Dual LP tanks on Camper

AM1

Senior Member
Help me out, I may have been doing it wrong. On each trip with our travel trailer last year, I always went ahead and opened both LP tanks (I assumed they went to separate appliances, 1 to fridge/stove, the other to hot water heater and furnace). A friend recently advised that he always just opens 1 and leaves the other as a full reserve as both are plumbed to the same appliances. Which is correct, or does it matter?
 

T-N-T

Senior Member
Open one
Should be a Y in the line close to tanks
 

WayneB

Senior Member
open one. Upstream of the regulator should be a switchover device. Many state they are automagic, but they rarely work as advertised, or worse, they simply give you a false sense that you have gas when you may be nearly out.
Wake up a people-sickle one time, and you'll only ever open one...
Having the second tank closed means you have gas to warm up and cook/ wash when the first runs out. I actually carry an extra #30 cylinder, and if the cold is going to last more than a week, I hook up a #100 cylinder.
I'm betting T&T meant a tee, wyes are for water. hehe
 

AM1

Senior Member
Thanks, for extra assurance, I added F/E gauges to both last year to try to eliminate some guess work.
 

WayneB

Senior Member
Thanks, for extra assurance, I added F/E gauges to both last year to try to eliminate some guess work.

From experience; don't rely too much on those.
You can get better info from weighing the tanks, either with bathroom scale or hanging type.
Of course if you lift em to weigh em, you know whether they heavy or not already..

If you have a #100 lb, or other large tank with the POL fittings, you can adapt to the new style with https://www.amazon.com/SHINESTAR-Pr...id=1486333578&sr=8-3&keywords=lp+tank+adapter
 

riprap

Senior Member
If you have two tanks you should have a diverter. Most have a knob that allows you to point to the tank you want to pull off of or keep it in the center and pull off of both. If not tampered with, all your appliances should be feeding off of one line.

I just purchased an automatic diverter. You point to the tank you want to pull off of as your main tank and then when it empties the indicator turns red and starts feeding from the other tank. You are supposed to switch the knob over to that tank and then you can refill the empty one and replace. We don't camp during the winter so heat is not an issue.
 

Latest posts

Top