Friends of Gary

I've invited my friend Steve Froese to respond to a recent question to the RV Doctor Column. Steve is a published author; his articles can be found in Trailblazer Magazine and other publications.

I have a dual 30-lb propane tanks for my RV. When the left one gets to be about half-full it shuts down and does not swith over to other tank. I took it out and tried it on a gas grill and worked perfect. I then put a 15-lb tank in to take its place and it works and also automatically switches over. I'm baffled What do you think it is? John, (New Bedford, MA)

Here's Steve's response:

John, my first obvious question would be whether you can be absolutely sure that the cylinder is not empty? Is it possible that the gas grille required much less flow than the RV, and so was able to run for a while on the propane that remained in the tank?

Failing this, we need to rule out whether the cylinder is somehow causing the problem, so the first thing I would suggest is to swap the cylinders around and see if the problem stays on the left, moves with the original cylinder over to the right, or goes away. If the problem moves with the original cylinder (moves to the right), then there is a problem with the cylinder or the service valve and you will need to replace the cylinder. If the problem stays on the left, then you should first replace the high pressure hose from the cylinder to the automatic changeover regulator. If that doesn’t fix it, you should replace the automatic changeover regulator assembly. Hope this helps! Steve...

Steve's Bio

Gary's Note: In case you missed it, here's how to test that automatic changeover regulator assembly!