Vintage465 wrote:
foxyfades wrote:
I have recently purchased first trailer and is bit of a fixer upper so I am fairly new to this. I have been trying out everything to see what works and does not work. I tried turning on my furnace, water heater, and stove with no success. Tanks about half full. I have tried switching tanks and switching lines but I can hear the gas filling line. When I removed line from the regulator to trailer you could smell the gas leak out so it seemed trapped. I attempted to blow out the lines with compressed air and debris shot back out, did not clear the line. Has anyone run into this or know someone who has? I would really appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.
When you try to light the stove with a match is there any pressure blowing either gas or air in the line? This will tell you if you have pressure to purge and light the burner.
Since you are new to this, Vintage has it right. It takes "time" to purge the air out of the gas lines. Lighting a stove burner may take a few minutes the first time. BUT, you should hear a slight hissing sound out of the stove burner as the air is escaping. The gas will follow only after all the air is out and then it will light. Use a grill lighter at the burner like you are lighting it. Have the flame on and keep it on, before opening the burner valve. The flame should wiggle in the wind. Once the gas comes, it will light. Open a window/roof hatch to vent the camper.
If you have no air/gas hiss/flow at the stove burner, then there is a blockage.
As was stated, don't blow out the gas lines unless all the lines are unhooked from the gas appliances. First, you can jam crud into the gas valves, and second the excess pressure can damage the diaphragms gas valves and the stove regulator.
At this point, you did what you did and that is done. If dirt, rust and other junk spit back from the lines during your blow out, that is bad news. The LP system has no filter in it and tiny orifices.
My suggestion now is, unhook each gas line at each appliance. Unhook the low pressure vapor hose between the regulator and the hard gas pipe. That hose can only handle 1 psi. Check that the camper is piped with hard black iron pipe and then copper gas lines to the appliances. If there are hoses in those lines, they need to be unhooked as they may also be low pressure. Years back, the mains use to be hard piped, now I see newer campers with hose all the way to the appliance which is can be low pressure hose as it is cheaper then high pressure hose. If you have hard pipe, then blow out the lines and put the system back together. The low pressure hoses gravity drain them and only use 1 psi air to see they are clear.
THEN, put the system back together and you need to do 3 LP gas tests to make sure the system is sound, regulating at the correct pressures and you have no leaks.
1. A system pressure drop test
2. A main regulator pressure set point test
3. A main regulator lock up or max pressure test
You need a LP gas gauge or make your own manometer to do those 3 tests. If you never heard of them, do the research or hire a tech who can do the tests. Only attempt any of this if you have the skills to do so.
Odds are high, you will find something not right in the LP system and you need to address it when you find it, before using the camper.
Any used camper I get to restore or use, always gets those 3 checks before I ever attempt to use the camper. And then, once a year there after. RV gas components of today are throw away quality. They are built so cheap you cannot rebuild them, you replace. These are not the high quality gas components used in homes/industry of years ago.
Hope this helps.
John
