LPG tanks leaking being overfilled

[K9]

I had my van converted to LPG prior to delivery. On the 1st Dec took new van out for a run. Great feeling new van expected no problems (bit naive of me). So off we go at the end of Dec for 4 months in Portugal. Did not even get 5 miles, Engine management light came on. Switched to petrol for a couple of miles, tried again, ok for 5 miles then light on again. As its 29th Dec No dealer to ring so continued with switching until we arrived Euro disney.

6th Jan rang installer who said AH!! its too cold switch off your heater the vaporizer is freezing up, Not B***y likley I said we are freezing its minus 10 deg C here. He advised that he will re-pipe it when I get home, OK.

Arrived Portugal Algarve campsite after just filling up with 110 ltrs of gas, For the next 2 weeks we kept getting a smell of gas in the afternoon (must be the drains at the site) . Found the problem leaking safety valve, and 100 ltrs less fuel.

Found a installer who drained the tank (3 hours it took with little gas in it) Changed the valve and off we go. (£180 lighter including the gas). Returned to Uk in May and sent the vehicle in for warranty work, gas system and running on 5-7 cyc when hot on gas, but its Ok on Petrol. Turned out to be a faulty sensor on the gas side plus themostate running too cold for the system.

The van was returned after 3 weeks( I did give them the loads of time as I was busy decorating and grass cutting at home) Got the van ready to go to a rally in Warrington and I could smell gas and hear it leaking from the same safety valve.

Rang installer and delivered the van while he repiped the gas supply to the engine. Now both tanks are delivering gas to the engine via check valves to stop back feeding from rear to front tank. The gauge is on the rear, so after 3 hours off we go to the rally, and arrive with the same smell of gas!!. I rang the installer who said you have not done enough miles yet to drain some of the gas from the front tank, Ok it stopped as he said it would after 15 minutes.

Drove home after the weekend rally and refilled due to gas guage being on red. The van sat on the drive and three days later, Yes, you got it, the valve started leaking again. Got totally P***d off as told him to come and pick the van up and fix it. I had done 175 mile on the rear tank, Filled up and had only done 19 mile when it started leaking. AH!! he said you have not taken any gas out of the front tank!!!

On inspection he found the front tank was 95% full and the rear 80%. The van now has the gauge fitted on the front tank, he let out enough gas to bring it back to 80% so now is should be Ok (do I hear you saying YEH!!!)http://www.rvoc.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/laugh.gif

So it is possible to over fill the tanks beyond 80% as the do it to themselves on the delivery side not on the fill side unless you have check valves fitted.

The installer had been doing this conversion work for 10 years and this was the first time he had a problem like this. So the moral of the story is Safety valves will leak if over 27bar but they should stop when the drop below this pressure. By the way the first one still leaked until the tank was empty!

So if you smell gas wait and see if it stops if it does not get some help.

[Olley]

Hi K9 all tanks should be fitted with a float valve which limits the liquid level to about 75-80% of maximum, these can get stuck, mine did, you couldn't fill the tank at all, sounds like yours is stuck down, only answer is to drop the tank and remove the valve.

Olley

[American Dream]

Cheers for the invaluable advice Guys.

So even new lpg pressure valves CAN fail.

I guess on a hot day with full lpg tanks (@80%) there is a possibility of gas escape due to the expansion of the lpg.

These should be adequately sealed and vented as per regs anyway and (if necessary) when mounted inboard Vents fitted in the floor beneath them.

[Olley]

Originally Posted by American Dream

Cheers for the invaluable advice Guys.

So even new lpg pressure valves CAN fail.

I guess on a hot day with full lpg tanks (@80%) there is a possibility of gas escape due to the expansion of the lpg.

These should be adequately sealed and vented as per regs anyway and (if necessary) when mounted inboard Vents fitted in the floor beneath them.

Hi AD no even on a hot day the pressure inside the tank shouldn't make the relief valve blow off, unless the tank has been overfilled.

Olley