Propane smell

I second or third or whatever the opening the windows and airing it out. But also turn on the stove burner and bleed out any remaining propane in the lines first.

$1 for spray bottle
2 cents worth of liquid soap
Fill up 1/2 bottle with water, add 2-4 tablespoons of liquid soap and spray all the propane piping you can access - shaking the sprayer every minute.
Don't rush. Small leak can show bubbling a minute after spray.

Ever get propane on your hands?..It's tough to get rid of the smell even washing them..When I get a new to me RV,one of the first things I do is the soapy water on connections...There is also a pressure Guage that goes in the line to detect leaks..

Just guessing,if something was getting leaked on for quite a while it would have a propane smell for some time....Air out your TC really good and get someone with a fresh nose to hunt down the area that smells...

I would get a new propane warning detector and if it shows propane I would rush to a professional and not mess around with it.

NEOK wrote:
The odorant put in propane so you can smell the gas is very strong and will tend to hang around anything it is close to such as your propane storage compartment.

In addition to the above , I have noticed the odor is stronger as the bottles are nearing empty . It could also be the remaining gas and odorant in the lines after removing the regulator .

batteries burning up have a nasty smell.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
With reg and cyclinders completely removed the smell will go away ......some propane may leak from the open line from where reg connected to main lp piping.

Not sure why you removed the reg/cylinders but if leaving them out permanently then you should cap/plug the open line where reg was and another open line

. I Removed the regulator and the two tanks to try process of elimination because of the smell of propane, I will try airing everything out thanks

With reg and cyclinders completely removed the smell will go away ......some propane may leak from the open line from where reg connected to main lp piping.

Not sure why you removed the reg/cylinders but if leaving them out permanently then you should cap/plug the open line where reg was and another open line

I did a stupid last year. Thought i smelled propane when we stopped in Tucumcari after driving 600 miles. I could only smell it outside and at the rear of the trailer where there are no propane lines or anything so passed it off as maybe not propane or not our trailer. Stove and heater worked fine that night and didnt smell in the morning. Next day we head to Needles, Ca and our fuel stop was in Flagstaff where I smelled it again but this time at the front. I removed the tank cover and didnt see anything that looked loose or notice hissing or anything. We fueled up and headed to Needles and when we arrived I could smell it again. I knew there was no way we did not have a leak so took a big bottle of windex and laid under the trailer and found a fractured flare fitting right next to the leaf spring hangar. It was a copper flare where it joined a steel pipe heading to the to tongue. I figured somwhere before Tucumcari some road debris must of hit the pipe or the manufacture way over tightened it and it finally failed. Cost me at least 15 gallons of propane and had to drive home from Needles to San Diego with the genny running to keep the food cold/frozen.


Anyway if you smell propane you have a issue!

Open all windows and vents, open cabinets ... turn all vent fans on for a couple hours overnight if its convenient. Then close it up for a few hours, or overnight. If it smells like gas again, you probably have a connection leak inside.

Lots of soap bubbles on every joint - watch for the bubbling. If that don't fix it, put plugs in the unit connectors and put a ten pound air test on it, and soap the joints again.

They sell test fluid, but it's not any better than bubbling dish soap, and costs more. Good luck.