Voice of experience: There are few things quite like changing out a propane regulator when the temperature is 17 degrees (F) below zero. Just finished doing exactly that.
The old regulator had a date stamp of 10-00, as in October 2010. Industry standard is to replace regulators that are more than 15 years old, although some companies claim their regulators will last 25 years.
Personally, I prefer to replace regulators that are more than 10 years old. I actually bought a new regulator several years ago but hadn't gotten around to using it to replace the old regulator. (It sat in the shop until today.)
Replacing it was on my summer to-do lists for a couple of years but I never seemed to get that far down on the list(s). The old regulator started acting up early this fall and finally failed about a week ago.
Propane stops vaporizing around 25-30 degrees (F) below zero. We use a direct vent propane heater as the primary heat in the cabin we live in. When temperatures drop too low for the propane, we switch to the wood stove. (The wood stove can heat the cabin up to 90+ degrees, even when it's 50 below outside.)
It's supposed to get warmer (above zero and even into the teens) in a day or two, so I was trying to wait until then to replace the regulator. Unfortunately, we ran out of firewood so I really had to do it today. (My wife is going to get more firewood the next time she goes to town but didn't want to go this soon.)
For everyone reading this, you might want to consider replacing the propane regulator in your motorhome before the next camping season rather than wait until fails like I just did.
