Low-No propane flow question

[Hemlockdj]

Good day all,

So I have camped many times in winter in truck campers & trailers and never seen this issue.

Battery full charge(new)- Check
Propane tank full/on - Check
Heater No obstruction on vents/sail switch - Check
Hot water heater empty from winterization - Check


Went to load/prep our Class C 23C Chateau motorhome for a trip to San Diego last week. Nighttime temperatures here in Colorado low 20's, daytime 40-60. Friday afternoon, about 50 degrees, Turned on the Stovetop, gas flowing, good flame. Turn on frig on Propane, pilot light all good. Turned on heater, NO light!

Checked everything, seems fine.

Next Day, Saturday, went out to troubleshoot some more, outside temps about 35 degrees, stovetop NO flame, frig pilot working fine, heater still not lighting.

Drove south towards Santa Fe, NM on Saturday, outside temps around 60 degrees. Stop for the night, stove top, frig & heater all working fine on propane. Everything worked fine for the remainder of the trip.

For some reason propane was not getting to the heater & stovetop when it was cold outside. Never seen this. The heater and the frig are on the same side of coach and stovetop on the opposite side.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[nineoaks2004]

Turn LP off, then slowly turn it back on. If opened fast the safety assumes a bad leak and shuts the LP off. Open it slowly and you should get full propane to the appliances.

[Charlie_D_]

My heater did the same thing. Igniter would spark, heater ran for a few seconds and shut down. Took it apart, cleaned stack and everything else. Problem continued. Opened heater a second time and there was a fine wisp of spider web that was difficult to see. Cleaned it out and everything works.

[Esacnj]

my problem was pigtail. replaced and solved problem. that was after trying regulator replacement. i should have tried pigtail first.

[Hemlockdj]

Thanks for all the replies, I will explore and see what comes of this. Happy camping.

Dave

[enblethen]

Yes, the regulator on the tank. Refers do not use much fuel so it is passing enough for it to operate.
Op has a MH that has one tank through a horizontal regulator.

[allen8106]

Could be the pigtails from the regulator to the tanks. My Jayco 5th wheel was 2 years old and a similar thing happened to me. I replaced the pigtails and everything has worked fine since then. The pigtail have a high flow valve in them to automatically shut off if there is excess flow like in the event a line gets cut or broken. These high flow valves are prone to failure.

[Harvard]

Most likely there is some oil pooling some where in your propane distribution. It becomes a problem when cold and viscous but OK when warm.

[3_tons]

If the heater lights but then goes out it could be the flame prover gone wrong - this happened to me on my Atwood so I removed it (near the exhaust port) and squeezed the two tuning fork like probes together a bit and everything has been fine for the last 5 yrs... I suppose that over time they get out of spec due to road vibration...

Hope this helps,
3 tons

[Hemlockdj]

Are you referring to the regulator on the propane tank? Why would the frig pilot work from the start and stovetop at first work fine, than stop? Not saying your incorrect, just trying to understand the process.

enblethen wrote:
Bad regulator that is allowing some fuel to flow through would allow fuel to accumulate in piping. It would allow for a major usage appliance to burn for a short time.

[enblethen]

Bad regulator that is allowing some fuel to flow through would allow fuel to accumulate in piping. It would allow for a major usage appliance to burn for a short time.

[Hemlockdj]

One thing I forgot to add, sorry, the heater would light for about 1-2 seconds than go out.

Hemlockdj wrote:
Good day all,

So I have camped many times in winter in truck campers & trailers and never seen this issue.

Battery full charge(new)- Check
Propane tank full/on - Check
Heater No obstruction on vents/sail switch - Check
Hot water heater empty from winterization - Check


Went to load/prep our Class C 23C Chateau motorhome for a trip to San Diego last week. Nighttime temperatures here in Colorado low 20's, daytime 40-60. Friday afternoon, about 50 degrees, Turned on the Stovetop, gas flowing, good flame. Turn on frig on Propane, pilot light all good. Turned on heater, NO light!

Checked everything, seems fine.

Next Day, Saturday, went out to troubleshoot some more, outside temps about 35 degrees, stovetop NO flame, frig pilot working fine, heater still not lighting.

Drove south towards Santa Fe, NM on Saturday, outside temps around 60 degrees. Stop for the night, stove top, frig & heater all working fine on propane. Everything worked fine for the remainder of the trip.

For some reason propane was not getting to the heater & stovetop when it was cold outside. Never seen this. The heater and the frig are on the same side of coach and stovetop on the opposite side.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[enblethen]

My first thought would be failing regulator.

[2chiefsRus]

maybe the tank was overfilled? That happened to us once. The liquid was freezing inside the regulator. We poured hot water on the regulator and were able to get the furnace to come on. After we used enough propane to bring it back to the appropriate level, everything worked fine again.