Leave Propane Bottle Valves Open?

[heyskipper]

Hi Everyone

We filled our two propane tanks yesterday on our new-to-us ’99 Safari 25 footer. The attendant who helped us told us to just leave the valves open on the tanks and manually switch them when one empties.

Question: What is the general wisdom on running with propane tank valves open?

I understand that if we run with the refrigerator running on gas, then yes, leave it open. But what about when we are just parking it between trips?

Seems to me the valves should be closed when not in use. That means I open only one valve on the tank in use, and the other is closed until I switch to it, etc. When I store the trailer I close all the valves, etc.

Advice?

Thanks,

Carl & Cheryl Jackson
Montgomery, TX

[Pick]

I leave mine closed. If you would happen to spring a leak, then you would lose all your gas. And gas aint cheap these days Most regulators will switch automatically, so if you know one tank is getting low, leave both valves open and the regulator should automatically switch.

[jcanavera]

As a matter of practice I close them when I return the Safari to storage. I would rather not have the system under pressure while its in storage.

You have a dual regulator which means once one tank goes empty, and both valves are in the opened position, the other tank will come on line.

Personally I normally keep one valve closed when operational unless I see that I'm starting to get low. I would hate to have to get up one cold night to open the other valve if the operational tank went dry.

Since the Safari has no inside gauge, if I kept both valves open, which will allow the automatic switchover, and don't check when I should, I could run the other dry also. Normally once a tank goes dry, I get it refilled right away or once I get home.

Usually you can tell when you are getting low in a tank by looking at the little glass indicator on the regulator which is normally green. It will slowly be showing more red as the tank gets low. Another way of checking is on a damp day when your furnace or water heater is in use. The liquid propane changing to a gas within the tank will condense moisture on the tank which will show you the level of the liquid. Finally when the tank gets low, the smell of the chemical used to give propane its telltale smell will become noticable (at least I can smell it) when you have an appliance operating.

Jack

[heyskipper]

Thanks, Jack.

I agree. In fact, on the way to dinner tonight, I stopped by the storage location for the little A/S and turned off both propane tanks.

From now on, I will turn on the one that we are using, and when it looks like we may be getting close to empty, then I will turn on the other and refill accordingly.

Take Care,

Carl Jackson