I had the same situation once due to a cracked regulator. The RV propane guy that replaced it for me put the next one on at an angle to keep it from cracking. What he said happened was that during weather this time of year running the fridge caused the regulator to cool and sweat. When the temperature dropped below freezing at night this condensation got into a part of the regulator and caused it to crack and leak propane. This scenario was accurate as I had been at a bluegrass festival in Western North Carolina about this same time of year and the temperature varied from 75 during the day to 30 degrees at night. I had no further problems once the regulator was re-installed at an angle so the condensation would run off.

David Clarkson
90 Westy (237k)

-----Original Message-----
From: matthiaskuster@VERIZON.NET
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 11:52 AM
Subject: another propane question, overflow valve

Hi list,

Likely this can be found in the archives, but I will hog some
bandwidth here anyways:

I just had my propane filled with 3 gallons. The tank has the screw
type overflow valve on it. The last time it had propane in it might
well have been a decade or so ago...
I cleaned and prepped the tank and accessories, redid the pipe
connections incl teflon tape, then painted the tank and skid plate.
Cleaned the tags and labels as good as possible.
Now, I think I heard that the tank and system should have been
evacuated before filling. This didn't happen, or I doubt it did. When
the guy was filling it there was stuff spewing all over the place.
All my appliances work fine with the propane now, great actually, but
I do have propane smell. I checked all unions and connections and
don't see any bubbles. If I open the screw on overfill valve, gas is
coming out. Now for the question:
Must this overflow valve be opened at filling time? Do I have too
much pressure in my tank/system since the air wasn't evacced?? If I
turn the valve on the tank off (not the overflow) the gas smell
disappears. Should I open the overflow valve until no more gas
escapes to even out the pressure?

TIA

Matthias
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