ssanto
Member
Hooked up a spa heater to my LP line outside the house. I've got a T off of the high pressure (10 PSI) line and about a foot of 3/4 pipe running to a regulator for the heater. And then maybe 6 feet of 3/4 pipe at 13 inches of water column going to the heater.
I put a pressure gauge on the high side of the regulator. It read 10 PSI. Then I shut off the incoming pressure. The gauge held steady at 10 PSI for a few hours. Overnight, the pressure in the gauge dropped to about 3 PSI. So I think I have a very small leak somewhere.
From what I read, the standard inspection tests for houses wouldn't catch this. I hear they just check the pressure after 15 minutes. So maybe it isn't a real concern.
I calculated the following:
The high pressure line (from the valve to the regulator) is about 1 foot. I calculated the volume of the high pressure gas is about 0.04 cubic feet
So say I lost 75% of that volume overnight... so that's only 0.03 cubic feet of gas lost
36 cubic feet of gaseous propane = 1 gallon of liquid propane
0.03 / 36 = 0.0008 gallons of liquid propane
That comes to about $0.005 dollars a day or $1.75 a year in lost propane.
It's outside so the leaking propane shouldn't bother anybody.
So I figure I'm fine but wanted a second opinion...
I put a pressure gauge on the high side of the regulator. It read 10 PSI. Then I shut off the incoming pressure. The gauge held steady at 10 PSI for a few hours. Overnight, the pressure in the gauge dropped to about 3 PSI. So I think I have a very small leak somewhere.
From what I read, the standard inspection tests for houses wouldn't catch this. I hear they just check the pressure after 15 minutes. So maybe it isn't a real concern.
I calculated the following:
The high pressure line (from the valve to the regulator) is about 1 foot. I calculated the volume of the high pressure gas is about 0.04 cubic feet
So say I lost 75% of that volume overnight... so that's only 0.03 cubic feet of gas lost
36 cubic feet of gaseous propane = 1 gallon of liquid propane
0.03 / 36 = 0.0008 gallons of liquid propane
That comes to about $0.005 dollars a day or $1.75 a year in lost propane.
It's outside so the leaking propane shouldn't bother anybody.
So I figure I'm fine but wanted a second opinion...