Propane valve wont seal - unusual? How to fix?

mobeewan wrote:
You might want to check with a propane distributor that does home and business delivery and installs and delivers tanks to those homes and businesses. They should have all the equipment necessary to safely empty tanks and cylinders and perform maintenance on them.

thank you very much for that information! I am going to pursue that direction.

You might want to check with a propane distributor that does home and business delivery and installs and delivers tanks to those homes and businesses. They should have all the equipment necessary to safely empty tanks and cylinders and perform maintenance on them.

I had two brand new 30 lb cylinders that were not properly purged as I requested when they were filled. These cylinders had vacuum purges done at the factory. According to the distributor that eventually helped me, a factory Purge was no longer reliable after 6 months anyway. He said that 6 months after a cylinder was manufactured he would normally purge a new unused cylinder using propane before filling them.

Both places that had filled the brand new cylinders that I took to them did not purge them prior to filling them. I later learned that the persons filling the cylinders thought purging the cylinder was done by opening the spitter valve before putting the propane in the cylinder. So all they did was to suck humid air into the cylinder when they opened the spitter before allowing propane to flow into them.

I was not able to use the cylinders because they would cause my trailer furnace to sputter and pop. When switching over to my other cylinders the sputtering and popping went away.

I didn't have anywhere that I could safely just open the spitter screw on the cylinders and let them bleed off in order to empty them and both cylinders were full.

The propane distributer had a small trailer with a high volume burner on it that they used and could transport where needed to burn off the propane from tanks and cylinders that they needed to empty. I believe they told me it was capable of burning propane at a rate of 1 million BTUs per minute. It was temporarily on loan to the volunteer fire department, so I left the two cylinders with them and picked them up a few days later.

After burning off the propane, they removed the valves in order to put in an alcohol to rinse and remove any moisture still in the cylinders. They then reinstalled the valves, purged the cylinders and refilled them. They only charged me for the propane refills and about 10 or 12 dollars total for the labor. I didn't have any more problems with propane from those cylinders causing the furnace to sputter and pop.

ajriding wrote:
10 mins sounds like a long time. Can you confirm that a functioning system will not run a stove for 10 minutes?
11-14WC is about 0.5psi in the line. It should run some with the tank off, but 10 mins sounds like more than enough time to drain out the lines. Also a variable is how many feet of propane plumbing there is to pull from.
When you open the propane compartment it should smell. If on a trailer outside, then it will be hard to detect a smell if leaking.
Without the stove test, I would consider a leak in the line somewhere also, the gen would have the same effect.
Hopefully it is your tank or the hose/fitting that it connects to, or the regulator as these are easy to replace.

1. The stove is almost straight above the tank. So the line is going to be very short
2. Dont smell anything - but - as this is an AMSE tank and there is no floor under the tank and if anything was leaking, the propane would fall to the ground and disapate.

Chris Bryant wrote:
Sorry to ask the obvious, but you don’t have two valve do you? One liquid for the genset, one vapor, or two vapor.

there is a fill valve, an overflow valve and a valve that leads to the pressure regulator that leads into the RV

Sorry to ask the obvious, but you don’t have two valve do you? One liquid for the genset, one vapor, or two vapor.

10 mins sounds like a long time. Can you confirm that a functioning system will not run a stove for 10 minutes?
11-14WC is about 0.5psi in the line. It should run some with the tank off, but 10 mins sounds like more than enough time to drain out the lines. Also a variable is how many feet of propane plumbing there is to pull from.
When you open the propane compartment it should smell if a leak is there. If on a trailer outside, then it will be hard to detect a smell if leaking.
Without the stove test, I would consider a leak in the line somewhere also, the gen would have the same effect.
Hopefully it is your tank or the hose/fitting that it connects to, or the regulator as these are easy to replace.

**wont matter how close the appliance is to the tank, just how much plumbing there is in the system. If you have 100 feet of pipe past the stove, then there is 100 feet of propane that can feed the stove…

I have replaced my own LP gas valves, but would not recommend it for anyone not comfortable working around propane and or if you don't have the needed tools.

Time for a new valve.

Thx for the feedback!

Well seeing how the RV in question is a class C, yes take it to a propane distributor that will have a service shop that can fix your issue.

I would suggest taking the tank to a Propane Supplier (not a refill it place). They will know how to deal with the tank. Be very careful with the tank as a leaking valve would be very much a hazard to transport.

It might be safer to transport it while it is installed because as soon as you disconnect it it will be leaking into the atmosphere.

Good luck.