Question about a propane regulator ?

scanzel · July 10, 2016, 06:04:11 PM

I installed a 24" full stove in our conversion it came with a regulator that was for either natural gas or propane. I made all the changes in the manual for propane at the stove and changed regulator over to propane. I put the requlator at the 20' tank instead of at the stove. I cannot get the regulator to pass the gas. Tank is full. I have it mounted horizontal. I have seen some on Ebay labeled as vertical or horizontal. Two questions, do I need a horzontal regulator and do I need to have two the one that came with the stove and one at the tank.

TomC · July 10, 2016, 07:44:24 PM

Maybe feed some beans to pass the gas (sorry couldn't resist). Do you have a double regulator? They are relatively cheap and can be gotton at any RV store. Big question- is your propane tank supposed to stand up or lay horizontally. If you lay down a standup tank, you'll get liquid into the regulator and it won't pass gas. Good Luck, TomC

Scott & Heather · July 10, 2016, 08:31:04 PM

Steve, we had a 24" gas stove in our 9 before we sold it and we didn't use a special regulator. It came with the propane orifice installed and we just plumbed it straight to my 20lb tank that had a normal outdoor gas grill regulator on it. Ran it that way for 4 years

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Lin · July 11, 2016, 03:30:51 PM

I am not sure what you have going here. Usually, the regulator is on or near the propane tank/tanks. The one regulator serves all of the propane appliances. Was there not a regulator at the tank to begin with? As was mentioned, natural gas and propane require a different orifice for the stove though. Since propane is higher pressure, the orifice is smaller.

Dave5Cs · July 11, 2016, 03:38:35 PM

I agree with Tom. He probably has an upright 20lb tank and layed it on its side. You don.t want to do that. You need to stand it back up and secure it that way and put the regulator on the tank. Or buy a tank that says you can lay it down.
Dave5Cs

luvrbus · July 11, 2016, 04:53:06 PM

Be sure the regulator is for vapor they come both ways liquid or vapor and take a special adapter at the tank to open the OPD

chessie4905 · July 11, 2016, 05:47:04 PM

Be careful to open the tank valve slowly , I've had the check valve actuate and had turn the tank off, crack fitting at tank to get it to reset , then refigure and open valve s!owly. Happens when I use my weed burner the first few times. Now I always crack valve slowly.

scanzel · July 11, 2016, 05:57:36 PM

Just to verify my tank is vertical the regulator is horzontal the tank is full. I get gas going into the regulator which was converted to propane from natural gas according to the info given in the stove manual to unscrew the side cover and turn this little plastic threaded piece the opposite way. I tried the regulator conversion both ways and still no gas to the stove.

chessie4905 · July 11, 2016, 06:46:11 PM

Did you unhook line to stove to see if it is the stove or reg. I bought a gas fireplace last fall and it has that same switching valve to change from propane to nat. Gas. It took a while to get the gas to the burner the first time it was fired up and push the air out of the line.

luvrbus · July 11, 2016, 07:44:29 PM

Have you tried a different tank ? I run into the excess flow valve being bad on some exchange tanks

gumpy · July 12, 2016, 10:57:17 AM

And finally, have you actually tried mounting the regulator vertically? That seemed to be your original question.

Mine is vertical:
http://www.gumpydog.com/Bus/MC9_WIP/Propane_Distribution/050605.01.lp_tanks.JPG

Oonrahnjay · July 12, 2016, 12:38:26 PM

Quote from: gumpy on July 12, 2016, 10:57:17 AMAnd finally, have you actually tried mounting the regulator vertically? That seemed to be your original question.

Mine is vertical:

What's your setup there, Craig? Do you use one tank until it's empty, then switch over to the opposite one and change the used one out when it's convenient?

gumpy · July 12, 2016, 02:30:05 PM

Yeah, basically. The regulator is an automatic changeover. If both tanks are on, it will use off the one selected on the regulator. If it runs out, it automatically switches to the other. Then you can take the one off and get it filled.

At least that's the way I think it works. I honestly use so little propane, I don't think I've ever tested that feature. I think I've only filled those two tanks twice each in 12 years. It's only used for cooking, either inside, or on the camp stove.

I typically only turn on one tank at a time.

Dave5Cs · July 12, 2016, 05:06:11 PM

Ours works the same way as Craig's. We have two hooked up that way on a small slide and an extra one that we can switch out if we don't want to go fill one or two at the moment.
Dave

gumpy · July 12, 2016, 05:10:36 PM

I carry some of the small Coleman style LP tanks, too, for use on the lantern and small camp stove. I have an adapter to refill those off the 40 lb cylinders.