. You would need a bucket slightly larger in diameter than the 30# tank, and then fill it with some hot water, let it soak a while (inside the RV where it will not freeze or lose to much more heat to the outside.)Fred.

What temperature does propane stop flowing? | Good Sam Community

KJINTF
Explorer
Dec 07, 2013
PT

I agree it's often colder out where you are in the open prairie. Even worse there is nothing to block that nasty wind. A wind chill temperature of -49C is crazy cold. Sure hope you and your RV can handle it. Some of "your" Canadian cold air but not much of that nasty wind has made it over the divide. This morning is almost as cold as it gets here at -3F. A large wood powered furnace keeps the house here nice and warm. The RV gets put away in October in a propane heater barn which never gets below 40F.

Stay warm and safe
GENECOP
Explorer II
Dec 07, 2013
You might have a faulty Regulator...they are finicky and fragile...
GENECOP
Explorer II
Dec 07, 2013
We use Lizard heating pads.....very easy, several sizes available, flat black, self adhesive, designed to stick to glass to warm Snake and Lizard enclosures......will work nicely on side of LP Tank.....
BobsYourUncle
Nomad
Dec 07, 2013
It was a trying night. Furnace blowing lukewarm air. I woke up at 3:20 AM and it was 54 inside the TT.
I went outside and switched to the full bottle. That helped a lot. The other wasn't empty but the flow was low.
Yes Don I should have got the heating pad. I knew it was going to be a cold one. I'm so rushed with things to do that I simply put it off and didn't do it.
7:20 AM, it has "warmed up" a bit outside to -26C. Furnace putting out lots of heat now.
No water to the kitchen taps. I've all but given up trying to keep that flowing... I melted the inside bottom of my shore power cable box with the heat gun. Oops!
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 07, 2013
Hi,

It is often colder on the prairies than it is in Alaska. This morning where I am it is -34 C and wind chill is -49 c.

sidney wrote:
I use a 20 lb bottle for my range and a 100 lb bottle for my dryer. Both are set up and stored outside of the house. Been using this set up for 17 winters at our home in Alaska and have never had a problem with the flow or operation of the appliances.
JiminDenver
Explorer II
Dec 07, 2013
You will need to ask someone that has been in HVAC more recently than me but they make heating strips that wrap around compressors to keep them going in cold weather.

I like Dons idea with the block heater. Two of those and you could wrap the tanks in a blanket to help hold in the heat.

It's a balmy -15f here and there is no way I'd be using the trailer short of a emergency.
sidney
Explorer
Dec 07, 2013
I use a 20 lb bottle for my range and a 100 lb bottle for my dryer. Both are set up and stored outside of the house. Been using this set up for 17 winters at our home in Alaska and have never had a problem with the flow or operation of the appliances.
path1
Explorer
Dec 07, 2013
No, but my blood does IMO.

Your really, really going to like next summer!!!
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 07, 2013
Hi Bob,

Yes a battery blanket would work--but will be a lot more expensive than the "house brand" walmart heating pad ($14.xx)
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 07, 2013
Hi,

I see you didn't get the heating pad.

Do you have some rice? Put the rice in a cloth bag of some kind. Dampen it a bit. Cook in the microwave for 4 minutes. CAREFULLY (it will be *ouch* hot) move it to between the two tanks. Repeat as necessary.

Another thought. You could use an ordinary trouble lamp. Not the best--but it will produce some heat.

super heat magnet

It is a small heater that has a powerful magnet in the base--so it will stick to anything that is ferrous, such as the steel in a propane tank--or an engine block.