Propane leak caused by trailer suspension piercing the crimp connector at the manifold.

[DonaldMarianne]

After taking our 2018 North Trail out for a recent camping trip 5 hours from home, I found a propane leak coming from a damaged crimp connector on the main gas fitting connected to a 5-way manifold located on the right side just above the center of the two axles. The location of the damage appears to be from the spring equalizer between the two leaf springs hitting the hose crimp connection. Very poor location for this manifold and hose to be directly above the suspension equalizer that can impact and damage the hose, manifold and connectors.
This could have caused a major fire had it gone unnoticed. I'm sure my trailer isn't the only one with this major safety issue.
Does anyone know if Heartland has a number to call to report safety hazards or can this post be flagged for Heartland engineers to respond?

 

[danemayer]

I'm wondering why there's a 5 way manifold for propane. Are you the first owner?

Could you post a picture that shows the 5 way manifold clearly as well as its location near the equalizer. 2 pictures if necessary.

 

[jbeletti]

DonaldMarianne,

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Suspension components can have a lot of travel and can in fact, impact ill-placed non-suspension elements. Once, I had a spring pack u-bolt flatten a hydraulic line on the bottom flange of the I-beam frame.

I have seen where Heartland has gone to less black pipe and more rubber hose from the regulator to what looks like an aluminum manifold, then rubber hoses from there to each appliance in need.

I would pull some slack back from the lines that go to your appliances so you can pull the manifold forward, closer to the direction of the gas feed so as to get it mounted in a safer spot.

Heartland Customer Service and Engineering won't see your posts here. Consider advising them via email with attached photos to service@heartlandrvs.com

As Dan has suggested, please attach your photos to a reply here as well so you can show other owners what you found so they can do a quick check of their own units. Thanks for flagging this up to the owners community.

 

[DonaldMarianne]

After taking our 2018 North Trail out for a recent camping trip 5 hours from home, I found a propane leak coming from a damaged crimp connector on the main gas fitting connected to a 5-way manifold located on the right side just above the center of the two axles. The location of the damage appears to be from the spring equalizer between the two leaf springs hitting the hose crimp connection. Very poor location for this manifold and hose to be directly above the suspension equalizer that can impact and damage the hose, manifold and connectors.
This could have caused a major fire had it gone unnoticed. I'm sure my trailer isn't the only one with this major safety issue.
Does anyone know if Heartland has a number to call to report safety hazards or can this post be flagged for Heartland engineers to respond?

I have attached a picture of the area where the damage occurred. The main inlet hose crimp was damaged by the dual axle leaf spring equalizer.
The 5 way manifold has gas line connections at the inlet and 4 output connections. One additional manifold output is capped and not used. The branch outputs connect to the refrigerator, stove top-oven, furnace and outside quick connect for the outside stove top. I repaired the damage by cutting the hose back about 6 inches, installed a 5" X 3/8" MNPT galvanized nipple and a 3/8" FNPT X 1/2" barbed hose adapter and used 2 hose clamps to seal the barbed connection. The 3/8" nipple is a smaller diameter than the 1/2" hose crimp connector and might not be further impacted by the suspension equalizer. I tried moving the manifold, but there isn't much play in the branch line hoses. I know my repair will safely last as long as the rubber gas hoses but I expect this to be a temporary fix since this is a manufacturing safety issue that Heartland should be addressing and repairing. I will take a picture of the repair and post to this thread this weekend.
Thanks.