LP gas and OPD valve problems

[eel pout hunter]

hey all, in need of some help again.

Just bought my first ice house (used). It has a heater in it, but I'm putting in a stove as well. Its of the Coleman variety with it's own regulator. (kind made to run off of 1lb tanks, but can be used with a bulk cylinder with an adapter). Here's the problem. Every single time, and I mean every time I turn either on, the OPD valve kicks in.

Here's the set up....tank to a 3 ft hose, to a tee...from one leg of the tee is the heater regulator going to the heater. From the other leg is 8ft of 3/8 copper going to the stove regulator. If I take the tee out, and hook up each device directly to the take, they work fine, however with the tee in place the valve kicks in. Not sure why...there are no leaks in the system....any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

pout

[federline]

Can you try some different OPD equipped tanks to see if it does it with all OPD valves, or just this one? What year was the tank made in? Some of the first OPD valves didn't flow well at all and were touchy like this.

I would also be suspect of your 3 foot length of hose. If you just use the 3 foot length to one or othe other, does it work OK?

[tomfromblaine]

Explain what you mean by the opd valve kicks in, my impression was that the opd was a safety device to prevent a over fill/pressure situation. I've heard of opd issues when the outside temp starts to get way down.

[federline]

OPD's will kick in in high-flow conditions to prevent things like a ruptured hose from evacuating the entire tank at once. Sometimes, the check-valve kicks in at flow rates that are desired under normal operation.

I've even seen some that, if you turn the wheel on ALL THE WAY, they are much touchier to flow and can check-off. In those cases, don't turn the wheel all the way on.

[eel pout hunter]

I haven't tried using either device with a 3ft hose....but when I d/c each device from the tee and run it independantly it runs fine. The problem is whenever I put the tee in...with the tee in place neither device works, not even one at a time.

but this is the interesting part. when I d/c the line to reset the valve, I can here gas coming from the line and not the tank (sort of a back pressure, which would explain why the OPD kicks in)

I'm aware of the 1/4 turn trick, don't work either lol

Do you think putting the tee right at the tank would make a difference?

not sure, I've been playing with this for days.

pout

[eel pout hunter]

OK, here's the update.

Disconnect the whole shootin match...heater works fine. The stove however seems to be the thing that triggers the valve.

It worked at one time. Here's the set up....tank, acme nut, adapter (mpt), 10 ft run of copper 3/8, then 2 3/8 elbows, the reducing to 1/4, to bulk tank adapter, then the regulator.

So here's what I'm thinking, the bulk tank adapter is the wrong kind. By going from 3/8 to 1/4 (the adapter is 1/4 by whatever size those 1lb bottles are) there is too much resistance, thus the back pressure triggering the OPD.

I'm going to call Coleman in the AM. Maybe the regular bulk tank adapter don't work with their stove.

pout

[Jeremy airjer W]

Eelpout, How old is your tank? There should be a four number date stamp on the collar. Some of the older tanks had a considerably lower flow rate than a typical non OPD tank or a newer OPD tank.

The other possibility is that the Excessive Flow Device check valve is tripping. This is an additional safety device designed to limit the flow of propane in the event of a hose bursting. We run into a few of these that are really sensitive and trip when filling the tanks. All we do is shut of the fill valve and then shut off the valve on the tank. Wait for a light clicking noise and start over. We also have alot of people bringing in there full tanks to be filled because they can't get there grill to light. A quick Q&A and we find out they did things in the wrong order and tripped the EFD.

The OPD "Overflow protection device" is nothing more than a "float" that stops the flow of propane "into" the tank when the tank is at its theoretical 80% full. This float/valve has nothing to do with the flow of propane out of the tank.

[eel pout hunter]

Quote:

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Eelpout, How old is your tank? There should be a four number date stamp on the collar. Some of the older tanks had a considerably lower flow rate than a typical non OPD tank or a newer OPD tank.

The other possibility is that the Excessive Flow Device check valve is tripping. This is an additional safety device designed to limit the flow of propane in the event of a hose bursting. We run into a few of these that are really sensitive and trip when filling the tanks. All we do is shut of the fill valve and then shut off the valve on the tank. Wait for a light clicking noise and start over. We also have alot of people bringing in there full tanks to be filled because they can't get there grill to light. A quick Q&A and we find out they did things in the wrong order and tripped the EFD.

The OPD "Overflow protection device" is nothing more than a "float" that stops the flow of propane "into" the tank when the tank is at its theoretical 80% full. This float/valve has nothing to do with the flow of propane out of the tank.

---

Ok, I figured it was the Flow device portion of the tank. I see a couple of 4 digit numbers on is 43-00.

I spoke with the Coleman people today, all they wanted me to do is buy their hose. I'm off to the local gas company today to talk to them and see what their input is.

I'm starting to think that I've got the wrong style of bulk tank adapter, but I'll keep ya posted.

pout

[Jeremy airjer W]

Your on the right track!

The date stamp is a 2 digit month followed by a 2 digit year. Examples, 12 00 (december of 2000) or 09 94 (september of 1994)

[eel pout hunter]

OK, here's the final update, the good news is, the problem is solved.

The gas company people were a bit of help. They stated that because of the amount of tubing, the excess flow valve kicks in. They taught me how to open and close the valve like six times in a row to 'purge' the lines. This worked fine on just the stove that I took to them.

They also stated that I could use a POL adapter and that would bypass the excess flow valve. I really wanted an acme nut style fitting so that it would be easy to hook up with cold hands. So they sold me a universal adapter. This was an adapter that was sold after all the grill companies switched to acme nuts, and OPD wasn't a standard. It screws into the POL (inner) thread and has a male acme nut on the other end.

This didn't work however. So basically you need to use a straight POL fitting without the acme nut stuff. Fired it all up tonight and it works fine.

Thanks for your help, just thought that I would post this in case anyone runs into the same problems.

pout

[Jeremy airjer W]

Well I learned something new. I never realized that an empty hose or purging on empty hose would trip EFD, but it makes perfect sense! Everything that I have used has always had the POL ends so I have never run into a problem with the EFD. I'm starting to think that my idea of switching to the ACME connector might not be a good idea!

[eel pout hunter]

Well then I'm glad I posted the update. I have to go into town today and return the universal adapter ($16). I'm gonna talk to them about the acme nut, it must have something to do with the EFD, reason I say this is because with the universal POL adapter, that is supposed to prevent the EFD from kicking in, not sure why is does.

I guess I should try to find a POL fitting that has a plastic knob on it. They used to make such a critter for gas grills.

pout