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jleamont

Propane Tank Removed

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Joe,

That does seem like a lot of oil.  Being in the upstream oil and gas business for my entire career and have managed many gas extraction plants, we did see a small amount of lubricating oil from compressors and pumps in our products.  More so if there was a ring or seal failure on the dozens of different pieces of equipment in the separation process.  I wouldn't be surprised if there was a small amount oil in your tank over a 14 year period but 10 gallons is a lot.

Just a guess......before propane gets to the consumer it goes through many hands (storage tanks).  Gas separation plant to tank, then from truck tank to storage, then to several smaller trucks and storage to us (consumer).  I'm thinking you got tank bottoms a few times and an accumulation over a period of time.  Just a guess.

On another note: Hate to ruin Carl's vacation but we got home a few days ago from being in northern climates.  Neighbor came over last night and asked us why the heck did we come home this heat!!!  Our answer.......to get ready for the next trip!

Blake

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Blake, it had a very large drain plug in the bottom which made me think there was something I was missing that I was supposed to do and didn't. I was surprised on the amount of oil myself. It certainly explained why it was so heavy when we were pulling it out.

The coach feels different to drive, I'm estimating 440 lbs off of the front. Once I am done I am going to have it 4 corner weighed and go from there with my tire pressures. I swear my drive tires have too much air in them, feels a little squirrely in the rear if you sway the steering wheel it skates side to side. I really noticed it on this last trip after the tank was pulled and my fresh water tank only had maybe 15 gallons of water in it. Next trip in two days I will have a full fresh tank which is just before the drive axle so that will add 834 lbs back there. I have considered dropping my air pressure but I don't want to under inflate them.

 

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27 minutes ago, Manholt said:

Joe.  Where are you heading?  What size is your front tires and how much air do you carry now?

Carl, front are 295/80R22.5 set to 120 PSI (max)

Rear are 295/75R22.5 set to 110 PSI (max) (actually the wrong size tire should be the same as the front, but brand new when coach was bought so I'm running them off)

  • Since I do not have weights I went with max PSI just incase the coach is really that heavy.  Since I have removed 1030 lbs from it cant be that heavy....or could it :huh:

Kay, funny story, I guess I was next to add that I have oil dripping out, believe me I was puzzled.

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Joe.  I run 315 80R in front at 105 cold, rear 295 80R at 95 cold and tag 295 80R at 85 cold.

Oil from old propane tank line?

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Joe,

I think you're gonna have a fun exercise in static loading once you get axle and corner weights!  I think it was a good thing to convert your coach to "non-propane" and remove the tank.  I'm not an expert on this but once you get weights and adjust your tire pressures and the front end still seems squirrely, you may want to shift some weight into your new storage compartment where the propane tank was.  Imagine a "see saw" with that huge engine being the kid that was always bigger than you when you were young.  So in effect you'll be shifting weight towards the front to counteract potential tail wag.  Just a thought.

If all you had was a plug on the bottom of the tank you didn't miss anything as far as maintenance goes.  Unless there was an isolation valve, drain bottle and a final valve then you could have drained liquid from the bottom of the tank.  Vapor pressure of propane is ~60 to ~170 psi at temps from 60F to 100F.  Pretty high pressures and very volatile!  When we performed maintenance on our tanks (50,000 gal) we pumped out the propane into one of several others and isolated the one we needed to clean, recoat or repair.  LPG vapors went to a vapor compressor for recycle before we opened the system up.

Kay,

Another possibility.  I never thought about the mercaptan thing (we called it stinko! :)).  We were the ones who metered it into the LPG or natural gas on the way out of storage or to the pipelines.  We only found lube oil in the bottoms of our vessels.

Blake

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Blake.  After the oil leaves the well head, is not my expertise...I now some of it but.  Question is, why do most Industrial  LPG accidents involve implosion instead of explosion?  Not talking about cleaning, 50,000 gallon tanks...they go Boom!  Had a friend in Norway that has a tank cleaning business, he was in an explosion, now his 2 daughters own it. Rule # 1, if you like to drink, stay behind the desk!

As for Joe, he or any of us would not know if we had an excessive amount of non gas liquid in our tank, until all gas has been expelled and tank opened.  Gas is solvent in oil and also mercaptan.  I don't think it was the latter, 10 gallons of that stuff, would be like hugging several Skunks!:o:lol:

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Wish I could answer your question Carl but I'm no expert there and don't know the stat.:ph34r:

I'd like to work towards modifying our coach to "non-propane" but have to find the refrigerator that will fit our space.  We have the model number of Joe's fridge and will start from there.

