Propane tank gauge

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

FWIW, both the auto-change regulator on my Escape 21, and the identical one on my Casita, never indicated when they'd flipped. I know they flipped, because the selected tank would be empty, and the other tank would be half empty or whatever, but the indicator stayed green.

I finally replaced the one on the Escape with a Marshall-Excelsior double tank regulator, and its indicator works perfectly. Soon as the selected tank is empty, the indicator goes red and it starts feeding from the other. Flip the lever over, the indicator goes back to green.

Forgot also changed to same regulator about 5 1/2 -6 years ago and it works flawlessly. The point I was trying to tell Ava is the regulator will switch over automatically if both tanks are turned on . Flipping the lever over when one tank is empty , turns red ,will give you as you said new reading to green etc. if the tank you flipped level over to has gas . That is the reason for the lever to give you that tank reading . Pat

[Iowa Dave]

Some folks, us included, have a 10 lb auxiliary tank that we use for the camp stove, Weber, Campfire in a can or camp lantern. I check my two main tanks after a week or so of camping. If one is out that’s not much of a worry as we rarely stay very long in one place or we can unhook the tank and go somewhere to get it refilled. On the small chance that we run out of trailer propane I can hook up the small tank to get us by if needed. It’s a backup for the backup. I usually have a one pounder along but rarely use it, like not in the past two years.
Iowa Dave

[Greg A]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

So you have two partially used tanks? I guess he's hoping the one he uses at night doesn't run out in the middle of the night, if he's not using the auto-change regulator. Or, am I missing something?

He stays on the tank he has been using. At night he simply opens the second full tank and the regulator will auto roll if the first tank runs out in the middle of the night. In the morning when he closes the full tank if the original is dry you will find out and switch tanks, then go fill the empty one.
Keeps one from having to go out in the middle of the night to flip tanks. It works great unless one is wanting to go out at 3am and flip tanks.

[gbaglo]

It automatically changes in the middle of the night or whenever. The gauge will show red if there is an empty tank. The lever points to the tank that is empty, but the switchover has already been made, while you were sleeping.
Simply move the lever to the full tank, close the valve on the empty one, remove and get it filled.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Greg A

He stays on the tank he has been using. At night he simply opens the second full tank and the regulator will auto roll if the first tank runs out in the middle of the night. In the morning when he closes the full tank if the original is dry you will find out and switch tanks, then go fill the empty one.
Keeps one from having to go out in the middle of the night to flip tanks. It works great unless one is wanting to go out at 3am and flip tanks.

Hi Greg flipping the lever does nothing but show you the amount in your tanks . The regulator automatically moves to the full tank after the other tank has no gas left . The lever doesn’t matter where it is . If one tank is empty you get the gas in the full tank . No going out in the middle of the night to change anything . Sometimes I don’t even bother flipping the lever until I want to know if I need to fill a tank . Pat

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Hi Greg flipping the lever does nothing but show you the amount in your tanks .

not exactly. if both tanks have gas, flipping the lever chooses which tank you are drawing from first.

the way you're supposed to do it, is when the indicator shows red, the selected tank is empty, so close the valve on the now empty tank, flip the lever to the other tank, it should show green, and now you can remove the empty tank to go refill it while continuing to use gas from the 2nd tank. bring freshly refilled tank back, hook up, turn its valve on, and when it shows red again, repeat this process with the 2nd tank.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

not exactly. if both tanks have gas, flipping the lever chooses which tank you are drawing from first.

the way you're supposed to do it, is when the indicator shows red, the selected tank is empty, so close the valve on the now empty tank, flip the lever to the other tank, it should show green, and now you can remove the empty tank to go refill it while continuing to use gas from the 2nd tank. bring freshly refilled tank back, hook up, turn its valve on, and when it shows red again, repeat this process with the 2nd tank.

Yes John you are right but most times I don’t close the red , empty tank until I check and need to go fill . Originally when we went through orientation Dave said the the system would automatically switch over no matter if I moved the lever or not . Yes to get correct reading I need to switch level over . He told us not to worry if we didn’t get to lever right away . Just many times I forget to change it over until I literally am checking , definitely happens before any trip . Pat

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Yes John you are right but most times I don’t close the red , empty tank until I check and need to go fill . Originally when we went through orientation Dave said the the system would automatically switch over no matter if I moved the lever or not . Yes to get correct reading I need to switch level over . He told us not to worry if we didn’t get to lever right away . Just many times I forget to change it over until I literally am checking , definitely happens before any trip . Pat

You only need to flip the lever when you're going to disconnect the empty tank. You can leave it alone and it will quite happily drain the second tank. so yeah I don't shut off the empty tank until I am ready to take it off the system and take it and refill it. Before you disconnect it, you should shut it off and flip the lever to point to the second tank...

