Near Disaster Propane Refuel Experience

[adamis]

Getting ready for a business road trip up to Seattle I decided to top off the Propane tanks in Redding. I first stopped at a gas station that could refuel propane but the lady was too busy working the counter and couldn't assist. I ended up at a U-Haul location and of my own accord I proceeded to turn off the battery disconnect so the fridge was off.

The guy proceeded to top off the first tank without issues and then started on the second tank. When the tank was full, he attempted to release the line pressure so he could disconnect the hose however the tank valve was not sealing properly. Initially we didn't know this was the problem as he tried releasing what we thought was just residual pressure in the line not realizing it was the tank emptying.

What then happened was a bit scary as he figured out the problem and attempted to close everything off but the pressure drop must have frozen something in the valve because it refused to seal shut. At one point the system just started blowing off causing a freeze over and I had to yell at the guy to get his gloves on (he had taken them off for a second for some reason) so he didn't freeze his hands as he tried to get the valve shut. I was standing behind him helping to hold the heavy line up (the tanks are high on the camper making it cumbersome with the bulky lines). There was a period of 5 to 7 seconds where Propane was just venting out of the tank uncontrollably and the Darwin alarm in me started to sound that it was time to abandon camper and high tail it away from the rig. Just as I was getting set for my mad dash the guy was able to get bleeding to stop. We were left trying to figure out how to get his hose off of the tank without bleeding the entire tank empty. He played around with the valve a few times and thankfully was able to get it to finally seal properly and the crisis was over.

In spite of having filled the tank I had the guy replace it with a new one as I didn't want to risk the same problem reoccurring again. It was fortunate I turned off the power to the camper because the propane tanks and the fridge are on the same side next to each other and given the amount of propane cloud that escaped I think there is a good chance the flame from the fridge would have ignited the propane vapor that had escaped.

The lesson from my story is to never take something as routine as topping your tanks off for granted.

[2oldman]

d3500ram wrote:

Steve_in_29 wrote:
Every place I have used insists on portable tanks being removed from the camper. They won't even fill the tank if it's sitting in the bed of my truck and want it on the ground.

Same situation for me too.

The Pit Stop in Quartzsite will fill portable tanks in a truck bed. It's nice.

Most places out west are by the gallon, except parts of Montana.. or so I've found. Darn hard to fill fixed tanks by the pound.

[Steve_in_29]

jimh425 wrote:

Steve_in_29 wrote:
Every place I have used insists on portable tanks being removed from the camper. They won't even fill the tank if it's sitting in the bed of my truck and want it on the ground.

That's me too. However, if DW takes it, they do everything. 🙂

So it has become her responsibility to get LP tanks filled? LOL

We had a guy at work (a POS) who worked in purchasing that would always give males a hard time with the paperwork but we learned if we sent our female up there he fell all over himself to help and wouldn't even argue about things we wanted to buy that were on the sketchy side.

She did say she always felt like needing a shower after seeing him but would still take one for the team when we asked.

[d3500ram]

turbojimmy wrote:
...~snip... They won't (or shouldn't) fill gasoline containers in the bed of the truck either. ...~snip...

Ha! Who is "they" that fill gasoline containers for you! ...(then I saw you are in NJ...LOL.) One of my first jobs as a kid when I lived there back in the day was a gas jockey.

[Ed-N-Dani]

Im glad everyone is OK, we have had some bad experiences with our fork lift tanks. Its an exchange program and they are regulated by law to replace and or rebuild the valves and test them on a schedule and I couldn't begin to tell you how many we get that leak and are just inoperable. Thats dangerous stuff, the burn it creates is life changing and then there's the worse of the two and that's the explosion.

Its a tough decision to make when you see it pissing out and you dont know if you should continue to mess with it or run for the hills and hope for the best.

Glad your OK.

Ed

[turbojimmy]

d3500ram wrote:

Steve_in_29 wrote:
Every place I have used insists on portable tanks being removed from the camper. They won't even fill the tank if it's sitting in the bed of my truck and want it on the ground.

Same situation for me too.

They're worried about static electricity making a spark. Not everyone has a plastic bed liner but they make you remove them anyway. They won't (or shouldn't) fill gasoline containers in the bed of the truck either.

I was having the fixed tank on my Allegro filled up one day and I could tell the guy didn't know what he was doing. I had waited a long time and he was trying to be nice - figured "how hard can it be?" I watched as he turned on the pump and liquid propane came pouring out of the fitting where he had attached the hose to my tank. I yelled to him to shut it off. Some other guy came over and smacked him in the back of the head. Apparently there was some sort of adapter that they needed to put on their nozzle before hooking it up to my tank. I haven't had to refill since then, but I won't be going back there.

[jimh406]

Steve_in_29 wrote:
Every place I have used insists on portable tanks being removed from the camper. They won't even fill the tank if it's sitting in the bed of my truck and want it on the ground.

That's me too. However, if DW takes it, they do everything. 🙂

[d3500ram]

Steve_in_29 wrote:
Every place I have used insists on portable tanks being removed from the camper. They won't even fill the tank if it's sitting in the bed of my truck and want it on the ground.

Same situation for me too.

[Steve_in_29]

2oldman wrote:

coolmom42 wrote:
Is this a portable cylinder, or attached tanks?

Hard to know for sure. OP has no profile, but since he posted in TC, I guess he has one of those.

I do not know if TC's have affixed tanks. Perhaps this is why propane refillers won't fill portable tanks in place.

Every place I have used insists on portable tanks being removed from the camper. They won't even fill the tank if it's sitting in the bed of my truck and want it on the ground.

[Steve_in_29]

2012Coleman wrote:
In my experience, propane is sold by weight, so I'm not sure how you can tell when the tank is full if the OP is saying the tanks were filled in place. The U Haul place by me sells by weight.

Do other places have a different method for measuring the amount of propane dispensed?

How exactly are you going to "sell by weight" when filling an RV's chassis mounted tank?

Even the places that set the portable tank on a scale when filling still have the counter on the filling hose to verify gallons dispensed.

[jimh406]

Wow, that sounds lucky!

[Weldon]

Most places I go to sell by weight.

[adamis]

All of the places I have purchased at so far sell by the gallon and have a meter much like an old school gas pump that counts what has been pumped into the tank.

[Tiger4x4RV]

It is good that you turned off the batteries and refrigerator. Propane filler persons are supposed to ask about that, but I have found that most do not.

Several years ago I saw a terrifying news video of a Tiger like mine fully engulfed in flames. Cause: outgassing after propane refill, batteries not off. Refrigerator igniter just doing its job.... The Tiger owners had gone into the gas station office to pay for the propane. They looked back and saw the fire. The Tiger was completely destroyed. Fortunately, no one was injured.

[2012Coleman]

In my experience, propane is sold by weight, so I'm not sure how you can tell when the tank is full if the OP is saying the tanks were filled in place. The U Haul place by me sells by weight.

Do other places have a different method for measuring the amount of propane dispensed?

[adamis]

They are portable cylinders and interesting that you mention that point. They fit very tightly inside the compartment are very difficult to remove because the brackets that hold the strap for the tanks sits just enough out that you have to jam a tank hard between the other tank and the bracket. I had actually tried removing the tanks before (some places really wanted the tanks out for refueling) but couldn't get them out because of this issue. When we replaced the tank I was looking at removing the bracket from the wall but figured out that I could lift and rotate the tank slightly and it would squeeze past the bracket causing just a bit of damage to it. That being said, I don't think the problem we faced would have been any different with the tanks out since even if I had them truck would still have been parked next to the pump just by how the parking lot was setup.