Replaced Propane tanks, now nothing lights

[Jim Hopper]

I replaced the propane tank on my 5th wheel RV. Nothing lights now. I was told it was the regulator,,,so I bought a new one of them, replaced it, and still, nothing lights.
I was told to leave a burner on, and eventually the propane gas would come though. It did,,,but only for a few seconds, then off again...
Please help...

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Jim Hopper

I replaced the propane tank on my 5th wheel RV. Nothing lights now. I was told it was the regulator,,,so I bought a new one of them, replaced it, and still, nothing lights.
I was told to leave a burner on, and eventually the propane gas would come though. It did,,,but only for a few seconds, then off again...
Please help...

Turn the valves at the tanks off. then slowly turn the one you want to use back on. There's a safety valve inside the main valve that will not let excessive propane out. One the line in the trailer is pressurized everything should work ok. This often happens when the fridge is running on propane and you disconnect the propane tanks without turning off the fridge, or thermostat is set to turn on, and does so with the propane off or no tanks attached.

You may have to turn the tank valve on and off several times.

[stevebaz]

The new propane tanks have a flow control valve to stop excessive gas flow. Sometimes when changing tanks I have to open the valve and then close it. Then wait a minute for the valve to reset. Then open the valve again. Maybe do that a couple of times. The open or empty gas line with no pressure allows the flow control valve to cap off the flow. Once the line gets pressurized there is no big rush of gas flow to set off the flow restrict-or. I had one of my 3 bottles at home have a big issue with it so I traded it in instead of refilling that bottle. A modern 2 bottle regulator has these flow control check valves in the gas port too. They plug the line when you disconnect a bottle. I had one of those ports get corroded and not flow gas too. Remove the hose and check the port on the regulator for corrosion. When you replace the hose make sure you check for leaks and not just hook up the hose.
Safety first.

[Ian G.]

Were the tanks purged before their first fill? If they were not you will have problems.

[Bob in Mb]

To Reset Regulator=
1] Turn off all appliances
2] Turn off tank valve
3] Disconnect supply line
4] Wait 2 minutes for safety valve to reset
5] Reconnect supply line
6] Turn on tank valve SLOWLY and only two turns max.
7] Relight cookstove
8] You should be good to go but remember that all appliances must be turned completely off before shutting off the valve at the tank otherwise the safety valve will detect a leak the next time you try to use it .

[Jim Hopper]

How do you "purge" the tanks? They weren't new tanks,,,they've been used before, without a problem...

[Jim Hopper]

Thanks! We'll try that. We're new at RV'ing, and have basic knowledge of how things work,,,but replacing the propane bottle has created problems we aren't familiar with.
We first thought it was the dual regulator,,,so replaced that. Nothing.
After replacing the propane bottle,,,and letting the line "bleed", still no success,,,we did notice the light on the refrigerator says "check". Check what? Thanks again,all y'all,,for your help!

[Joe Romas]

Originally Posted by Ian G.

Were the tanks purged before their first fill? If they were not you will have problems.

The last 2 NEW tanks I bought made by Worthington Industries per the label attached didn't need "PURGED" because they were under a vacuum that was good up until a certain time after the manufacturing date stamped on them.

I had them filled without being purged as they were and they have been working fine for 3 years now

[Steve L.]

I watched them closely while they purged a new tank for me (5 pounder). Basically a pretty simple operation. They fill the tank until it stopped which traps some amount of air in the top of the tank above the liquid propane. They had a valve at the connector that they opened which sort of burped the air out until he smelled gas. He closed it and filled the tank until it stopped again, trapping a still smaller amount of air and repeated the cycle 2 or 3 times. Even a modest vacuum in a tank from the factory would do the trick.

My latest tank was a Worthington, prepurged and with the built in float valve meter.