Cold weather propane question

[Brian H.]

Hello all, hull #1633. We picked up our LE2 this summer and went on several trips without issue.  We went on a trip over Thanksgiving weekend excited to try some cold weather camping. The nighttime temps were getting into the mid to low 20 F range and days were around mid 40's.  We ran the furnace a night and were very comfortable. on the last night I knew that one of the propane tanks may getting low so before bed I made sure that both tanks were open and felt comfortable that the automatic tank switch would switch the tanks if one went empty.

This was not the case; I woke up at around 3am freezing with an error E2H on the furnace.  I checked the stove, and it would not lite. I went out and made sure that the 2nd tank was full, and it was. i tried turning the switch so that it pointed to the full tank and tried to lite the stove again, no dice.  I ended taking both tanks off swapping positions of the tanks and that did the trick and was able to get the furnace working again.

So, my question is would the cold weather have caused the automatic tank switch to fail, or is it just broken?

 

[Rivernerd]

43 minutes ago, Brian H. said:

So, my question is would the cold weather have caused the automatic tank switch to fail, or is it just broken?

The auto-switching function is most likely just broken, but the inability to even manually switch between tanks could have been frozen.

Your regulator may not have worked properly even when it was new.  With our hull #1291, I have had to manually switch between tanks since we bought it new in Hohenwald.  That prompted me to invest in Mopeka tank sensors, which are on a Cyber Monday sale right now.  Buy two, one for each tank.

https://www.amazon.com/Mopeka-Check-Sensor-Steel-Tanks/dp/B09J6MXJKT/ref=sr_1_6?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7Exyy9znT-SQGS49BGKyHY8ska73Uv8UcW7kjFcD5amLXllefHdvZI9wor2zVTUu_HhYmQxB3bapRHQuaIsBOy6fqVjO7n3zsjQ9skHvk2LQmqIbgav0y31tXmkHXPjxRMvJD0WQLLb5H2SPD6tEMIXdiP5KAe6190HRcuSaGgLPY_82w62plWFkRqUzSt9C2P2BuIibPH-53VmHFVohGOm0i5u8ejoXxzjTHAFhKYA1KJi-YdzdikEnsHz5-nSqBoTB8mn2Lc_RZEoDJ-xbdZgGxet5-WJzelCBJJCRgn0.2nf7_EzuuwFWa_vGhzCEyPMqhD9F4i7-2d7c70IgJu0&dib_tag=se&hvadid=678467137404&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9029558&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=39930829735022087--&hvqmt=b&hvrand=39930829735022087&hvtargid=kwd-2239628814146&hydadcr=7696_13589679&keywords=mopeka%2B2%2Bpack&mcid=2a3b25f10644368bbbb60cf5e4c564c8&qid=1764610880&sr=8-6&th=1

I monitor propane levels with the app on my phone, then manually switch when one tank gets low.

I am interested to know if you are able to manually switch the regulator between tanks once it thaws out.

[katanapilot]

One other possibility to consider is moisture in the tank.  If that exists, the expansion of the propane can drop the temperature of the gas below the water freezing point and it can block the line.  We had that happen on a previous RV where the tanks weren’t properly purged prior to filling.  I had a propane supplier add some alcohol (I believe it was ethanol) to the tank and that cured it.  The ethanol absorbed the moisture and it passed through the regulator without freezing.  

Edited 17 hours ago by katanapilot