Frozen regulator or replace?

[waligators]

I recently bought a house with a forced air furnace. The guy I bought it from ran a 100 lbs tank and I'm just running a 20 lbs. tonight while fishing I noticed the heater wasn't kicking out much heat. There are two hookups in the front for tanks, when I went out to check I literally had propane hissing out of the hookup that was not connected. Monkeyed around with the regulator for just a bit with no success. So did the regulator freeze up or is it shot? Also, should I have a different size regulator since I will be running a 20 lbs tank instead of a 100 lbs? The furnace is a Atwood 16,000 btu.

[6arrows]

This cold weather is hard on those 20 pound tanks they cant keep pressure as good as a 100 pound tank. you would be way better off running the 100 pounder if you can. On the front hook ups do u have the automatic switch over if your tank was not putting out enough pressure it mite have thought the tank was empty and switched over to the hose you had no tank on.

[harvey lee]

If the furnace was needing alot to keep up with this cold temps and you were on a 20#er, my guess is, there was not enough pressure to feed the furnace enough to heat properly. I would go to at a minimum, a 60#er. I would think a 100# tank would be best.

Other thing to look at in the colder temps, was that 20#er close to empty when the furnace started to act up?

That regulator should be fine on a 20#er. YOu could go to Attwood's HSOforum and check and see to make sure what regulator u are suppose to be using with that heater just to make sure.

Could have also froze up the regulator.

[Mike Stark]

I had my regulator freeze a couple nights ago. I took it off and put it in the truck to thaw out for around 20min. Hooked it back up and it ran great. I am running two 20lb tanks with an auto switch over regulator. I wrapped the regulator with a rag after I hooked it back up. That helped two nights ago. Hopefully it worked last night too. I'm going to check on it soon.

I think part of my problem is that the heater vents outside pretty much right onto the regulator. The night that it froze it was covered in ice/frost. I think that moisture is getting into the regulator and freezing up with these cold temps.

[hunterfisher]

I had the same issue a couple of nights ago. pulled my house to the lake, hooked up my tank and it started to hiss. I pulled the reg off and put it in the truck over the window defrost vent and within minutes I had water coming from the hole where the hissing was coming from. I was shocked at how much water came out of it. hooked it back up and it ran all night and into the next day with out any issues. I was using a 20lber and it worked fine until the tank ran dry. no issues with the tank being almost empty also. my heater is a empire 215DV vented.