Propane leak - UPDATED

[BB_TX]

When I open the valve on the street side propane tank, I get a slight whiff of propane. If I leave it on, any time I open that door, again I get a slight whiff of propane. Close the valve and no more propane odor.
Only on the street side. Never on the curb side, even with both valves open. Cross over pipe runs thru the front compartment and I get no odor there.
Have sprayed every fitting, connection, regulator, valve, etc in that compartment with leak detector and can see no bubbles at all. It is a little hard to see some places due to the confined space in that compartment.
Any ideas?

UPDATE - After several tries with leak detector spray to find the leak, I gave up and went into replacement mode. I even took all the fittings apart and resealed them with TPE pipe compound. Could not see any bubbles at all any where.
I ordered a new Marshall C6121 regulator valve to replace the "red valve". Installed it and no propane odor. Success!
Got the valve number from some posts here, but had a had time finding one. Finally found it at makariosrv.com. Had never heard of them before, but found them to give great service. Ordered it Tuesday and paid an extra $7-8 for 3 day delivery since we will be leaving in 2 weeks and did not know how long standard delivery would take. UPS delivered it yesterday (next day).

[Debbie Asher]

We hve the same problem with the propane smell. We've had the rig in a couple of times and they say nothing is wrong but everytime we open up any compartment you get the smell. So we leave the one off all the time and only use the other tank, when it runs out then we switch the tanks. John and I are tired of doing this so we are going to take the rig back into another place and see if they can find the problem.

[DL N K]

I had a similar problem a few years back on our 3500RL. I finally traced it down to the brass adapter fitting on the end of the crossover 'black pipe'. I removed the brass adapter fitting and used plumbers putty on the threads and it hasn't leaked since. The engineer at Marshall Controls told me that quite often the brass adapter fitting will crack if screwed onto the black pipe too tightly. He suggested a black pipe coupler, then an adapter with male threads to screw into the coupler. I've not yet done that, as the leak has not returned.

[gypsies2]

Had the same problem with my SOB TT last year. Found out that you need to turn the valves full on. Anything in between will result in gas odor, especially if you have an older tank. Once I started turning the valve full on, the odors stopped.

[Skip]

Had the same problem on my 3500RL. Wife kept smelling gas. (I can't smell well). Turned out after Tighting all fittings, going to dealer etc. the smell was coming from one of the batteries located near the tank, Had to get a new battery and problem solved.

[Trailer Trash 2]

I had that problem with mine when I first got it it also turned out to be the fittings from the black pipe cross over to the hose fitting for the street side tank, I also took it all apart and re pipe doped it then tightened it all up no leaks in 6 years.
maybe Keystone needs a new plumber in the assembly line, or needs to do a pressure test as stick houses are required to do, maintain XX pressure in 24 hours.

[HamRad]

BB TX,
Thanks for the update. Good info to know.

Also thanks to all who shared. If we ever get this same problem we'll know how to fix it.
HamRad

[PowellsMonty]

If I take an empty tank out to refill & have the selector lever over to the other tank, will any propane leak out the empty hose?

[firetrucker]

A little propane will always leak beacuse of the pressure built up in the hose and the crossover pipe, but, if the valve is working properly, that's all.

That's a good reason why you should turn the bottle valve on slowly, too. The rush of propane to fill the hose and pipe could activate the high-flow check valve, and you'll end up with no propane out of that bottle.

Bob

[TLightning]

I had a similar problem and talked to the guy at Marshall who helped develop the system...the OEM controller on the street side is not the right pressure. The C6121 fixed the problem.

[01RAMer]

Most LP Hoses that connect to the tank in a dual tank setup, have a built-in Stop Valve that will keep the LP from leaking. You should not have a worry