Community Forums

spritz · 06-18-2014, 08:26 AM

Got home yesterday afternoon and as soon as we passed the MH in the driveway we both could smell rotten egg smell. I opened the MH door and got a blast of the smell. I turned off the propane @ the tank and then opened the windows and started a fan blowing the smell out. It took a good 1/2 hour to get the smell to disparate.
The propane has been on for over a month and no smells. Since I turned off the tank I presume that the tank is holding and there is a leak somewhere in the MH? I checked stove,knobs all off furnace was on but at the lowest setting so I shut it all the way to off. The smell is now gone. where should I start to look? I suppose I will need to take the MH somewhere to have it looked at. Any one know of a dependable place in the Twin City area? Mlps/StPaul area?
Thanks in advance,
Tim

homeless · 06-18-2014, 08:30 AM

Try the pilot lite on the stove, when mine blows out it makes stink

trackman · 06-18-2014, 08:33 AM

Soap and water the line connections at each gas appliance(gas on of course). If you do not find any leaks it could be a line rupture and you may have to have help finding that. Hope you get to the bottom of it. Good luck

MSHappyCampers · 06-18-2014, 12:37 PM

I had a similar problem and it was the regulator spewing propane out the vent! Someone told me it was the diaphragm in the regulator leaking. I replaced the regulator and all is good!

BFlinn181 · 06-18-2014, 01:22 PM

Are you sure it's an LP gas smell or could it be 'cooking' batteries? Check batteries for water levels. If they are very low, it could be a sign of overcharging.

RickO · 06-18-2014, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

Are you sure it's an LP gas smell or could it be 'cooking' batteries? Check batteries for water levels. If they are very low, it could be a sign of overcharging.

That was my thought as well.

Best of luck.

Rick

trackman · 06-18-2014, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

Are you sure it's an LP gas smell or could it be 'cooking' batteries? Check batteries for water levels. If they are very low, it could be a sign of overcharging.

If it was battery boiling the smell would not have dissipated when the gas was turned off. I am in agreement with the bad regulator or my suggestion of leak.

Dr4Film · 06-18-2014, 03:04 PM

Why wasn't the LPG alarm blaring away?

If you don't have one or the one you have has expired or disconnected I would suggest that while you are fixing the LPG leak you fix the LPG detector also.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

MSHappyCampers · 06-18-2014, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr4Film

Why wasn't the LPG alarm blaring away?

If you don't have one or the one you have has expired or disconnected I would suggest that while you are fixing the LPG leak you fix the LPG detector also.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

Good advice Richard!

JC2 · 06-18-2014, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trackman

If it was battery boiling the smell would not have dissipated when the gas was turned off. I am in agreement with the bad regulator or my suggestion of leak.

I would still check the battery fluid level. It appears that he has an older unit(1982) which could possibly have the Magnajunk converters. We all know how they love to boil batteries dry now don't we.

trackman · 06-18-2014, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC2

I would still check the battery fluid level. It appears that he has an older unit(1982) which could possibly have the Magnajunk converters. We all know how they love to boil batteries dry now don't we.

Good point and I agree. Nothing that makes it safe should be overlooked

RickO · 06-18-2014, 04:39 PM

In my first reading, I thought the OP had just gotten home from driving the MH (hence the batteries could have been boiling) but after rereading it, sounds like that may not be the case.

Rick

rebootxl · 06-18-2014, 05:05 PM

Hey spritz, if I recall, you have an 82 Pace Arrow.

I just recently fixed/corrected an issue with my 85 Pace Arrow's gas stove--I removed the stove to fix a shower faucet water leak and when I went to reconnect the stove, I couldn't get the stove re-installed without it leaking (I used a gas sniffer and soap to determine that there was a leak). I ended up cutting, and re-flaring the gas line several times with no success.

What I eventually found was that the stove had a 1/2-inch male flare connector, whereas the soft copper pipe was 3/8-inch inner diameter. Note that copper pipe size should be based on the inner diameter and NOT the outer diameter (PVC, on the other hand, is measured by the outer diameter of the pipe). Coincidentally, the outer diameter of the soft copper pipe was 1/2-inch so perhaps someone messed up. The 3/8-inch copper pipe was flared and seated directly onto the 1/2-inch male flare stove via compression sleeve and this looks like it would fit but it leaked ever so slightly.

If this is the same as your issue, you'll have to somehow adapt the 3/8-inch flared copper pipe to the 1/2-inch male flare using whatever approach works best for you.

What I ended up doing is this:

(The only gas shutoff is at the outside tank so when you disconnect the stove, it's just an gaping open pipe and I didn't feel comfortable with this approach, so I installed a gas shutoff valve inside the coach in my approach. I also didn't feel comfortable with the somewhat rigid copper pipe plumbed directly to the stove, so I added a flexible gas hose in my approach to account for any vibrations. I purchased all parts from Home Depot).

1. Existing copper pipe (3/8-inch soft copper pipe).
2. Copper adapter (3/8-inch socket x 1/2-inch male pipe thread (MNPT), Cleaned, fluxed and soldered to soft copper pipe).
3. Gas shutoff valve (1/2-inch female pipe thread (FNPT) x 1/2-inch male flare). I used yellow pipe thread on the MNPT threads. DON'T THREAD any Flare connectors, they're designed to not need it.
4. Flexible gas hose (1/2-inch female flare x 1/2-inch female flare).
5. Stove (1/2-inch male flare).

I can add more detailed instructions or take photos if you need, just let me know.

For safety, my pre-takeoff checklist now consists of closing the master valve (outside valve) every time I'm driving (to avoid a gas leak while I'm driving). This will minimize risk of explosion if the pipe somehow breaks (such as in a car accident).

Hope this helps.

spritz · 06-18-2014, 09:56 PM

Thanks for the tips. I looked this afternoon and the egg smell is back but not as strong as yesterday.I checked the fridge this afternoon and the plate that covers the pilot was still hot,(on the rear of the fridge outside taken off the door

) so I took the cover plate off and I burnt my finger it was so hot,(gas was shut off afternoon before) Where is the gas coming from? wouldn't it have been gone since I turned it off at the Propane tank the day before?? Big blister to go with my Gennie muffler pipe burn on the top of the same hand

the other day.

I am going to go check the battery's right now. The other 1/2 says the smell is coming from the furnace. Yes I have had to use it a few mornings last week (upper 40's lower 50"s) but no smells then either and it hasn't run since last week.
Will look tomorrow after registering for the "Back to the 50ties car show at out state fare grounds. Last year there were 12,033 cars all before 1964 and 150,000 spectators
I might not get back to this until late Thursday.
Thanks again, Tim, and out I go to look at the batteries