OK, I am almost done with the housing rebuild for the generator and one thing that has been bugging me is the location of the propane regulator. This is a liquid high pressure to gas regulator and it was located on the generator but because small amounts of oil get back up the propane supply tube, Barth mounted the regulator on the lower protion of the firewall about in the middle of the opening. Opening up the front grill, it is right there maybe 2 inches back.

My problem with this is if I wack someone and crush the front, that regulator with its supply of liquid propane is right there, would not be a pretty sight for sure. To my understanding there is NO automatic propane shut off. There are only manual valves (two) on the propane tank, the propane detector is only an alarm, it does not tie into the propane system at all. I can run the refer and the generator without the detector on. Looking at the schematic, there was never a tie back to a propane shut-off valves from the detector.

The Liquid propane shutoff would be a special valve anyway and maybe that is why there was never an electrical valve installed.

I am looking for another place to mount the regulator so that it will be more out of harms way, just have to make wure it is a bit higher then the generator.

Anyone got any good ideas, suggestions? If I can find an auto shut off that will work with both high pressure liquid and gas propane, I will install it now.

Thanks

The propane detector should shut off the liquid if it's off or if it sniffs propane. There's something wrong with the valve or wiring.

As for my unbridled love affair with my LPG Kohler Klunker, I'm determined to replace it within the year...

Nope, no valve at the tank, as I mentioned there is no electric valve for either the gas propane that goes to the appliances or the liquid propane that goes to the generator. There is no wiring there either.

I think what the ultimate solution will be is to move the generator valve back to the tank so that in the evcent of any hose breakage, or other issue up front I can shut it off remotely there. Of course there will be longer cranking times but even now it take quite a few seconds for it to fire up.

Also I am trying to find the appropriate valve to add into the gas propane line and tie it into the propane detecter.

Thanks for the thoughts.

One of the kewl things Conrad, my Breakaway's prior owner, did was to install a tee and a valve at the generator - that way I can bleed the air from the line without cranking the generator for fifteen minutes. The bleed line from the valve ends and is secured about two feet away so one can see when propane is vented.

Hey Rusty, where is the main valve located that is controlled from the generator, is it near the Beam regulator or back at the tank? If it is back at the tank is that why there is a bleed line fitted?

Even thou my shut-off valve is located right on the Beam regulator it take a LOT of cranking to start the first time. always thought that the Beam regulator was sluggish converting the liquid to gas but maybe something else is going on.

You can get gray hair trying to start a refrigerator or water heater by itself after everything has been shut off for awhile. Maybe the same applies to propane generators.

I always start the range burners before I do anything else when the coach has been sitting for awhile. That gets the propane lines filled up to the point where the feeds branch off to the smaller appliances, so starting them doesn't take forever.

Thanks Olroy, I do the same thing.

quote:

Originally posted by MWrench:
Hey Rusty, where is the main valve located that is controlled from the generator, is it near the Beam regulator or back at the tank? If it is back at the tank is that why there is a bleed line fitted?

Even thou my shut-off valve is located right on the Beam regulator it take a LOT of cranking to start the first time. always thought that the Beam regulator was sluggish converting the liquid to gas but maybe something else is going on.

The bleeder valve is teed off the LPG line before it goes into the generator pressure regulator.

Bleeding the air by way of the stove burners purges the lines to the reefer, furnace, and the H/W heater, but not the geberator, which is 15' down-line. The bleeder works very well; otherwise the genset might crank for a couple of minutes before the line is purged.

I have a separate line that is only for the generator and comes from the liquid port on the propane tank. The appliances are served out of the gas port thru a separte port and valve on the tank. Bleeding the line to appliances in my case would not have any effect on the generator line.

Generators use liquid propane and the rest of the coach uses gas . that is the reason for two lines. I just ran my generator for two days 24/ and found that it used the complete tank of propane. I didn't realize that they used as much as they do!

My Kohler Klanker uses about .85 gph of LPG running mostly just the A/C.

This is why I intend to change to a gaso gen (installing a 25 gal tank. Gasoline has a much higher energy content per gallon.

I gave serious thought about changing over to gasoline inverter type of generator if this generator was damaged by the incident, it appears that it isn't so for the time being I will continue with the propane generator. I will have 6 golf cart batteries lashed up with a 3KW inverter for most of my AC needs excluding A/C got two roof units and it makes the propane unit grunt abit. I will be looking at the possibility of an inverter style AC power source that would be driven off the Cummins so I could run the roof A/Cs going down the road without the propane generator on.

Just about ready to put the generator back in the coach tomorrow, Straightened the frame horns/bumper couple of days ago and finished the new enclosure today and serviced the unit, changed the timing belt, plugs, oil etc. I have a leaky brake master cylinder so that is getting change tomorrow before I put the generator back, it is much easier to work under there with out the generator. Am taking pictures and will post them if I can figure out how to do that. Been a long project!

Almost finished! Fired up the generator tonight and it RUNS! All the housing brackets lined up and the generator is now sitting 1 inch higher then before and without the exhaust pipe under the housing. Looks very clean now. I also made a second base pan for the generator so if I decide later on to change generators, I will have a plug and play quick change over.

Repostioned the propane vaporizer higher on the firewall and rerouted the LPG line. Have added a solenoid at the tank that energizes with the generator so there would be only a small amount LPG under pressure in the line with the generator off.

I cleaned up all wiring and hoses in the generator area. Exchanged the front brake master cylinder (it was leaking) and probably will exchange the rear brake master later this fall. I am about finished with the round of fixes with just flushing and bleeding the brake (again) and repostioning the right rear air bag.

Reno air races and the Silver State Classic Challenge road race is coming up, will be good to get back on the road!

Way to go! My Kohler had 168 hours on it when I got the Breakaway in January this year. Now it has 385.

My only gripes are the noise and fuel consumption (.85 gph vs. .55 gph on the Onan gaso in my SOB). While LPG was $1.45/gal in Nebraska (up from $1.15 last year) and $2.00 in MO, south of Tennessee, it's $3/gal.

For less than $3K, I can replace the LPG genset for a quiet Onan gaso unit...and gasoline has a far higher energy content.

Have fun in NV, Ed!

Thanks Rusty!

After all this re-work, I started the Cummins today and the battery voltage zoomed right up to 16 volts! I was getting suspicious that the alternator was getting flakey because on my return trip the voltage was varying, but I usually drive with the headlights on and it did hover around the 13.5 mark, now with the headlights off it goes right up there.

Will double check the usual issues with ground and regulator connections but this does act like a shot regulator.

I might replace it with a much larger unit, mine is only a 105 amp alternator and with all the stuff I run, bigger is better.

I have 585 hours on this generator and have put about 50 hours on it since January, don't use it that much unless it is HOT then it runs continuously!