In line regulator leaking... is it necessary?

[Dogwoodfarms]

I just purchased my first 5th wheel, a 2017 Gateway 3800 RLB. I bought it "used" and for that I get to tinker with all the things that I'm finding wrong. The dealership all of a sudden doesn't want to return my calls as quickly... go figure. I have two tanks, one on each side of the camper, and the one furthest from the auto-change-over regulator is leaking. I was thinking the tank might have been over filled and swapped the two around and still have the same problem with the in-line regulator. It is leaking out of a small hole, I figured the pressure relief. Looking at pictures and videos, I see a lot of lines that don't have a regulator at the tank, but that the auto switch over is the regulator. I may be seeing them wrong.

If i need to replace the regulator does it have to be anything specific? It says 30psig on the regulator. And do I replace the hose and all going across the camper or can I just replace the regulator?

Thanks.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Dogwoodfarms,

The door side tank has a single stage regulator that drops the pressure before the propane goes through the hose that crosses the trailer on its way into the dual crossover regulator. The leak is a safety hazard, so you need to do 2 things: close the tank on that side, and on the dual regulator, select the tank that's not leaking.

When you replace the leaky regulator with a similar one, also get a new pigtail - the short hose that connects to the tank. Don't worry about the hose that crosses the trailer unless you have other problems.

 

[Dogwoodfarms]

I have done both. Just curious what i actually need to replace and what can stay.

 

[Lou_and_Bette]

I have replaced at least one of these step down regulators on both of our rigs and maybe two on the RW. The internal rubber diaphragm is what fails and allows propane to leak out of the equlazation port. My last failure was the day before we were traveling without the rig and extremely cold weather was forcasr over the next few days so had to be replaced NOW. I called 5 RV parts stores but they were all out (Camping World parts man didn’t know what the part was when I showed it to him and finally stated CW didn’t stock that part but found it in the online catalog when I informed him I had bought them at CW before WTH. Out of desperation I went to a local propane distributor and he sold me a adjustable valve that went from 0 -30 psi and indicated that I should open it up all the way since the other style reduces the pressure to 30psi. I put the valve in line and haven’t had any problems after several tank changes. The nice thing is there is no rubber diaphragm to fail. This regulator is usually used on the large cookers that we, in the South, use for frying Turkeys or boiling up a mess of “mudbugs.” I think it was a great substitute for the standard regulator.