Suburban furnace issue 2014 Sunstar 27N

[kerrybluekim]

I hooked up 100# external tank to the regulator on my 2014 sunstar 27N. Twice in one week the furnace stopped igniting. First time I redid all the connections and that worked. Second time it stopped working in the middle of the night and I tipped the tank to see if it was empty and it worked after that. Any ideas what I am dealing with?
It is cold but not excessive. Was down to 20 degrees last night

Howard

[Morich]

Do you have experience with using propane in cold weather so you know how it may react to the cold? Small tanks may work quite different than the large home supply tanks.

It can take a bit of care and judgement to keep it working as the cold makes pressure in the tank vary. There are also times when cold freezes the reg if we don't take care?

[kerrybluekim]

The regulator is in a warmer place so i am not worried about that freezing up. The 100 # tank is outside and is from the koa we are staying in. Does it help to wrap the tank?

[powercat_ras]

I assume your stove burners still work and that your refrigerator will still run on propane, so that you know you are getting propane from the 100 # tank into the RV regulator an on into the low pressure side of the RV propane system.

Did you tee the 100 # tank before the regulator? If yes I'd try closing the 100 # tank valve and opening the on-RV tank valve and see if the furnace still runs that way.

If it works on the RV tank and not on the 100 # tank then I'd tell that to the KOA and ask for their assistance to figure out why.

Good luck.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by kerrybluekim

The regulator is in a warmer place so i am not worried about that freezing up. The 100 # tank is outside and is from the koa we are staying in. Does it help to wrap the tank?

When I have had trouble with the tank getting too cold as the gas is used, it has not been in RV but industrial use where we had lots of different ways to get a bit of heat to the tank as it started to freeze and lose pressure.

One way that might work and be easy enough for RV use is to wrap the tank and then put heat under the wrap.
A moving blanket is a good sturdy, thick cover that will keep the wind and cold off.
For heat we often used a trouble light, stuck it in under the wrap and then built a heavy wire "shield" to keep the blanket from moving down over the bulb where it might get too hot.

Other times when we were using the tank to power a "power cart" running on propane, for underground work, we could just move the tank off the cart and inside the tent over the manhole opening. We had heaters on the cart to keep us warm enough to work and it blew the warm air in the underground and as it went back out, it heated the tent area where the tank set.

Point to know is that it takes a bit of playing with the temperature of the tank because if you heat it took much when the tank is full, it can overpressure and "burp" off the excess gas!
Not the best idea if you have open flames, etc around where it is burping gas!

I'm glad to say I will never do that work ever, ever, ever again!