Question (again) from the road

[LeBout]

Still on our (roughly) month-long road trip and I have another question.

I was told that by opening the valve on both propane bottles, when one was depleted it would automatically switch to the other bottle.

First, is that true? Second, how can I know if I have that is the case with my setup?

[mike54]

during the summer I only open one tank then when it runs out I switch to the other tank and get the empty refilled. Early spring/Fall when running the furnace I'll open both tanks and let it switch over

[LeBout]

wrenchbender wrote:
Yes that is how it works,but not recomended by yours truley.If you run it manually then you know what you always have for gas and when to look to refill.Its hell to run out of gas at 11pm 100 miles from a propane station and it 30 degrees outside.

Honestly the only way that could happen is if you never check the tanks and/or color of the indicator. I check every day, and now that I know what to look for THE MINUTE I see the indicator turn red I will disconnect the empty bottle and have it refilled.

[wrenchbender]

Yes that is how it works,but not recomended by yours truley.If you run it manually then you know what you always have for gas and when to look to refill.Its hell to run out of gas at 11pm 100 miles from a propane station and it 30 degrees outside.

[Majja13]

I perfer to know when i run one tank dry, so I just stay with the manual. Trust me there is nothing more exilerating then jusmping out oof a nice warm bed to run out in a snowstorm to whitch tanks on the elkhunt. But that is much better than going completely dry.

[Bonefish]

LeBout wrote:

opnspaces wrote:
Mine has that exact valve and yes it is an auto changeover valve.

PERFECT! Thank you!! 🙂

The valve has the manufacturer and model number on it which is the easiest way to get detailed .pdf manual for it.

[LeBout]

opnspaces wrote:
Mine has that exact valve and yes it is an auto changeover valve.

PERFECT! Thank you!! 🙂

[opnspaces]

Mine has that exact valve and yes it is an auto changeover valve. Currently yours is pointing to the left (drivers side)and that is the tank that it will draw propane from. When the sight glass goes red that tells you the left side tank is empty and you are now drawing from the right side tank.

As stated above, once the gauge goes red,

turn off the tank that the lever is pointed to. In this picture turn off the left tank.

flip the lever all the way over to point at the right tank. The gauge should go green.

Remove left tank and go get it filled.

Place left tank back on trailer but leave lever pointed to the right until that tank empties.


I notice though that your sight glass looks to be half red and half green. My original valve did that same thing and I was always bothered by it. In the manual and on line you will read that it will be either green or red, not somewhere in between. I finally reserved myself to the fact that if it's showing green at all then all is good, because when a tank ran out it definitely went red.

Eventually the regulator started leaking and I bought an exact replacement for $40. The new regulator goes full red and full green.

[LeBout]

wannavolunteerFT wrote:
you may can pull your manual off the man website. I don't know how far back your trailers mfg goes back, but mine has manuals for several years back. I downloaded mine and save the PDF on my laptop for easy reference.

No such luck. After Fleetwood sold off their TT line their website has nothing of those previous models. But thanks anyway for the tip.

[freddc1]

I now do the same thing, and shut one tank off completely. Mine also has that little glass indicator window but its hard to see the color inside, plus, you need to remove the big tank cover to look at it. So far has worked out well.

Markiemark32 wrote:

spike99 wrote:
On my 2006 TT, its LP T-valve is 100% manual.

When one tank runs out, a person must manually move valve pointer to other tank.

Best to read your TT's manual...

Mine has a manual switch, either pointed to one or the other tank, or in the middle, which in the middle when a tank runs out it pulls from the other. Tend to keep it on one, so I know when one runs out, I switch it and then get the empty filled... If you keep it in the middle, you might run both out, at a bad time.

[wannavolunteerF]

you may can pull your manual off the man website. I don't know how far back your trailers mfg goes back, but mine has manuals for several years back. I downloaded mine and save the PDF on my laptop for easy reference.

[LeBout]

prichardson wrote:
It appears to be one that will automatically switch and will show red when the tank the handle points to is empty.

I appreciate the info. For some reason, my wife and I both had good intentions to bring the manual (I had taken it into the house to catch up on reading stuff) but it just never made it back out to the TT before we took off. Poop!

I will keep an eye on it! Thanks again!

[prichardson]

It appears to be one that will automatically switch and will show red when the tank the handle points to is empty. You will then flip the handle to the other tank so it reads that one. Your manual should explain the operation. If you don't have a manual you can check it this way: with both tanks at least partially full, open both tank valves and the indicator will show green. Now close the valve on the tank the handle is pointing to and turn on your stove. The indicator should move to red and you should begin drawing from the other tank. When you move the handle toward the open tank it should again show green.

[LeBout]

This is my set up...

[Markiemark32]

spike99 wrote:
On my 2006 TT, its LP T-valve is 100% manual.

When one tank runs out, a person must manually move valve pointer to other tank.

Best to read your TT's manual...

Mine has a manual switch, either pointed to one or the other tank, or in the middle, which in the middle when a tank runs out it pulls from the other. Tend to keep it on one, so I know when one runs out, I switch it and then get the empty filled... If you keep it in the middle, you might run both out, at a bad time.