bought first propane tank, they say valve is bad

[doublegregg]

hi all

newbie to propane.... i bought a flameking 11lb new tank, and took it to a gas station near me that fills propane. he 'purged' it...i guess . ... by unscrewing a little screw in the valve. he called that purging. then he opened a lever to put propane in my tank. no propane goes in. he claims every day or so they'll run into this, and that the valve is bad...on the tank

is my valve bad? i'll probably take it to a different place, and try again. i don't no enough about propane to know if the guy (actually two of them) was bs'ing me............... thank you

 

[B and C]

I would take it to a different place. Opening the bleed valve is good, you will get a good fill with it open while they fill it. Only two other possibilities I can think of, they forgot to open the valve on the tank before they tried to fill it or they didn't screw the fill nozzle in far enough to open the safeties.

 

[highdesertranger]

for sure take it somewhere else. the usually procedure is to,

attach the fill hose,
then open the main valve,
then turn on the propane valve to start the flow,
then open the little screw

at least that is how I have always seen it done.

highdesertranger

 

[doublegregg]

thanks, guys.... i'll try another place.... this is a flame king, 11 gal, not sure if i mentioned that... it's got an overflow protection device... i can see if that's stuck in the 'no more propane' position, where that might be the problem. i saw this opd described on a YT video...  but i'll try another place. that's probably easiest, and if no success, return it....

 

[bullfrog]

I seem to remember having a valve stick closed after getting it filled I opened it fully very quickly and I had to close it and open it slowly for some reason to get the propane to flow.

 

[maki2]

if a guy doing fill ups told me he saw a stuck valve every day or so I would strongly suspect he did not know the heck what he was doing and was the most likely cause of those frequently stuck valves was that person's incompetence. Some people just keep doing what they are doing wrong so keep on seeing the same problems over and over again never realizing they are the one who is literally screwing it up.

Go somewhere else, go to a place where they service and certify tanks. They will know it is going on with it.

 

[ckelly78z]

I always fill all of my propane tanks (5 tanks from RV/BBQ grill, portable heater) at the farmer's coop, which has never had this problem. The tank can be out of date, and they might refuse to fill it for that reason. If you have a tank that you want to get rid of for whatever reason, do an exchange with another filled tank at a big box store. The big box store will send the empty exchange tanks back to get inspected/repaired/recertified/re-filled.

 

[bonvanroulez]

I have one of those 11 pound cylinders, I believe it's a Worthington brand. A few times when the attendant attached the filling adapter the propane would not flow into the cylinder. Each time they quietly replaced the filling adapter with another and proceeded to fill the cylinder without problem.

Every propane station I've been to has a variety of filling adapters and an experienced attendant should have no problem selecting the right adapter. While all those OPD fill valves seem standardized, there must be slight differences between manufacturers that might require a different adapter.

Typical propane station filling adapter

 

[bandaidqueen]

I have the same tank, 11 lb Flame King, mine filled no problem (ACE hardware store in Georgia) - sounds like you should try somewhere else before you try to return it.

 

[doublegregg]

TY all........ you guys got it.............. yes, the first place i took it to claim they see stuck valves every other day.... i took it to another place ----- wow --- a HUGE propane tank is sitting in their lot.......like... 80' long?? jeezus... the guy took my lil tank.........filled it up......... case closed. he commented that the other guys were idiots.......... Thanks so much......and, serendipitously, the thread right next to mine is about the wave 3 heater, which is the heater i got to go with my new tank......

so i'll read that carefully, and uh... take the plunge. i got a regulator hose from... i think camco. total newbie here. my only experience with propane is the tv show king of the hill.........

 

[highdesertranger]

" he commented that the other guys were idiots.........."


you think.

glad you got it worked out.

highdesertranger

 

[SheepDog]

I will fill pretty much anywhere once the tank has been filled before, but buying a new tank I want two things.

First I want a tank with a fresh date on it since they time out! Sitting on someone’s shelf for a year or two isn’t something I want!

Second I want a pro that does it all the time to purge and fill my new tank for the first time. Even with today’s vacuum purges I want someone who knows their stuff!

Most idiots can fill them after that! Some will short you maybe, but they will likely manage to fill it!

SD