RV propane and appliance repair in Sarasota
A smell isn’t a test. A gauge is. Timed leak-down, regulator outlet pressure, then the fridge, furnace and water heater run until they prove themselves.
The gas system
Where approximately right isn’t good enough
The system is brought up to pressure, isolated at the tank and watched for a fixed time on a gauge. Either it holds or it doesn’t, and that’s a written result rather than an opinion.
- The odorant warns of big leaks. It won’t reliably find a slow one behind a panel, and people go nose-blind in an enclosed rig.
- The regulator is a separate number. About 11 inches of water column. A regulator can pass a leak test and still feed the appliances wrong.
- Tested at the end too. Every flare fitting gets worked by a thousand miles of expansion joints.
On the log, every time
Written on the sheet
“Checked, all good” is worth nothing. “Held with no drop across ten minutes; regulator 11.0 in WC at the manifold” is a result you can hand to the next person.
On a gauge, isolated at the tank.
Pass or fail, written.
Outlet pressure, measured.
Water column at the manifold.
Run on gas and on shore power.
And the vent path checked.
Sail and limit switches tested.
Steel tank yes, aluminum no.
Absorption refrigerators
Most RV fridges have no compressor. They heat an ammonia solution and let it circulate by gravity, so they must be reasonably level to work at all. Run badly out of level for long enough and the solution can crystallize inside the cooling unit, and that isn’t a repair, it’s a new cooling unit. If a slope is uncomfortable to sleep on, it’s too much for the fridge.
Furnaces
The classic fault isn’t the burner. It’s the sail switch, a flap that has to prove the blower is moving air before the gas valve may open. Dust, a lazy blower or a blocked return stop it making, and the furnace runs the fan and never lights. Both it and the limit switch are safety devices doing their job, which is why replacing them blind is the wrong instinct.
Water heaters
A steel tank has a sacrificial anode rod that should be inspected every year. An aluminum tank has none, and fitting one is wrong. Either way the tank gets drained and flushed once a season.
Two-stage regulators wear out
They have a diaphragm and a vent, and both age. A regulator drifting out of spec gets blamed on everything else: a furnace that won’t stay lit, a fridge that won’t get cold on gas, a burner that flames yellow. If yours has never been measured, it’s a five-minute check that answers three complaints at once.
A smell is not a test
If a shop says your gas is fine because they had a sniff around, you haven’t had a gas test.
What we won’t sell you
Gas and appliance guesses we don’t make
A control board for a sail switch
A furnace that runs the fan and never lights is airflow first, electronics last.
A new fridge for a blocked flue
Clean the flue and burner, check the vent path, then run it to temperature.
An anode in an aluminum tank
It belongs in a steel tank only. We check which you have.
Straight answers
Propane and appliance questions
Is smelling gas the test for a leak?
No. The odorant warns you about a large leak; it won’t reliably tell you about a slow one. The test is a timed leak-down on a gauge.
Why does my fridge stop cooling on a slope?
It works by gravity and has to be close to level. Park on blocks, and if it still won’t cool we check the flue, burner and airflow behind it.
The furnace fan runs but it never lights. Why?
Usually the sail switch isn’t seeing enough airflow: dust, a tired blower or a blocked return. We trace the airflow before anything is replaced.
The rest of the walk
Other work on the rig
Sarasota · Sarasota County
Ask for a gas test before the season
Especially on a rig that’s been sitting, and especially after anyone has worked on the system.