bad propane?

fixerupper

Well-known Member
My son got a new 100lb tank of propane, new tank, filled up ready to go. He put it in his enclosed tool trailer, lit the new heater he installed and all was fine. After a few days the heater wouldn't work. He took the heater out, took it to his warm shop, hooked it to a barbecue tank he had in the shop and the heater worked fine. Put it back in the trailer, bled the line and it wouldn't stay lit. It would light up as long as he held a torch flame to the burner but as soon as he took the torch away the flame went out. Finally out of desperation he put another full 100lb propane tank in there and the heater worked like a champ.

Can the gas be bad? Can there be an ice buildup inside the tank at the outlet reducing the outflow? After he unhooked the bad tank he opened up the valve and gas shot out with a loud hiss so there is some pressure in the tank. The ambient temperature here has been from +40f to -22f but temp didn't seem to make a difference. It didn't work at +40f either.
 
I didn't know there was such a thing as GOOD propane. I now have natural gas in town and at the farm...never going back.
 
It is very possible that whoever filled the new tank did not purge the nitrogen out of it. They need a shot of LP, and then you bleed it off and then fill it.
 
Did he buy the tank new with propane already in it?

Could have been insufficiently purged by the retailer or the filling station after he bought the tank?

If each heater has it's own regulator, perhaps the regulator in the trailer is bad or froze up.
 
About 3 weeks ago a news story out of Sioux Falls had a bulletin about bad propane. I don't recall the reason but maybe moisture was mixed in. Check with the dealer. I think i seen it on Keloland TV. Good luck
 
(quoted from post at 18:59:24 01/15/18) Did he buy the tank new with propane already in it?

Could have been insufficiently purged by the retailer or the filling station after he bought the tank?

If each heater has it's own regulator, perhaps the regulator in the trailer is bad or froze up.

He did buy the new tank with propane in it. I didn't realize it needed to be purged first. I will relay the message to him. He tried a new regulator to no avail. I don't know where this gas came from but I suspect it came from the pipeline terminal by Sanborn Iowa. That's where most of our propane comes from.
 
I have been using propane for 50 years and never had bad fuel. Have had two regulators go bad but never fuel.
 
Please stop messing around and get your dealer out there. If they
screwed up it is on them. If you mess with it they can say OH No and
walk away. Call the place he bought it and get them out there! Also
tell him to keep his big mouth shut and play dumb. It doesn't work.
That is all he should say. Don't try to help just stand in the corner.
My dad went through something almost like this with the hot water
heater in the shop. Bad regulator. They were ready to charge him for
everything till I said how about I get my tools and parts out of my
service truck. Back then I was CEFESA certified. When their guy saw i
had about twice the tools and parts that he had, he kinda shut up. I
had gotten there after my dad had called me but the service guy got
there about ten minutes before I did and was giving my dad a hard
time. You need to be certified on this stuff.
 
It does sound like it wasn't purged properly. Take it out in the open somewhere and open it up a little and let it blow off a few seconds. It won't help with moisture but it will get rid of a lot of the air. It should have been purged with vapor about 4 or 5 times. Liquid will cause the water vapor to freeze and not be purged properly. Of course its just a guess going off of the information given. Good luck and let us know what you find out.
 
In your situation I would say the tank wasn't purged.

Now on the topic of bad propane... three years ago
there was a bad batch of propane that came
through the metro Vancouver area in BC.
We have 4 propane forklifts and about 12 bottles,
four on machines and the remaining either full or
empty in the rack.

We had a company come weekly and fill the
empties on site. Works great, were never out
completely. One week there were 7 filled and as we
started working into them the forklifts started to run
rough. The only reason we figured it was the
propane was the one forklift that was hardly in use
and didn't get a bottle changed and it ran fine...
indoor use hard tire forklift.
We started swapping tanks and had a few empties
filled at a service station and they ran a bit better.
Then the guy showed up and filled everything again
with more contaminated propane and we had a
mess.

We had to clean out the regulators and replace
some gaskets and other stuff... there was tar like
stuff all over the inside.

Ultimately we had them clean and purge the tanks
again and they gave us a couple rounds of free fuel.
It didn't cause us too much grief because we always
seemed to have one running good enough. Some of
the big lumber yards and other industrial places
were hit hard and shut down without their forklifts.

This wasn't isolated to our supplier as I knew of
another comany hit with it at the same time and they
had another company deliver their propane... it must
have come from the refinery or distribution company
not filtering he impurities out. Anyone else ever see
this?

Anyway since then I just take the bottles 6 at a time
to a fuel station when I go pick up parts every week.
It's actually cheaper as long as I don't count my
time.
 
