At 09:19 PM 6/9/2010, Matthew Snook wrote:
>turned the pump on without heeding my instructions, at which point the gas
>started coming out of the fixture from underneath the hose connection.  This
>has never happened before and now I wonder if turning on the pump without
>either releasing the valve or pushing the button has blown out the system.
>Any guesses?

Dear Matthew,

The differential (pumping) pressure of the propane is not very high
so far as I know, and the valve is designed to close against it
without harm.  I'm not totally clear on your description of what
happened but I doubt you've blown anything.

Pushing the button resets the valve to accept liquid into the
tank.  Opening the vent valve on the side of the tank vents gas
during pumping -- when liquid starts coming through that line the
valve shuts off.

If the tank didn't accept any gas, that would be normal result of not
pushing the red-covered button.

But you need to get the beast level, then open the bleed valve to
make sure that it's gas and not liquid coming out.  If it's liquid,
keep on venting until only gas comes out.  Remember that the whole
assembly will get very cold if you're venting liquid through it, and
the valve might possibly stick because of freezing some moisture on the stem.

Yours,
David