Date:         Sun, 20 Mar 2011 09:00:55 -0600
Reply-To:     Richard A Jones <jones@COLORADO.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Richard A Jones <jones@COLORADO.EDU>
Subject:      Re: 1983 Westy Propane Tank Question
In-Reply-To:  <201103201421.AHO46310@Colorado.EDU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>  But if they don't open the bleed screw ALL THE WAY =
> before they try to fill, it can pressure lock and then you have a harder ti=
> me if the guy doesn't know how the pressure relief valve works.

That's the key.  For the auto-stop valve, it must be fully open.
But the reason propane jockeys don't know to do that is the
typical (99.9% of tanks) bleeder valve needs to be open just
a crack to vent when they fill the tank.  When they see propane from
the bleeder, it is full.  For the auto-stop to shut off the
valve automatically, it must be fully open.

So two reasons to replace the auto-stop with a regular fill
valve and a regular bleeder valve:  (1) the auto-stops are very
old and may be failing, and (2) propane guys will know how
to fill the tank without coaching.

Richard