Propane level

[ugh]

How do you check to see how much propane is left in the two tanks? In my old class a, I had a gauge for it, but I cannot find one for 2006 3500RL Monty.

[HamRad]

Ugh,
I feel my tank. I can usually tell how much fuel is left by the difference in temp between the empty part and the fuel left. It can sometime be very difficult to note the difference. I also will simply lift the tank to get an idea as to how much fuel is left. There are several different "gauge" type devices out there so you may want to check one or more of them out to see if you can find one that you like. Good luck, Dennis.

[helmick]

I pretty much do the same as Dennis.

[Parts Ed]

I will pull the tank(s) and if nothing else pour hot water on the side of the tank to see what the level(s) are.

[NCFischers]

Empty tanks weigh 23 pounds, full tanks weigh 53 pounds.

[timandsusan]

I wondered about that when I started RVing. I learned to take out the tank and simply shake it to see if any liquid is inside or look at the condesation line on the outside early in the morning. A little practice will develop a feel for this. Of course having two tanks help. I have only had to fill both tanks twice in 6 years. Once when I was learning and did not check the tanks to determine when one was empty. The second time was in Tulsa, OK when they had their only blizzard and I left the heat on low and ran out of propane. I was staying at relatives. The roads were not passable for 1 to 2 days.

[racerjoe]

I guess the moral of the story is there is no gauge :-) don't feel bad,we all have run out at the most inconvenient time,but eventually you will have a good idea of how much you use.

[The Oldguard]

Oh yes there is a gauge for our tanks

Propane Gauge

[Art-n-Marge]

I use what The Oldguard uses, one on each tank. It does require me to come out and check periodically to eyeball the propane level and when the "active tank" starts to approach the red, I switch to the other one and schedule a refill for the now almost empty one. I never let both tanks get to empty before refilling. I almost got burned by that once, in cold weather, when the CG ran out of propane and it took us forever to find another location. Then it took a long time to get the rig heated back up. That's when we got the gauges, because we never want that problem ever again.

There are also strips what you can attach to the side of the tank, then pour some warm water on them and the color on the strip will show the propane level, but for me these are too much work to use.

Then I have heard of other owners who have a pretty fancy system and a panel inside the rig, but we don't RV enough or in the cold to want to incur that expense. The gauges in the first paragraph work best for us, otherwise you will be doing the other manual methods described by other members.

[HamRad]

Ugh,
I forgot to mention that there are now some transparent tanks available. You can see the amount of fuel left in the tank. Unfortunately the 30# tanks are hard to find and very expensive. But they sure look neat! Good luck. Dennis

[Art-n-Marge]

HAMRAD is right about the lack of 30# transparent tank. The closest I have seen is a 25# transparent tank. While these would be the best in checking the propane level, I'm not ready to give up 10# of propane capacity from my two bottles when converting to the dual transparent tank.

I also still hear that there are some places that perform propane refills that will not refill a transparent tank. Does anyone know if this is still true? I don't understand the concern since all web links I have seen for transparent tanks show they have been certified the same as the metal tanks. This would be another thing to think about with transparent tanks. The place I refill said they would do it (welding shop). The other place I used to go (a nearby gas station) didn't know what I was talking about and I haven't gone back to them to ask since the welding shop is cheaper, friendlier and more knowledgeable about stuff in general. I haven't asked any of the campgrounds I've had my metal propane tanks refilled because I forget to ask.

[1retired06]

I have an automatic switchover. I run one tank until empty, then refill.

[nosticks]

The so called Propane Gauges do a very good job of letting you know if the propane is flowing or not due to the internal valves on our tanks today, but do little to indicate how much is remaining in the tank. They do not work like your vehicles fuel gauge. The most accurate indication is weight, but that's a pain, second best is the condensation ring around the tank in use. Fool proof is the automatic switchover method mentioned above. Anything short of some kind of flow totalizer or perhaps a load cell and accompanying electronics would be of little value in determining fuel remaining.

[ugh]

Thanks everyone. I will use the auto switch over as a flag that it is time to fill the other tank.