Leak down test on the LP gas system, leak detected.

[SCADAMAN29325]

Next I will be looking to see if I have any issues with LP Gas system. The stove, furnace and fridge appear to be working fine. I have not tested the water heater yet as I have it in the winterized mode.

From what I can tell, I need to put a pressure guage near the regulator, turn on the gas at the tank, then note the pressure, turn the gas off and hope the pressure does not drop. I should have done the leak down test first, before I tested the appliances, but I didn't know about it then and still made it out alive.

Could someone suggest a guage? I think I want to put it on the 4-port tee, maybe on the 1/4" inverted flare fitting. As someone suggested, I may want to rotate the T ports down to where the 1/4" port is pointing down.

Thanks!

[enblethen]

My memory serves me that the gauge on my old rig was 0 to 1.5 psi.
Had to turn off LP tank and look to see how much PSI dropped in 2 hours. Any drop was bad.

[GottaRunGottaCa]

enblethen wrote:
11-inch column of water I believe translate to somewhere 1/2 PSI.
Anybody know for sure?

There is 28 in. (27.68 to be exact) of water column in 1 PSI.

[Thomas_NH]

Running LP at high altitude is more a problem of getting the liquid in the tanks to flash-up to a gas. The regulator will do it's best to compensate, but if there is little pressure in the tank it won't work. Readjust the pressure is a bad idea for when you return to lower levels. Short-term heating the tank would work, long-term (stationary appliances) changing the orifices is what we do. You probably wouldn't like the way I heat the tanks; I use a torch (yes and open flame on the tank) and no I haven't blown up yet (I've been doing this job for 54 years). I guess you need to know how and where to put the flame.

Yup, 12" WC is pretty close to a half pound, but that's a real pour way of measuring it.

[enblethen]

11-inch column of water I believe translate to somewhere 1/2 PSI.
Anybody know for sure?

[ernie1]

Thomas/NH- What does one do at high altitude when gas appliances don't want to operate? Is it ok to set the regulator for a higher pressure?

[Thomas_NH]

The operating pressure for liquid petroleum or LP gas appliance is 10" - 11" of water column. Going above that pressure you can rupture the pressure regulators in the appliances. I shut off the gas valves and test the lines at 5 PSI for 20 min. I'm a licensed gas technician.

[wolfe10]

A little difficult to tell from the picture, but it appears the regulator vent in in the long axis of the regulator. This is NOT the correct PN for a horizontal installation.

The vent (quarter sized screen) needs to POINT DOWN.

The place you bought it should have asked if it would be installed horizontally or vertically.

Yes, this is a safety issue.

[enblethen]

Gauge should be on the line beyond the regulator. My old Itasca had a gauge installed in the refer outside access.
Soapy water is beast for the high-pressure side.