propane problems

hello I have had my trailmanor for about a year and a half now. I love it and once this one goes south I plan on replacing it with another used unit. anyhow though my question is this. I have never really used the propane powered things in my trailmanor much. I have used the stove a few times but that was it. well recently on a camping trip I went to fire the stove up to make breakfast. nothing. I checked the bottles. both were full and the distribution knob did not make a difference as to which tank it was pointing too. the level indicator said it was good also. so I got to scratching my head. the last time I had the stove running was early this spring. the stove worked fine and so did the heater. well this fall I plan on going camping upstate to hunt and was wondering what or why is the propane not working. I tired now three more times with different bottles and it still does not make a difference. thanks for any help you can offer.

It could be a couple of things. The line to the stove could have air in it in which case it takes some time to purge this and get the gas flowing. I do this by continually holding the knob in the start position and attemting to light with one of the "lighter sticks".

The other possibility is spider webs. It is amazing what a very small web can do and spiders are drawn to the smell of propane. I have gas logs in my fireplace and I use compressed air every year to make sure there are no webs in the venturi before I light the pilot.

You didn't say whether your furnace and/or hot water ignite. This may give further clues to the source of your problem.

Good luck in getting this solved.

Bill

If the gas lines are empty or near empty and you turn on the propane ( at the bottle) it may flow quickly causing the safety valve in the tank to activate. If the propane has not been on for a while, open the valve very slowly so as not to allow a rush of gas from the tank. I have had this happen a few times

I have used the furnace a few times in the spring but it would not work either whenever I tried the stove. so I will try to crack the valves open slowly this time and try it tonight. could be a spider web also. is there a way to get them out? this happened once before but it worked later so I figured it was just the way it was sitting so maybe it is just opening it up too quick. is there a way to reset the safety valve?

Valve resets once Propane is off for a while.

If I have removed the propane cylinders, meaning there is air in the lines, it takes a bit of time to blow all the air out of the lines.

My sequence is:

1. Though the furnace is the closest I rarely use it and don't want to add heat to the TM in the summer, so I do not light it at all.

2. I light the stove. This takes about 30 to 40 seconds to get enough propane to light and stay lit. At first the air blowing out will cause the flame on the lighter/match to flicker.

3. Next is the water heater, because all I have to do is flip the switch. It will automatically figure out how to get the flame going, as long as there is propane that gets there eventually. Make sure there is water in the water heater. This takes a minute or two.

4. Then I light the fridge. I light it last because I have to hold the button in until there is a good flame. By the time the water hater is lit there is very little air left in the line to the fridge, but there is some. This takes about 2 minutes.