QUESTION FROM Jeff Wellington

The hose from my lpg tank to the grill freezes up after it has been on for a few minutes. Someone told me the tank is too full. If it is, how do I safely reduce the level of gas? If this not the cause, what could it be?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Jeff:

When propane comes out of the tank, it converts from a liquid to a gas, and it the process it absorbs energy (which makes the surrounding materials become cold).

If you have recently filled up your propane tank, then yes, it may be possible that your tank was over-filled, and the liquid propane moving through the regulator is what is causing the freezing. And you have two options for remedying this:

1) return the tank to where you had it filled, and let them safely fix the problem for you; or

2) you can carefully let the propane burn (although it will be at a very slow rate), until the liquid level in the tank falls below the vapor outlet.

Now on the other hand, it could be possible that a small amount of water has gotten into your regulator when it was not in use, and that this needs now to be cleared out.

And yet another possibility is that your tank is not matched for the grill that you are using it for. that is, if the tank is too small for the BTU rate of the grill, then the propane would come out of the tank too fast, and therefore lead to freezing up. But if this is a standard propane tank and a standard grill, then I would not think that this would be the problem.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com