Interesting failure mode and solution

[flyfshrockies]

Hi all. I had an interesting failure in a propane hose from the tank to the regulator the other day. Over the last couple of months I have been working inside our 2021 Imagine 2600 RB during cold weather down to 15 degrees. This meant a lot of furnace use and propane burned. BTW I was getting about 2.7 hours of furnace only use out of a gallon of propane. The left hand tank quit feeding with about 35% still in the tank each time. In an attempt to trouble shoot the other day I switched that tank to the right side and it drained the rest of the way thus eliminating the tank as the issue. While standing and starring at the darned thing I noticed that the left tank was kind of buzzing and vibrating while drawing propane for the furnace. Putting a round dowel to my ear and to the area around the tank and hose I decided that it was the hose near to the tank fitting making noise not the tank, I could feel the hose vibrating. So off to the r.v. parts store for a new part and picked up a hose by Sturgisafe. After removing the original hose and looking at both the old and new I noticed that the old hose had a red plastic check valve in it that was X shaped along with a black plastic screen in the outlet end and the new had a round brass ball instead and no plastic screen. I do not know for a fact if the plastic valve had anything to do with the noise and flow problem however. After installing the new hose the noise and problem went away. I don't believe in coincidences too often however.

I have walked around in campgrounds and heard this same noise in the past and never gave it a thought. Hope this helps someone with a similar issue.

Dave