On 8 Jul 2004 at 15:59, Tobin Copley <tcopley@SFU.CA> wrote: > Hi all, > > On my last camping trip of the season last summer, I high-centred my > 2WD westy while negotiating a decommissioned logging road up in the > mountains in BC. I smeared the wimpy little propane tank skid plate > quite badly, the also smunched the plumbing outside the tank itself. I > now have a slow leak from somewhere in that exposed plumbing. The > smell was noticeable outside the van, but it was faint and the system > maintained enough propane to keep the tank running until I got home a > day later. The tank has since emptied itself out. Sounds like we travel similar roads... ;-) I've not managed to clobber my tank too much yet, just the engine carriers and the spare tire/bumper. > I'd like to get the leak fixed. > > I am a bit worried that if I bring the camper into a RV/propane shop > here (BC Canada), that they will refuse to work on it or be compelled > via regulations to remove/disable it or some such thing. The tank is, > I believe, original, and therefore 22 years old now, which in itself > may make it illegal to work on (I don't know). The plumbing and tank > looks okay to my untrained eye, but it *does* have some gouges and such > from past and the most recent ground clearance "issues." It doesn't > seem to be rust-laden or anything. The plastic cap that covered the > regulator was squeezed between the smunched skid plate and the tank > itself, and it cracked in a lot of places and has fallen off. The skid > plate that received the Salvador Dali treatment is lying in a warped > condition on my garage floor. I figure with an hour of so of work with > a sledgehammer and other implements of destruction I should be able to > get it reasonably straight and make it fit back on. My tank is *very* rusty, but the local propane place didn't seem worried by it. It took it in a few years back when I smelled gas. He was prepared to replaced the filler assembly ($100), since it was leaking. But sensing my frugality, he then whacked it with a wrench, and check for a leaks again. It worked, and hasn't leaked since. He explained that there is a brass safety valve that can get partially stuck, and cause a leak. > The big tabs on the tank that the skid plate bolts to are also bent > quite a bit back. Is it okay to use a huge wrench and a hammer to bend > them back so that they are perpendicular to the tank again? I don't see why not. The tanks are built like a, well, tank... :-) > I suspect that just one or two parts of that exposed plumbing system > have been damaged and that the rest is okay, but I don't want to open a > regulatory Pandora's box by bringing my aged westy into a propane > repair shop. I'm also not entirely comfortable with the idea of > working on the propane system myself--propane kind of freaks me out. > > Since there's no propane in the system now, even to identify the source > of the leak I'd have to go to a station and have them put a few pounds > into a system I know is leaky, and I'm not sure I'm cool with that > either. Perhaps you can find a shop with appropriate fittings to put some compressed air into the tank for testing with. Or just call a propane shop willing to try things out for you. -- Shawn Wright http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright ~This message sent by Pegasus Mail, the safe E-Mail alternative~ "Friends don't let friends use Outlook" |
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