OPV Valve problems on LP tanks

Learned more than I wanted to last weekend. Ran a tank dry on the wheel house and the other didn’t work. Nothing came out when I turned it on. Had to go to town and buy a 20lb cylinder,…not cheap. I took it back to Ferrell gas where I bought it. Apparently, there is a safety valve inside of it with the new OPV system. Gas doesn’t come out unless its hooked up. Sometimes it can stick. They told me to unhook it and rehook it up and then turn the valve on slowly. If that doesn’t work,…unhook the stove,…turn the tank upside down and shake it, right it, and hook it back up. If all that don’t work,…especially in the cold and dark of night,…I guess its time to take it back.

Maybe some of you knew all this but thought I’d post it as I didn’t and it sure was a hassle. It was a couples weekend and it made the girls nervous with temp minus 15.

Good luck!

WOW.. never heard of that. Could be a real safety issue…. trying to be safe ??? Thanks for the heads up

big G

Its for if the valve accidently opens and there is no regulator to prevent gas from leaking. I work next to a gas supplier and they have pics of a plumbers van that had an acetylyne tank and it filled the van, when the guy unlocked the doors the van blew. it was a huge mess. Van explosion

Another trick …if taking the hose off and reattaching does not work. With the hose attached to the tank, open your valve all the way, turn it closed a 1/8 of a turn or so. Sometimes the two pin holes do not line up and prevents the lp from flowing properly. I have had to do this with my gas grill at times. Sometimes opening the valve on the tank all the way passes the inlet hole on the hose thus shutting the flow off completely or enough that the appliance will not operate.

I found opening the valve very slowly and only about a half turn helps, and if it does lock up, closing the valve and waiting about 5-10 minutes and trying again.

The Rhino tanks have a 800# you can call (they used to anyway) and they can usually help over the phone.

Al