Season's Deep Freeze #2

[FFEJANDIRAB]

Hi All,

Wow, deep freezes are treacherous. This is the second one this season and the problems change but are continuous. I am so thankful for this forum for insight and advice.

So this time its the mixing valve in the shower and the thermostat.

1. Mixing Valve- it is outputting only boiling hot water. My guess is the cold water line to the shower is frozen. What do you think? I'm hoping the warmer weather rolling in tomorrow will defrost the line and it will work like it should. The kitchen sink and the bathroom sink both work fine, the hot/cold mixture is still intact.

2. Whenever the propane tank is switched over to a full one, the thermostat needs to be toggled. This means that I will drop the programmed temp on the thermostat down and then back up to trigger the pilot light. Usually this has to be done 2 or 3X to ignite. The camper will then heat up as it should, then the pilot light must go out because the toggle sequence needs to be repeated, the propane heat won't continue to turn on and off keeping the temp up where its programmed on the thermostat. Does that explanation make sense?

Thanks again everyone!

Bari

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Marklar

Hi All,

Wow, deep freezes are treacherous. This is the second one this season and the problems change but are continuous. I am so thankful for this forum for insight and advice.

So this time its the mixing valve in the shower and the thermostat.

1. Mixing Valve- it is outputting only boiling hot water. My guess is the cold water line to the shower is frozen. What do you think? I'm hoping the warmer weather rolling in tomorrow will defrost the line and it will work like it should. The kitchen sink and the bathroom sink both work fine, the hot/cold mixture is still intact.

Could also try turning up the furnace, an hour or two at 80+ degrees may help

2. Whenever the propane tank is switched over to a full one, the thermostat needs to be toggled. This means that I will drop the programmed temp on the thermostat down and then back up to trigger the pilot light. Usually this has to be done 2 or 3X to ignite. The camper will then heat up as it should, then the pilot light must go out because the toggle sequence needs to be repeated, the propane heat won't continue to turn on and off keeping the temp up where its programmed on the thermostat. Does that explanation make sense?

In extremely cold weather, if one cylinder is completely empty, the other one won't vaporize enough propane to run the furnace, so the furnace will shut down and have to be reset the way you describe. There is no easy fix however there are several things you can do that will help:

1) Arrange to use a much larger cylinder or tank in cold weather. Some people use portable 100# tanks. Some people, particularly those at seasonal or permanent sites, have a propane dealer bring out a 100, 125, 250, or 500 gallon tank.

2) Monitor the propane levels and switch to a full cylinder as soon as the one in use is empty, or even while it still is 1/8 to 1/4 full. It helps to have cylinders with float gauges to do this. Also, as a practical matter, you need to have a 3rd cylinder on hand to swap in.

3) Switch from the 30# stock cylinders to 40# cylinders if you have not already done so. Expensive but it will help somewhat, since 40# cylinders vaporize propane faster, and don't run out as often. I would upgrade to float gauges at the same time

4) Keep the cylinders and their cover free of ice and snow