I don't have an explanation for what went on, but I'm gonna call "foul" on the problem being caused by the tank not being purged, if you are telling the story correctly.

Air is lighter than propane, and if the tank wasn't purged/contains a lot of air that problem should have showed up immediately, yet if I'm correctly understanding your post, it didn't, you wrote "all was fine" at the start.

Doesn't make sense!
 
I would say he got a tank with propane that is contaminated. I had that one time with the additive the ad to propane to make it have the bad odor. My grain dryer would not stay lite. The cam out and pumped the tank out and flushed the line. Apparently the additive can settle out kind of. So when the driver filled his truck he got more additive than propane. All was well after they pump it out and brought new propane out.

It sure stunk where they flushed the lines out. You could smell it for several years when it rained.
 
I purchased a NEW 1000 USG Propane Tank:

Propane Tank was purged with propane before it was delivered:

Added 80%...System operates fine from -40 F "home furnace to a barbeque at ambient Temp 85 deg F"
 
(quoted from post at 18:54:57 01/15/18) I didn't know there was such a thing as GOOD propane. I now have natural gas in town and at the farm...never going back.

Great why don't you send me a check for $10,000.00 so I can run a NG line to my property. Then we would both be happy.
 
Stonerock nailed it. Take the tank outside away from any buildings and crack the valve for a minute or two. It just wasn't purged.
 
Craigslist ? Real tip off is when you have to meet them in a dark alley. The pipes still may be hanging off of it hacked off. You know it is a fresh one when it still has some warm water in it ! LOL.
 
(quoted from post at 21:41:06 01/15/18) I don't have an explanation for what went on, but I'm gonna call "foul" on the problem being caused by the tank not being purged, if you are telling the story correctly.

Air is lighter than propane, and if the tank wasn't purged/contains a lot of air that problem should have showed up immediately, yet if I'm correctly understanding your post, it didn't, you wrote "all was fine" at the start.

Doesn't make sense!

Bob, come to think of it I don’t know if this was his first tank. Will have to ask him today.
 
Propane is not always created equal. Years back,propane may have been a mixture of similar sized hydrocarbon molecules. Probably today this is not quite an issue.
 
My "new" 250 gallon tank came with a vacuum and a seal, as shipped from the factory. Propane guy installed the tank and plumbing to my standby generator, took the seal off, hooked his hose to it and filled it. No problems.
 
(quoted from post at 02:00:00 01/16/18)
(quoted from post at 18:54:57 01/15/18) I didn't know there was such a thing as GOOD propane. I now have natural gas in town and at the farm...never going back.

Great why don't you send me a check for $10,000.00 so I can run a NG line to my property. Then we would both be happy.

Natural gas is not available way out here at ANY price. It's either propane or nothing.
 
Been using propane for over 50 years with no problems except a couple of dealers went bad that caused problems but was managers falt, not the product.
 
Just remember that Propane is manufactured. Man made folks. Natural
gas as they just add the stink. At least as far as I know. Just chime
in folks.
 
(quoted from post at 10:10:37 01/16/18)
Natural gas is not available way out here at ANY price. It's either propane or nothing.

Sure it is for ANY price. You provide the money needed, you'll get the NG.
 
(quoted from post at 18:51:39 01/15/18) My son got a new 100lb tank of propane, new tank, filled up ready to go. He put it in his enclosed tool trailer, lit the new heater he installed and all was fine. After a few days the heater wouldn't work. He took the heater out, took it to his warm shop, hooked it to a barbecue tank he had in the shop and the heater worked fine. Put it back in the trailer, bled the line and it wouldn't stay lit. It would light up as long as he held a torch flame to the burner but as soon as he took the torch away the flame went out. Finally out of desperation he put another full 100lb propane tank in there and the heater worked like a champ.

Can the gas be bad? Can there be an ice buildup inside the tank at the outlet reducing the outflow? After he unhooked the bad tank he opened up the valve and gas shot out with a loud hiss so there is some pressure in the tank. The ambient temperature here has been from +40f to -22f but temp didn't seem to make a difference. It didn't work at +40f either.


Often times,if the tank regulator is exposed to wet weather and moisture finds its way into the reg and freezes the reg. can't work.Pouring warm water over the reg. will often get gas to flow normally.It has happened to me several times.
 
I live on a 4 lane highway between two county roads which have NG running along side of them. There are 6 homes along the 4 lane highway
and GN gas company won't come through and if they did they would charge $190.00 a month with no date when they would drop down bill.
 
Sounds like moisture in tank, and regulator is freezing up, if its cold enough to freeze, pour hot water over regulator and it will work. My supplier adds methonal to propane to keep moisture out.
 

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