LP line update

Thanks for all the help and suggestions on the failed LP line/hot water heater.

The lines needed to be opened way longer than I realized to purge the air. Even when you can smell gas, there can still be a fair amount of air in the line. The tech was able to tell the difference between a gas smell and a strong gas smell.

The pilots still would not ignite. We found teflon tape in one of the pilot orifices and a spider in the other (less than 24 hours off. Tech said it was common as well as mud daubers). I do not know what the odds are of having two different hot water heaters in the same home having their pilots clogged but they have to be pretty long.

Thanks again.

Pilots are always steering in their own direction. Jim

When I work on big commercial stuff with natural gas I bleed the line a GOOD shot. The vent hoods are running or you Have plenty of air moving. The line will whistle with a trillll kind of sound with natural gas. People run for their lives and I just sit there and laugh at them. On your gas lines you should always use BLACK pipe and nothing else if possible. Propane will make little black specks with copper tube and galvanized will make little silver speckles in you valves and pilots. Just had that problem last week on a rotary bakery oven. The rear burner would not stay lit in :bypass: mode. Silver flakes in the little control valve. Cleaned it out and got a shower of sparkles in the flame. All fixed now. Just remember that natural gas is the same specific gravity as air and mixes vary well. Lp is like twice the weight of air and crawls along the floor. It also makes damn nice little puddles of un mixed gas here and there. Lots of BTUs to go boom! Will take all of the hair off of your legs if you get a flash over. If you open a Natural gas line you hear it go HIsssssss. If you open an Lp line it kinda goes Whoaaaaaaahhhh like a person breathing out of their mouth. Moisture in your breath makes it heavier. Same with LP. I have worked with this stuff for over thirty years now.

I have the same problem when I try to use propane wall heater in normally unused workshop in barn. Have to crack the line and bleed the air out before I can light pilot.

The tech said different distributors have different odor mixtures. The one we deal with has a strong odor mixture and he has noticed that their gas tends to burn a little sootier.

Natural gas is much lighter than air. When I worked in a local gas dept. we boys sent more than one 50 gallon garbage bag inflated with natural gas into the wild blue yonder. TDF

Thanks for the update. Just wondering if the water heaters had sediment traps installed? I must of misunderstood I was thinking you had removed the line at the regulator and there was nothing coming out.

Yes, they had traps. I pulled the flex line going into the regulator at the heater and had nothing. I found a valve off and some garbage stuck in another valve.

Propane is heavier. It will sit on the floor. I put holes in my truck bed so any propane that leaks from my forge may escape.

Not to say it isn't possible but the odorant amount I've seen is like 1 pound mercaptan per 10,000 gallon lp. It seem hard to imagine a little change would make that much difference.

I see your point. This is merely the observation and speculation of the tech who serviced the hat water heaters. I do notice this, our propane is much sootier than any other propane I have ever used. Propane is supposedly a fungible commodity so there should be little difference especially within a small region.

The soot could be from the propane. But if it hasn't already been I would have the working pressure checked. Incomplete combustion isn't a good thing. I guess all the appliances have soot problems?