Dual Propane Tanks

[sreigle]

WACOT, an RV dealer certainly should know, but we've never had this problem with any of our four fifthwheels. All switched automatically and didn't leak out the other one. When one of ours is empty I flip the switch, close the valve on the empty tank, disconnect it's hose and leave the end of that hose hanging open to the world and it doesn't leak. Something is wrong with your regulator if it's allowing that hose to leak. If you have the handle straight up, then all bets are off. Maybe we've just been lucky but we've never had this problem.

I agree with you about needing an accurate method to determine how much is left ina tank. You'd sure think someone would come up with something that works accurately. Might be some profit here for some enterprising soul. I tried the gauges but they're just pressure gauges and are impacted by temperature. A bottle not even in use will read differently on those gauges depending on ambient temperature, whether the bottle is in shade or direct sunlight, etc. I tried one once and finally tossed it.

[Northstar]

I like the idea of keeping one tank off until switching. That is one sure way of knowing when your tank is empty. But I don't relish the thought of getting up in the middle of the night to change tanks.

[sreigle]

Northstar, a guy has to handle this however he's most comfortable but I wanted to comment that you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to change tanks if you leave both tanks open and let the regulator work as designed. If you have both tanks open it will auto switch to use the other. Next time you check and see the red flag, then you switch the handle, close, remove, refill the empty tank. If the regulator quits working, then this doesn't work, naturally. Since we fulltime we go through propane a whole lot faster than we used to, so this is a bigger deal to us now than it used to be. Also, we spend quite a bit of time in cold weather and I do not want to wake up to frozen pipes and tanks in subfreezing weather because the furnace had no propane. Of course, if we could convince the kids to move to a warmer climate so we don't have to spend Nov/Dec in cold weather... In any case, the regulator is designed to autoswitch with both tanks open. A regulator can fail, as can any mechanical device. But I think the number of failures is relatively small. At least ours has always worked just fine.

[WACOT]

Concerning propane tanks and regulator valves. Here is my remedy. Keep the valve for the UNUSED bottle turned OFF when not in use, when the regulator begins to turn RED, turn the valve to the INUSE bottle OFF, switch the regulator to the new (full) bottle then open the valve on new bottle. Since the hoses that connect to the bottles have cheap oneway check valves in them,(mine leaks when I disconnect) I got a valve from the older type bottles and I place it on the line until I get the bottle refilled. I also smell gas when the inuse bottle runs out and the system tries to switch over, I can't explain that other than to think it is a part of the engineering to vent air from the system when it switches over. I used to leave both my tank valves OPEN but all I wound up with was two empty tanks at the same time. A propane service guy told me that because of the CHEAP parts used in trailers that leaving the valves open would cause the pressure to equalize and two empty tanks is what you end up with. The guy also told me that it is a good idea to open the bottle valve completely, then close it completely and then open it ONE full turn only, that has something to do with what valve is metering the flow of gas. Hope this helps some of you. HAPPY NEW YEAR