Odd propane tank behavior

[Mike Lewis]

While running my furnace one night I heard this odd whistling / whining sound that seemed to be coming from the front of my trailer. The next morning I located the sound coming from the left propane tank. I have Worthington 20-lb tanks that have the gauge on them, which I believe it connected to the float for the OPD valve.

This tank emptied and I had it filled at a Tractor Supply. When it was filling it made this whistling sound again. The person filling the tank had no idea what the problem was. I put the tank in my pickup; its gauge read "full".

When I returned to my campsite I started to take the tank out of the truck. I saw its gauge drop to "empty" all of a sudden. The tank was still full and heavy. I reconnected it to the trailer's pigtail. I kept it as a secondary tank, and when my regulator automatically switched over to this tank it started whining again. I've been using the other tank as much as possible.

What is going on here? Is this a hazard or just a nuisance? Can the tanks be repaired?

[MVA]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

While running my furnace one night I heard this odd whistling / whining sound that seemed to be coming from the front of my trailer. The next morning I located the sound coming from the left propane tank. I have Worthington 20-lb tanks that have the gauge on them, which I believe it connected to the float for the OPD valve.

This tank emptied and I had it filled at a Tractor Supply. When it was filling it made this whistling sound again. The person filling the tank had no idea what the problem was. I put the tank in my pickup; its gauge read "full".

When I returned to my campsite I started to take the tank out of the truck. I saw its gauge drop to "empty" all of a sudden. The tank was still full and heavy. I reconnected it to the trailer's pigtail. I kept it as a secondary tank, and when my regulator automatically switched over to this tank it started whining again. I've been using the other tank as much as possible.

What is going on here? Is this a hazard or just a nuisance? Can the tanks be repaired?

Mike,

Did the sound begin after refilling the tank? I can only speculate that the sound is due to a restriction in gas flow (e.g., akin to a whistle). The other oddity is the gauge reading empty for a period of time also could be due to a compete restriction of gas flow. Others with more experience can comment, but as I understand a propane tanks have an internal float mechanism that restricts flow if the tank is tipped over. Seems like a possible explanation is foreign material was introduced into the internal valve/float mechanism. If this happened to me, I would take the tank to the local propane distributor and have them examine the tank before using it anymore. If foreign material is the cause, I would not want it to travel to the regulator and damage it also.