Propane regulator

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Propane regulator

Postby Mary C » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:01 pm

Ok my propane is installed and the black pipe, T post. and everything was inspected at the propane Co. I showed them my problem very little pressure at the stove and wont let me light my coleman light, after looking at the situation he said I "needed to get a regulator up front on the tank". Now I asked do you have them? "no" do you know where to get one ?
"no" do you have any idea of what I should get? "no" Well you need to talk to Coleman they got a problem with their regulator. This should work. I agreed and left. I barely have a flame on my stove. I have no idea of what I need to get and I know nothing about regulators so if you can help please help to make it simple for me..... Having worked so hard to get it installed I am in :cry: The guy who installed it is in Texas and he doesn't know either.

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Re: Propane regulator

Postby MtnDon » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:15 pm

What kind of a stove? A camp stove like...
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-200002094 ... camp+stove
...which is made to be used with the 1 pound cylinders (or other size cylinders with proper hoses.)


Or something different like a cook top that can be found in most RV's....
http://www.amazon.com/Atwood-56494-Stai ... auto_img_y commonly called a dropin cook top


Then, what type of regulator do you presently have???


I am guessing you are using a camp stove like the Coleman above and have the propane coming through a regulator like this....
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-59333-Horiz ... +regulator


If that is correct that is the problem. That type of regulator supplies low pressure that will not provide anywhere near enough pressure to use with a camp stove or camp lantern that was designed for use with 1 lb. cylinders (high pressure propane).


More when we confirm what you have.... cylinder (tank) type, regulator type, stove and other propane devices you want to use.
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby MtnDon » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:48 pm

one more note: If the guy that serviced and inspected the work was with a company that services residential or commercial propane appliances (ranges, furnaces, water heaters, etc.) he very well may not have any idea about camp stoves and their requirements because one is high pressure 9camping) and the other is low pressure. Even a tech who services RV appliances could possibly not have a clue about the high pressure devices as the regular RV uses low pressure just like a home.
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby Shadow Catcher » Tue Mar 10, 2015 9:54 pm

Based on what we are using in Compass Rose I replaced our regulator with a two stage like the Camco from Amazon. From the tank down to the in my case copper tubing is a rubber hose. As a source you might find a company selling gas grills.

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Re: Propane regulator

Postby Mary C » Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:28 pm

The only number I found was embossed 1818 00938 and it is a Coleman two burner designed for use with one pound small cans of propane and it is only 4 years old. My son has used it with the Coleman tree that attaches directly to the 20 pound propane. My Coleman lantern has an adapter that will also connect to the coleman tree.

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Re: Propane regulator

Postby MtnDon » Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:48 pm

OK Mary, that's what I thought you had. And are you attempting to run that off a 20# cylinder with a regulator that looks like the one I posted a link to above? Or like the one in Shadow Catchers picture? There are a variety of those but if they look like that or like one you see commonly used on 20# cylinders connected to BBQ grills, they will not work with the Coleman camp stove or any other appliance that operates off one of those trees.

There probably is a way to do whatever you want. Are there photos of what you have? A description of what you want to run off the 20# cylinder, including placement, distances from the 20#er and the various points of use? Is everything outside?

Just what is included in the " ...my propane is installed and the black pipe, T post. and everything..." mentioned in the OP?
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby MtnDon » Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:46 am

Here's a photo of the propane tank to regulator setup on our CTC....

Image

From the tank valve to the tee fitting that is high pressure. One outlet leg of the tee feeds the pressure regulator that drops the high pressure to low pressure for the RV water heater. The capped fitting on the tee is for high pressure. I can fit a hose to that and connect the end to our camp stove where the high pressure regulator is located. That came with the stove. If a lantern was made to screw on a 1 pound bottle then the high pressure regulator is built into the lantern. Same for small heaters that attach directly to 1 pound bottles.


Note: The pressure in the tank varies from about 100 PSI to 200 PSI under normal use (It will fall to zero at very cold temperatures).
After the RV regulator the pressure is dropped to 11" WC which is equivalent to about 0.40 PSI.
Last edited by MtnDon on Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby Nobody » Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:53 am

Sounds to me as if you are trying to 'run' high pressure appliances (designed to operate off the 1lb high pressure cylinders) from a 20lb tank that has a regulator between the tank & the black pipe. If that is the case it'll never work correctly. I don't even use an attached 20lb cylinder in/on my TD. I have a smaller 11lb cylinder that I often use with my coleman or Ozark Trail stove(s) & Coleman North Star Propane lantern(s). I connect my propane 'tree' directly to the 11 or 20lb cylinder & use readily available hose connections to the stove(s) & my Coleman propane oven, with the lantern screwed directly to the top of the 'tree'. The Coleman 8' extension hoses are available at most any Wal Mart or sporting goods store. If you're using high pressure appliances, they won't operate off a 'regulated' 11" water column source.
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby Dale M. » Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:00 am

IF regulator that came with stove looks something like this.... Its a"high pressure" regulator...

