Little Red Propane Regulator Replacement?

[bob n pam]

Question from Bob: Oil is leaking from our little red regulator and allowing LP to escape. The regulator is marked "18 psi", but the only replacement part available is marked "30 psi". Does anybody see a problem replacing the "18 psi" with the "30 psi"?

[Art-n-Marge]

That's the one you want. Lots of us have already replaced the 18 psi with the 30 psi even prior to having any kind
of problem.

Most of us went with Marshall Controls or Marshall Industries (I forget the exact name), but it has Marshall in it. There are other brands with a 30# regulator but I can't comment on them.

[DarMar]

Bob: On our 2010 that little red devil is marked 30 PSI, go figure. On our previous 07 model it was an 18 PSI, guess they made a change ????

[Art-n-Marge]

Whoa Darmar... I had a hard time getting my post in. Maybe it's because we were both posting at the same time.

To confirm, it appears the 30 psi regulators are being installed out of the factory, which is good. I don't know when they started that.

[bob n pam]

Thank you very much. That is reassuring. The guy at the RV place just made my BS meter go off a little bit and I wanted to check with the MOC! Bob

[Texas5er]

Where is this oil coming from?? There should not be any oil in the system and if the oil gets to the orifice of the heater, stove or refridgerator it would ruin those appliances. This happened to me this spring and the RV service center had to replace the two regulators and the 2 lp bottles and clean the line. They said I was lucky that the oil never got past the regulators. They said I purchased some bad lp. I turned on the lp and started the heater, stove and refridg and everything ran as normal. Turned the gas off and went home. Next day opened the gas bottles again and nothing. Tried opening slowly, changed bottles, rolled the bottles on the groung. Nothing worked. Friend noticed a little oil coming out of relief valve. Thats when I took the unit to the RV service center.
Does this sound logical or did I get taken for a ride??

[bob n pam]

Texas5er, the oil was coming from the red regulator. Bob noticed oil on the right front level and traced it to the regulator. But first we smelled propane very strongly. Note, the LP detector never squealed. All of our appliances are operating properly so far. Don't know about the rest of your question. Hopefully someone will come along who has the low down.

[8.1al]

There is a little oil present in LP gas. Why I don't know why but it is there. The tecnicians at the Keystone service center told me this is normal and that over a period of time it will affect the regulator. Sounds like Texas5er may have gotten some with way too much oil

[sreigle]

My understanding is the only real purpose for that little red regulator is to eliminate the problem of the propane safety valve stopping flow of propane when you open the tank valve too quickly. Since propane has to flow through that cross pipe, opening the valve quickly allows enough rapid flow to trip the safety valve. Those with the older Montanas remember the days when there was no regulator and sometimes the safety valve tripped.

After replacing the red valve twice because they went bad and after a technician telling me they don't seem to have a long life, I just eliminated it. If you decide to eliminate it, take the regulator with you to the hardware store. The connector on each side is different so you need to be able to mix and match adapters to replace the regulator. I think it cost me less than five bucks to do so. Neither Lowe's nor Home Depot had the right parts but Ace Hardware had them.

We replaced ours more than five years ago. Now I just open that tank slowly and have not had a safety valve lockup.

[helmick]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle


I just eliminated it. If you decide to eliminate it, take the regulator with you to the hardware store. The connector on each side is different so you need to be able to mix and match adapters to replace the regulator. I think it cost me less than five bucks to do so. Neither Lowe's nor Home Depot had the right parts but Ace Hardware had them.

Now I just open that tank slowly and have not had a safety valve lockup.

We do the same as Steve.

[mtheo]

I had problems with mine and after some research, I just let it out. Just have to be sure to open valve slowly