Propane Troubleshooting my 2002 Bonaire

[jnbarrett]

So, we had never used the propane on our appliances in our "new to us" PUP yet.

I had tried to get them going without success, in particular, the quick connect for the grill ... it just wouldn't light. Here's what went down ...

1. I inspected all the rubber hoses. Pretty much had to replace them all due to cracks.
2. Used soapy water at all connections with the tank valve open. If bubbles appeared, I tightened the flare fitting until they stopped.
3. Checked the regulator and verified if the overflow safety came on. I did this by trying all the appliances. The furnace worked great, the fridge barely kept the pilot running, and no propane at all to the grill. This was my biggest clue as to what was happening ... since each of them was further down the chain from the tank in that order.
4. I took all the connections apart, took my air compressor and blew out each line. Some chunk of god only knows what came out of one of the last sets of lines.
5. Put it all back together, checked the fittings for leaks again, then tested the grille .... VOILA!!! It worked.

It appears we had a bit of a blockage in one of the lines. All is well now, and all the appliances are functioning well on propane.

 

[bmidkiff87]

Question about your hose replacement. I have all copper lines on my ‘99 Santee and am thinking about replacing that with hoses…what size hoses did you use for you replacement and what are their sizes? My copper tubing is 3/8” and I can’t find it close to me without getting 20 feet or more.

The reason I’m thinking about replacing is part of the tubing was damaged and needs replaced. The bad part is I only need about a 1 ft piece for the fix.

 

[ADK_ Adventures]

Question about your hose replacement. I have all copper lines on my ‘99 Santee and am thinking about replacing that with hoses…what size hoses did you use for you replacement and what are their sizes? My copper tubing is 3/8” and I can’t find it close to me without getting 20 feet or more.

The reason I’m thinking about replacing is part of the tubing was damaged and needs replaced. The bad part is I only need about a 1 ft piece for the fix.

On my 2001 Starcraft all my gas fittings are 3/8" male flare fittings. If yours are the same, you would need hoses that have 3/8" female flare fittings on them. They should be available online in various lengths. Hope that helps.

-Amos

 

[ADK_ Adventures]

So, we had never used the propane on our appliances in our "new to us" PUP yet.

I had tried to get them going without success, in particular, the quick connect for the grill ... it just wouldn't light. Here's what went down ...

1. I inspected all the rubber hoses. Pretty much had to replace them all due to cracks.
2. Used soapy water at all connections with the tank valve open. If bubbles appeared, I tightened the flare fitting until they stopped.
3. Checked the regulator and verified if the overflow safety came on. I did this by trying all the appliances. The furnace worked great, the fridge barely kept the pilot running, and no propane at all to the grill. This was my biggest clue as to what was happening ... since each of them was further down the chain from the tank in that order.
4. I took all the connections apart, took my air compressor and blew out each line. Some chunk of god only knows what came out of one of the last sets of lines.
5. Put it all back together, checked the fittings for leaks again, then tested the grille .... VOILA!!! It worked.

It appears we had a bit of a blockage in one of the lines. All is well now, and all the appliances are functioning well on propane.

Glad you got that figured out! I had a very similar issue on our PUP, but it wasn't quite so obvious, and it took a couple weeks of part time fiddling to figure it out. But in the end my biggest problem was a blockage in the gas lines, I blew them out, and all was well again. Definitely something worth checking if you're having gas flow issues.

-Amos

 

[jnbarrett]

Question about your hose replacement. I have all copper lines on my ‘99 Santee and am thinking about replacing that with hoses…what size hoses did you use for you replacement and what are their sizes? My copper tubing is 3/8” and I can’t find it close to me without getting 20 feet or more.

The reason I’m thinking about replacing is part of the tubing was damaged and needs replaced. The bad part is I only need about a 1 ft piece for the fix.

I believe 3/8" fittings ... that said, any tubing under the trailer needs to be copper by code here. Check your laws before switching them over to rubber. Personally, I want my exterior tubing to be copper on the propane for durability.

 

[jnbarrett]

Glad you got that figured out! I had a very similar issue on our PUP, but it wasn't quite so obvious, and it took a couple weeks of part time fiddling to figure it out. But in the end my biggest problem was a blockage in the gas lines, I blew them out, and all was well again. Definitely something worth checking if you're having gas flow issues.

-Amos

Thx ... we needed the furnace this weekend overnight, worked fantastic.

The biggest was the grille. I didn't want to cart 1lb bottles around when I have two 20lbs tanks on the front of the hitch. That worked like a charm too.

Slowly getting all the kinks worked out of this "new to us" trailer with each trip.