Image

I have heard tell but can not confirm (have not time to do research as I write this) that output pressure is about 15 psi... Where the ubiquitous "pancake" style regulator normally on propane tanks and as Mt don has posted picture of outputs only about 1/3 PSI or about 13 IW (inches water) IW is measurements of pressure usually less then 1 psi...

Since light screws directly on canister I don have any idea what pressures it require or is internally regulated to but would venture to guess same regulator technology as camp stove..

Please don't shoot me if I am wrong...

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Re: Propane regulator

Postby RVServiceGuy » Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:18 pm

That is an insanely complex rig for a camper. There are so many joints. Has it been leak down tested?
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby MtnDon » Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:52 pm

Yes, it has been tested and it did not leak down. Pipe thread joints are all done with Rectorseal #5 "pipe dope".As well we left it sit from the end of September thru the end of January with the cylinder valve open and no use. Cylinder weighed the same after the 100_+ days.

Can you suggest a better way to have both the 11"WC pressure and the high pressure required to run camp stoves, etc off the 20# cylinder instead of using 1 pound disposables for the camping apparatus? The object was/is to use a 20# cylinder to provide propane for an RV water heater as well as an outdoor camp stove, or a lantern without resorting to 1 pound cylinders or using a propane tree on another 20# cylinder.
Last edited by MtnDon on Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby lrrowe » Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:26 pm

MtnDon, I will have the same needs when I hook up my hot water heater and colemen camp stove. I see how you did it. Wonder how others have tackled it?
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby Mary C » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:26 pm

My tank has the regular famous standered regulator that goes to an outside grill, it has a flexable hose that goes to a black pipe and the black pipe runs to the length of my trailer to a cutoff then to a T post or connector. My brother put 125 pounds of pressure and it held fine for 48 hours. No leaks.

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Re: Propane regulator

Postby MtnDon » Sat Mar 14, 2015 12:22 am

That is good that it does not leak. But because it delivers low pressure propane from the regulator it is no good fr running a campstove or camp lantern that is meant to run off one of the "trees" that mounts directly to a propane 20# cylinder. If there are no needs for propane to what I'll call a normal RV appliance there may be a relatively easy solution... By normal RV appliance I mean an RV water heater, drop in cooktop or range or an RV furnace.

The problem is the regulator on your tank. A possible solution would be to remove that regulator and its hose. Replace those with a high pressure approved hose with an Acme Nut fitting on one end and a pipe thread fitting on the other end. There are both low and high pressure hoses; high pressure hoses are tested to 300 PSI, IIRC. The pipe fitting end would be adapted to the black pipe. The Acme Nut end must have a Flow Limiting Device (FLD) built into it and would connect directly to the 2-0# cylinder. The FLD is a safety feature. Without the limiter if the hose was cut or a pipe or fitting broken propane would be released under the high pressure of the 20# cylinder; that would be a sudden large volume release that could freeze skin and flesh if there was direct contact and could result in a huge fireball. Not much chance of an explosion but there would be a large flame like a blowtorch. . The FLD reduces any release to a safer regulated flow if there is a break.

The FLD really works. I broke a fitting on mine. I thought I has=d shut off the the cylinder valve, but had not. There was a brief Phfffft and then a slow hiss. The FLD cuts the flow to less than what is used for normal propane grill operation. I mention this as it is possible to buy Acme Nuts w/o the FLD. Most of them have the FLD built in but I have seen a few offered w/o for what reason I do not know. Just be aware. You don't want to get the wrong one. When you use all the right pieces; a modern OPD equipped cylinder and the proper FLD Acme nut, you should have a safe setup. That may depend in part on the quality of the workmanship and the quality of all the components.

PS when I assembled my system I did have a problem with one of the brass tee fittings. It has some porosity that was revealed under testing. So a pressure hold test is very important when the changes have been completed.
Last edited by MtnDon on Sat Mar 14, 2015 12:38 am, edited 4 times in total.
Our 6x12 deep vee nose cargo trailer camper conversion... viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58336

We have a small off grid cabin we built ourselves in the NM mountains; small PV solar system; 624 watts PV, Outback CC & inverter/charger ... http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.0
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Re: Propane regulator

Postby MtnDon » Sat Mar 14, 2015 12:26 am

Info of interest.
http://home.earthlink.net/~derekgore/rv ... /id44.html
There is an explanation of how the FLD in the Acme nut works.
Our 6x12 deep vee nose cargo trailer camper conversion... viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58336

We have a small off grid cabin we built ourselves in the NM mountains; small PV solar system; 624 watts PV, Outback CC & inverter/charger ... http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.0
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