Oil Contamination in LP Gas

Systems

https://escapees.com/oil-
contamination-in-lp-gas-systems/

 Paul and Mao Unmack

 July 20, 2020
 RV Safety & Maintenance

Liquid propane gas (LP) packs a large amount of energy

into a small package. As a result, it’s an economical
choice for RVers, and it is used for heating, cooking and
to power the RV refrigerator when AC power isn’t
available. My wife, Mao, and I run our business for six
months of the year from our RV, never using shore
power!

The story begins when we were camped at Boomerville,

in Quartzsite, Arizona, for the annual January get-
together. Mao and I were performing installations of our
product, Fridge Defend®. A group of folks was gathered
around having a good time, seeking knowledge and
sharing stories while I worked. This is simply the way
we Escapees operate, and we love helping other RVers
in need. That is what we are about! A gentleman came
over and asked me if I was an RV tech. I said, “No, but I
can help you with your refrigerator if you have an
issue.” I finished my work and went over to investigate
his problem.

I learned that he began having problems with his

propane system after he filled his LP tank. He had
replaced his LP regulator but did not know why it had
failed. His main issue was his refrigerator. When he
found that it was not cooling on LP, he was wise enough
to discontinue its use. I say wise because he could have
created a dangerous situation by continued use. I’ll
cover this issue more later. Being Boomerville, we were
all boondocking. He was able to power the refrigerator
with his generator, but no one wants to run a generator
all day and night as it’s too much exhaust and noise
nuisance for happy neighbors!

Visual Inspection

One Must Be Qualified To Perform a Pressure Test

Because the refrigerator worked on AC power but not

LP, the first thing we did was open the burner housing
to perform a visual inspection. We found there was
brown oily residue below the burner. This was the
proverbial smoking gun! We immediately understood
why his LP regulator failed and why his refrigerator was
not working on LP. When his tank was filled, he got a
batch of oil in the LP. It’s rare, but it happens. The oil
can get into the system and destroy the LP regulator,
plug burners and filters.

This was the first time we have witnessed such an

extreme case where oil actually came out of the
refrigerator gas jet and collected on the bottom of the
burner housing. The refrigerator was at least 18 feet
from the tanks, and it takes a lot of oil to flow this far.

Ordinarily, oil contamination in the LP system is

checked for in one of two ways: The first and most
scientific method is to do a pressure test somewhere in
the LP lines to make sure that the pressure regulator is
supplying 11 inches of water column (11″ WC) gas
pressure. The LP bottle and regulator are to the left. A
drawing of a manometer attached to the LP regulator
test port shows the principles behind the pressure test;
the purple represents the water in the manometer. One
must be qualified to perform this pressure test, so we
will not go into manometer details here. What is to be
understood from this drawing is that, if the pressure is
11″ WC at the regulator, and then the manometer is
moved to the fridge solenoid-operated valve (SOV) ‘gas
jet pressure test port’, and say 8″ WC is measured, then
lower pressure is measured. The probable cause is a
plugged SOV gas filter.

Cleaning the Filter

Brown Oily Residue in the Burner Housing

Removing the filter with a toothpick

 The filter placed in solvent - the brown specks are oil.

This brings us to the second method. After reading the

above, one can understand what can go wrong, and
then go directly to the suspected problem. This is
exactly what we did. We were not carrying a
manometer with us; we knew that there was an oil
contamination issue by the evidence in the burner of
the fridge, so we proceeded to go directly to the LP
filter within the SOV valve.

We disconnected the LP supply line from the SOV valve

after turning off the LP gas at the tank and bleeding off
the residual pressure by lighting a burner on the stove.
Once the inlet line is removed from the SOV valve, the
Norcold refrigerator SOV has a foam filter that can be
removed with a toothpick. (For most Dometic
refrigerator SOVs, the filter is ceramic and has to be
cleaned in place by flushing with 91 percent isopropyl
alcohol.) The Norcold filter was placed into a glass jar
with 91 percent isopropyl alcohol.
Finally, because of all the oil in the burner housing, we
knew that the LP jet was contaminated. This was quite
evident when, after removing the line from the SOV to
the gas jet, oil began running out of the line. Once the
jet was removed, we could look through it into the
sunlight to see how restricted it was. We put it into a
glass jar with the 91 percent isopropyl alcohol to soak.
Naturally, we flushed out the line from the SOV to the
jet, but it was getting dark and we had to finish our job
before we lost light.

To finish the job, we installed the Fridge Defend®.

Why? As mentioned above, when the fridge is not
cooling, it is because the boiler on the refrigerator is
overheating. The only way to tell that the boiler is
overheating is to install the Fridge Defend®. Thus, as
stated above, the owner of this fridge was wise,
because he could have overheated his boiler to the
point that it ruptured. This is how refrigerator fires
occur.

How Fridge Defend® Helped

Oil running out of the line

Jet plugged with oil

 Jet cleaned and ready to power the refrigerator again

You may ask, with the propane supply partially blocked

by oil, how can the fridge overheat? If the blockage was
complete, and there was no flame at all, it wouldn’t
harm the fridge. However, because of the design of the
boiler, too little heat is almost worse that too much! If
the flame is too low, the reduced heat at the boiler will
still boil off the ammonia without causing the necessary
pumping action, leaving the cooling system stalled. No
circulation in the cooling system will allow the boiler to
run dry and overheat.

We buttoned up the job during a beautiful Quartzsite

sunset, started the fridge on LP and checked for normal
boiler temperatures on the Fridge Defend®
display. Satisfied, we headed into the desert to enjoy
the evening.

The next morning, we called to see how the evening

went with the repaired refrigerator. Well, we had an
unhappy customer because the Fridge Defend® turned
the fridge off during the night. We explained that the jet
and/or the filter was probably plugged with oil again,
resulting in overheating of the fridge boiler. Hearing our
explanation, the customer was pleased to find that the
Fridge Defend® had done its job by protecting him and
his RV.

We went out to the RV again and did our best to flush

as much oil out of the lines as possible and suggested
that the owner have the system flushed again if the
problem continued.

Conclusion
Oil contamination can be a problem in LP gas systems.
It is introduced during a fill of the LP bottle, and the oil
can plug jets and filters in the LP system. Oil in the LP
system is particularly dangerous for Dometic or Norcold
refrigerators because they have a filter in the SOV
valve, and the gas jet is very small. Oil accumulation in
the LP jet or filter can result in the fridge cooling unit
boiler overheating, and only the Fridge Defend® by ARP
can protect the fridge if this happens. The oil
contamination can be cleaned out of the system by
disassembly and flushing with 91 percent isopropyl
alcohol. Acetone can also be used to clean the pipes,
but you must not let it touch any rubber or plastic parts.
Be sure to leave the LP system open long enough for
the solvent to evaporate. If you know that you have oil
contamination in an LP bottle, when the bottle is empty
the valve can be removed, and the tank can be turned
over to flush and drain the oil.