LP gas

[Quik Fix]

So I go to fire up my lp heater today. Never had a problem before and it has a high pressure regulator. Really heats up fast. Today it won't go past a little flame, change tanks and same problem. Regulator and hose are freezing up. What to do. Anyone have a similar problem?

[Ship]

Roofing kettle regulators freeze up when running wide open and we would put an lp infrared heater a couple feet away. Not sure how safe that was but it worked and I never heard of an accident.

[Tony]

...freezing up? And I was going to sell the Frozen North and head to NC and retire? Hell, at least we don't got gators. Pass the pretzels Edith, we're stay'in

PS: my 8 inch daffys are just poking through the snow and summer is just 'round the corner

[Rock Bottom]

I've seen the same thing. Back when I was an automotive service manager in PA we used to have to place a secondary heater near the regulator to keep it clear as Ship suggested. The automotive bays constantly being opened and closed made the lines susceptible to constant freezing.

[Quik Fix]

So I need a heater to heat up my heater. Should have stayed with kero.

[Fisherlady2]

LP regulators freezing is actually not uncommon, usually caused by a few different issues....
-too much humidity in the LP, the fuel is supposed to be dehydrated when processed but quality assurance isnt always the same between companies
-overfilled or poorly positioned tanks allowing liquid into the regulator itself
-single stage regulator not able to handle the demand as well causing excess frost build up, many recommend 2 stage regulator system
-heavy external frosting (which may or may not indicate freezing on inside) is caused by high environmental humidity reacting to the extreme cold of the LP converting to gas. The line at the tank and regulator are ice cold to touch.

manually warming the regulator and line is an option, as is switching to a 2 stage regulator. If you recently changed vendors for your LP I would also check into the possibility of poor quality LP or over filled tank.
You can get a 2 stage regulator (properly sized for your amount of use) from about any RV dealer or probably a Tractor Supply or Rural King store.

[Fisherlady2]

I've never tried it, but wonder if a wrap of heat tape (usually used on water lines under trailers) would be enough to keep it open.

[Rock Bottom]

We used heat tape. Anything to manually heat the lines as you pointed out will work Karen. We used to get bad LP full of moisture all the time. It was a downside of working for corporate - they always went cheap. Eventually I went away from it and purchased a used motor oil burner for the shop. Only thing we had to do there was maintain the filtration system.

[Ship]

All our kettle regulators were single stage. Also the tanks were liquid not vapor tanks so they were frosted in both summer and winter. The kettle man tended to be rough on equipment so cheap was a rule of thumb. A two stage regulator makes sense.

[gary s]

Its 80 here who's worried about heat Back in the old days when I worked our bucket trucks had a generator on them to run the lift. Early ones were run on propane- each truck had a heat strap that could be fitted to the tank if needed. In all those cold Chicago winters I never needed it but I made sure that I always had it. Later trucks used gasoline generators much less fooling around. If you had less than 10 gallons of gas the Gen set would shut down. There was always that one guy who always ran on empty.

[Quik Fix]

Tried a few things and what worked was the heat strip. I wrapped it around the tank. Left it on so in the AM I will have heat and maybe get something done.

[gary s]

Glad that worked. Here is one very similar to the ones we had. Careful you don't overheat it some I see cycle on and off

[Quik Fix]

I used the kind that is wrapped around pipes to keep them from freezing. Don't see how they could cause a problem. Hope I don't hear a big bang during the night.