Leak down test on the LP gas system, leak detected.

[SCADAMAN29325]

Next I will be looking to see if I have any issues with LP Gas system. The stove, furnace and fridge appear to be working fine. I have not tested the water heater yet as I have it in the winterized mode.

From what I can tell, I need to put a pressure guage near the regulator, turn on the gas at the tank, then note the pressure, turn the gas off and hope the pressure does not drop. I should have done the leak down test first, before I tested the appliances, but I didn't know about it then and still made it out alive.

Could someone suggest a guage? I think I want to put it on the 4-port tee, maybe on the 1/4" inverted flare fitting. As someone suggested, I may want to rotate the T ports down to where the 1/4" port is pointing down.

Thanks!

[SCADAMAN29325]

Too Long, Don't Read?

I think I need to replace the propane valves on the water heater AND the furnace. The propane sniffer is going off near the burners of both appliances!

Update:

April
I took it to the service guy to replace the gas valve, but he found a loose fitting and tightened it up. (Yeah, it was loose because I couldn't get it out without buying more tools).

When I got it home everything was fine. Saturday, the next morning the LP alarm was going off again. Called the dealer, service desk said to check battery voltage, it may alarm on low voltage. Checked it, 12.4. Called back and told them to put a note on record about this and I will get it taken care of after we get back from our trip.

Fast fwd to August (it felt like we were camping every other week for 3 months! It wasn't that often, but felt like it. We took two groups of grandkids with us several trips. That was fun.)

The beginning of Aug I was going to test the propane again. When I turned on the propane I could feel it hissing out from around the valve stem. ****, so we took it to the shop to replace the valve on the propane tank. 2 days later they called and said it was ready and that it wasn't the valve, just a loose connection at the POL fitting. (I should have caught that myself!) Go it home, turned on the propane and it was still hissing around the POL valve! I took the regulator off to check it out. The o-ring looked chewed up, so I went to Ace Hardware to get a new one. BTW, it was 5/8 x 7/16 x 3/32, bought 2.

Now let's test again. Turned on propane, 24hrs later, no alarm, the next day it was alarming again! Broke out the propane sniffer, NOTHING. Could not get it sniff anything. MAYBE it wasn't sensitive enough. Checked the specs, should alarm at 50ppm. Checked the detector, it was saying 17x100ppm, 1700ppm. The sniffer should be going off! Hmmm, took it outside the sniff around the tank, nothing. But it did go off in the water heater burn tunnel. (Same as the furnace when all this started!) ALSO, when we do use the water heater on propane, everytime it lights there is a small explosion like a pop-whoosh-burn, but that may be normal, OR it could be that the burn tunnel is full of propane and the explosion may be larger than it should. (Again, same as the furnace.)

Right now I've moved onto other items on the todo list. I think I'm going to make sure the propane is off (it is now) clear out any propane from inside the water heater and furnace and start testing again.

There is a leak somewhere and I need to find it and fix it so we can use the furnace in a few months when it turns cold.

Still having fun with the camper!

TTYL, Phil

[SCADAMAN29325]

I think it's going to be the valve, but 1st this video

Edit: more like it opens when not being told.
NOT Valve, control...

Check for continuity (voltage?) across the 2 blue wires before and after water column drop. And battery voltage across red/yellow.




Edit again: that's strange, even without the control board plugged in I detected gas in the exhaust port. Hmmm...

[SCADAMAN29325]

HydroFlame 8531-ll 12v 8.2 amps

Hmmm??? (Edit for clearer pic)

[SCADAMAN29325]

All good stuff above, but I have found 2 problems.

1- regulator to tank connector was loose! I had found it loose before and retightened (hand tight). This time I moved the "c" ring and moved the plastic hand wheel out of the way so I could get to the nut and put a wrench on it.




2- Ordered one of those gas sniffers and been hunting the leak. That took a while: turned gas on, went round and round, inside and out for over an hour, nothing! Left the gas on for 2 more hours... tester went off like a rocket inside the furnace housing outside after removing the cover! Went inside to confirm the furnace was off, it was.

Now I need to figure out how to test the furnace system. I want to make sure the thermostat is actually turning off the furnace and it is not a bad thermostat. Then check to make sure the valve is closing the way it should (I think this will be the problem).

STILL, I don't see how the furnace valve being stuck open would cause the propane alarm to go off when going 60mph down the highway. Scratch that, 10mph start/stop traffic congestion.

It has gone off 3 times, once the last night of a week long camp in February, next in that start/stop traffic, then most recently when having the fridge cooling down the day before leaving for a short boondocking experiment.

So this where I am now, troubleshooting the furnace system.

TTYL, Phil

[opnspaces]

Take the trailer out of the picture. Disconnect the rubber hose on the tongue right at the iron pipe and put the manometer on the end of the hose. Does the 2 minute drop happen indicating something on the tongue?

[enblethen]

Would also check the flex hose between regulator and the black iron pipe.

[bobndot]

enblethen wrote:
diaphragm in regulator

X2.

I had one crack in cold temps snd had to replace it. Cheap enough to buy a new one.

[enblethen]

diaphragm in regulator

[SCADAMAN29325]

FORK! STILL HAPPENING! 2.5 minutes it drops all of a sudden! Yes, fridge is off, furnace is off, water heater is off, stove is off, water heater is off, I do not have an oven.

What else could it be?

[SCADAMAN29325]

****! Everything SHOULD be off!
After seeing that the water column dropped every 3 minutes (charged the lines, start stopwatch, saw drop, repeat...) I went around and checked all the appliances, I found the fridge was still on! I thought FOR SURE it was off, but could not see the lights due to the angle I was at!

Sometimes you just have to tattle tell on yourself!
Jeez Phil how stupid you can be sometimes!

Anyways this still does not resolve my problem of the propane sensor going off. That was yesterday, will continue troubleshooting today.

Should I post this or not...?

[enblethen]

Remember to check the regulator! Soap down the vent!

[SCADAMAN29325]

Solid connection, I wiggled tube to be sure.

Everything should be off.

I'll be doing some more looking and sniffing.

When I find the area I will do more soapy water testing.

Thanks

[opnspaces]

Just trying to come up with some ideas. Are you sure your attachment to the manometer is solid and leak free?

Assuming solid and leak free then I'm assuming an appliance is trying to start gas flow and that's when it drops.

Is the refrigerator on Propane? If so try putting the refrigerator on Electric or better yet just turn it off. It will easily stay cold for 2 hours with the door closed. Does the dropping stop?

Is the oven possibly on? I mean on as if baking and not just on pilot and you didn't realize it?

The furnace should be obvious because the fan will run first before it calls for propane

The water heater? I'm guessing no because you saw it drop twice and the water heater cycles on very infrequently.

[Grit_dog]

Cool!
I usually just use soap water in a spray bottle.