Possible propane leak?

happy2rv wrote:

Hewey wrote:


Yes this is a brand new RV/furnace but I have used the furnace on/off since April(had a few early season cool nights). I would say atleast 10 hours of run time but nothing warmer than 18 Celsius up till this weekend.

Yes, only smelt when furnace is actually running. But not instantly, would be after its ran for awhile through some cycles then come back into trailer to. There is no smoke whatsoever just the smell.

Normally, I would think 10 hours would be enough to get burn off most of the coatings and such, but it depends on how long it actually fired vs just intermittent use. After our first fiasco, we opened all doors and windows and cranked it up to around 90F with an ambient temp of around 70F for an hour or so. After that, we had occasional light smell, but much less.

It's definitely worth checking things out. Verify that your co and propane detectors are functional.

Yah when heater would run it would only be for Run 3-5 mins each time. Maybe it never got hot long enough to actually burn any left over off.. got the heater fired up again right now to go check it in awhile before calling RV dealer.

The detector is working good, tested it last night. So that’s good to know.

Hewey wrote:


Yes this is a brand new RV/furnace but I have used the furnace on/off since April(had a few early season cool nights). I would say atleast 10 hours of run time but nothing warmer than 18 Celsius up till this weekend.

Yes, only smelt when furnace is actually running. But not instantly, would be after its ran for awhile through some cycles then come back into trailer to. There is no smoke whatsoever just the smell.

Normally, I would think 10 hours would be enough to get burn off most of the coatings and such, but it depends on how long it actually fired vs just intermittent use. After our first fiasco, we opened all doors and windows and cranked it up to around 90F with an ambient temp of around 70F for an hour or so. After that, we had occasional light smell, but much less.

It's definitely worth checking things out. Verify that your co and propane detectors are functional.

I doubt your wife damaged the regulator. But I do think you should not be smelling any propane smell.

I honestly think the propane detector would alarm if there was propane to worry about. If you still have concerns then it is best to have a fellow RV person or shop verify the function and smell.

My Cavagna regulator rotates down across the bottom.

time2roll wrote:
I think the furnace is fine and with the detector I would not worry.

You need to revisit with DW exactly what she did and check for leaks at the regulator. Good chance the regulator is leaking if it was forced the wrong direction. Generally the only time the lever is flipped is when it shows red and you are replacing a filled cylinder.

I sure hope it just took that extended heat cycle to burn off anything but having my 18 month old daughter in there sleeping with the furnace running as well makes me question the smell is all. Just curious your thoughts or reasoning on why you think it’s fine?

Yea she went to flip it as she was worried the one tank was going to run out. Instead of, when looking st front of trailer, flipping up from left to right. She rotated it down left to right.

happy2rv wrote:
A couple of things to check.

Do you only smell it when the furnace is actually running? If so, that pretty much eliminates any leaks up to the gas valve in the furnace. Is this a brand new RV/furnace? Many dealers don't even test fire the furnaces. The new furnace parts are coated with oils and other materials that burn off in the first few hours of use. This shouldn't smell like propane necessarily, but it can be a really obnoxious smell and ours generated more than enough smoke to set off the smoke alarms the first half hour we ran it.

The combustion air, therefore the propane, shouldn't mix with the interior air at all unless there are serious problems with the furnace. When the furnace starts, the blower should come on well before the gas is turned on. The gas valve is only opened after air flow is verified by the controller. So, if it actually is propane and its coming from the furnace, it would likely be a leak in the line between the gas valve and the burner in the furnace.

If you had a problem with pressure from the regulator, you should see problems with other appliances as well. If you have a propane smell in the tank cover, that's likely a separate issue. I would check to make sure all connections are tight and if you have more than one tank, try switching to the other tank and turning the valve off on the tank you aren't using.

Yes this is a brand new RV/furnace but I have used the furnace on/off since April(had a few early season cool nights). I would say atleast 10 hours of run time but nothing warmer than 18 Celsius up till this weekend.

Yes, only smelt when furnace is actually running. But not instantly, would be after its ran for awhile through some cycles then come back into trailer to. There is no smoke whatsoever just the smell.

I think the furnace is fine and with the detector I would not worry.

You need to revisit with DW exactly what she did and check for leaks at the regulator. Good chance the regulator is leaking if it was forced the wrong direction. Generally the only time the lever is flipped is when it shows red and you are replacing a filled cylinder.

A couple of things to check.

Do you only smell it when the furnace is actually running? If so, that pretty much eliminates any leaks up to the gas valve in the furnace. Is this a brand new RV/furnace? Many dealers don't even test fire the furnaces. The new furnace parts are coated with oils and other materials that burn off in the first few hours of use. This shouldn't smell like propane necessarily, but it can be a really obnoxious smell and ours generated more than enough smoke to set off the smoke alarms the first half hour we ran it.

The combustion air, therefore the propane, shouldn't mix with the interior air at all unless there are serious problems with the furnace. When the furnace starts, the blower should come on well before the gas is turned on. The gas valve is only opened after air flow is verified by the controller. So, if it actually is propane and its coming from the furnace, it would likely be a leak in the line between the gas valve and the burner in the furnace.

If you had a problem with pressure from the regulator, you should see problems with other appliances as well. If you have a propane smell in the tank cover, that's likely a separate issue. I would check to make sure all connections are tight and if you have more than one tank, try switching to the other tank and turning the valve off on the tank you aren't using.

I did test the co/propane alarm with a blow torch unlit and it definitely alarmed. I had the sensor go off early in the morning and didn’t use propane after that. Upon bringing it home, searching for leak again and not seeing anything fired it up again and got it to 30 degrees c for about an hour, and didn’t notice the smell this time actually. Just got back in from checking

I’ve used the furnace quite a few times actually through the night. The “smells” I read about is why I pumped the heat way up and ran it longer than the 10 or so min each time through the night.

By regulator valve I was referring to the auto regulator valve at the tanks where you switch from tank to tank with the lever.

If it was propane inside the RV the LP Detector should be ALARMING

New RV....how many times have you used furnace?
New furnaces have an odor when first being used...from oils/metals in furnace


WHat is a regulator valve??