I know we're talking about the same thing I'm just trying to get the language clear. My wife is a technical writer, I've learned concise use of language from her...

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

You only need to flip the lever when you're going to disconnect the empty tank. You can leave it alone and it will quite happily drain the second tank. so yeah I don't shut off the empty tank until I am ready to take it off the system and take it and refill it. Before you disconnect it, you should shut it off and flip the lever to point to the second tank...

I know we're talking about the same thing I'm just trying to get the language clear. My wife is a technical writer, I've learned concise use of language from her...

We are John . I guess it is so easy I just do it without thinking about it much . Most important is as you said ,flip lever over to empty tank before removing that tank . Also releasing any gas pressure from system before taking off any hoses easily done by turning on ,stove but making sure you have both tanks shut off first . And when you are using your gas to turn both tanks on so system can work as designed , all the way .Pat

[gklott]

Originally Posted by Hen

Does anyone use a gauge on their propane tanks and if so what type, and kind seems to work best?

We replaced our two ETI-provided 5-gal steel propane tanks with these Worthington 7.1-gal aluminum tanks with internal gauges.

Have used same tanks on our other trailer since 2003, and they are always accurate. You can also wire them to an interior display.

73/gus

[Meandering Minstrel]

I tried those strips on my old Jayco tent camper. After a season or 2 in the sun, the strips would fall off or fade into uselessness, as I recall.

[Perry Butler]

I don't ever check the level of the tanks. Ever! Most of you can constantly check, but seems I can't. Perhaps because I'm dyslexic, constant checking doesn't work for me. So in my perfect world I would check, but in my real world I forget. Twenty plus years ago we ran out of gas on a Saturday night and had to go home since it was well below freezing that night.

Since that night, I only open one valve and keep the other closed. Yes, when I run out of gas at 3 am I have to go outside to open the other valve. Easy, peazy! The next morning Terry reminds me to take the empty tank out and get it filled. It's been working for us for over 20 years. Teamwork!

Enjoy,

Perry

[Hen]

I like that method, I think we'll do that! Thank you all.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

...
Since that night, I only open one valve and keep the other closed.

...

We do the same. And I place a small magnet on the valve handle of the open tank. One less bit of guess work to confuse this simple mind.


--
Alan

[Jim Bennett]

I use the indicator on the regulator and check it every day or two. Green means the chosen tank still has fuel and the other is full. Red means it is empty and I have a few days to fill it, though I usually do it that day or at least the next.

Not high tech, but works to keep me in propane at all times.

I had an indicator at one time that connected to the port on the bottle. The darn thing did not work very well at all. Besides, whether a tank is partially full, it still does not get filled until empty, and the regulator lets me know that.

The best alternative for me would be if the regulator sent a notification to my phone when the first tank emptied.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

I use the indicator on the regulator and check it every day or two.

Yup. That's how it works. Same as battery level and black and grey tank levels. You check the indicators, not try to defeat them.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Yup. That's how it works. Same as battery level and black and grey tank levels. You check the indicators, not try to defeat them.

I just figure if I'm taking a shower and standing in water it's time to drain the grey.

OTOH, haven't stood in water since our Aerolite somewhere around 1998-2003. Works for us.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Dave Walter]

I found that after using the trailer on a consistent basis, I had a pretty good feel for how much propane was being used. With pretty consistent use, each propane tank would last about 1.5 week before needing a fill. Once a tank has been in use for about a week, I would check it on occasion until it was found to be empty, and then I would go for a refill.

[Defenestrator]

That's pretty consistent. I've found mine to be more all over the place depending on how much the furnace runs and maybe to a lesser extent how much time I spend without plugins. Anywhere from 2 days per tank to about 6 months.

[flatpick]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Just don't waste your money on one of these.

Oh come on now. it tells you when you have gas and when you're out.


steve