Blake

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Blake, the common one is the Samsung RF197, it was discontinued when I was shopping. The replacement is not recommended to run on an inverter (something to do with new compressor technology and was told it couldn't handle the bouncing) so I was told. I looked elsewhere and the one I bought required no modifications to the cabinet and draws very little amps. If we hadn't needed something fast I would have considered a larger unit just for more space and shopped around. But since was already larger and very cost effective it was hard to pass up. I wanted stainless steel DW wanted to hang magnets from everywhere we have been on it (the stainless model wasn't magnetic) I raised the white flag and bought it in black, besides it matches the microwave.

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Ahhh....the famous French capitulation, a white flag!  :o  Did DW say that she would use you for her magnets?  With pins substitute? :lol:

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Blake, 

The refrigerator we installed was a Samsung RF18 18. It is a 17.5 cuft. Unit.

Had to remove the two drawers that were below the 1200. If your furnace is below your unit you may have to investigation another model.

We couldn't be happier. It operates on our 2,000 watt modified sine wave inverter with no problems.

Herman 

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Thanks guys,

We do have a furnace under our 1200 and I haven't been able to find a residential that will fit the smaller space while leaving the furnace intact.  But, if I want to go totally non-propane (not sure yet) then there isn't much use for the furnace.  But, we don't have Aquahot and would be relying on our heat pumps and space heaters during cold weather. 

Our 1200 works fine now but I'm a bit leery about the safety issue with these things.  After list of other mods are done I'll start looking into making a change to see if it's feasible.

Blake.

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Blake, if the fridge is still working, you might just run it on LP. Think that if you do some research into the fire issue, they have caused fires when on AC and the heater coils fail.

I can not recall reading anything that mentioned a fire when the fridge was running on LP.

Rich.

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Blake, mine did catch fire on electric. The fridge I have the only mod was I removed the wheels from under it and notched my opening where the upper hinge mounts to the top of the fridge so it sat in deeper. I only have the central vac under mine but I didn't feel like moving the floor for one of the other units. 

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On 8/9/2016 at 6:08 AM, Manholt said:

Herman.  Don't remind me.  I have another 7 days in Alto, NM...here I'm currently running the heater, it's 53! :lol:

Carl

I am enjoying the nice weather here in Santa Paula CA. It was 105 in Vagus and 103 in Fresno. It is 63 this morning hear and it may get to 80 this afternoon.:P 

Bill

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Hope your not near any off the fires out there!  If the folks in CA. would stop listening to the kooky environmentalists and start doing some controlled burns of the underbrush, they would prevent most of these big $$$$ fires. :D But no, we got to save that sand flea...:wacko:

Remember the "Spotted Owl"?  Reason you have not heard about it in several years, is due to the fact that it turned out to not, be endangered, there a millions of them!  They migrate like other birds from Mexico!  :o:wacko::angry: 

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As I was answering 53 we had a power outage. Here is the rest of  the ribbing...when I was a Boy Scoutmaster and winter camping, the youg ones would come in cold, we made them drink a large glass of water and then gave them a chunk of chocolate. Five minutes later they were hot and ready to roll.  It is cooler this evening up here at 8050 feet as well this evening, 42 degrees.

BillE 

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8050', wow :blink:.

never been to Colorado, have family there somewhere. DW won't go "too cold" is all I get when mentioned. Walking around TN today 82 degrees, 70 dew point she wants a sweat shirt :wacko:.

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10 hours ago, Manholt said:

Hope your not near any off the fires out there!  If the folks in CA. would stop listening to the kooky environmentalists and start doing some controlled burns of the underbrush, they would prevent most of these big $$$$ fires. :D But no, we got to save that sand flea...:wacko:

Remember the "Spotted Owl"?  Reason you have not heard about it in several years, is due to the fact that it turned out to not, be endangered, there a millions of them!  They migrate like other birds from Mexico!  :o:wacko::angry: 

I was in Santa Barbara today and they have a big fire just over the hills behind the town, lots of smoke. 

They are crying about the water shortage and drought but are still watering the sides of the freeway's. :P

Bill 

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Joe.  Sweatshirt in the 80's and muggy?  Be afraid, woman don't have to be in their 50's for the "change of life" (PMS) thing to start ! :(:P:lol:

WBill.  Only in Kalifornia! :D

Carl

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