Propane Regulator Froze Up

[kcflhrc]

So I get home yesterday and it was 64 degrees in the house. I'm thinking oh great, here goes another thousand or 5. Switch thermostat to Emergency Heat, no go. Open up the furnace and the normal heart beat led is flashing 3 times in succession instead of it's normal on and of cycle. So I look up the codes, could be any number of things. Call my HVAC Buddy who installed the Heil heat pump which is dual fuel with propane back up. He says switch it to Emergency Heat, already tried that dummy. I have the lockout set at 30 degrees so it was way colder than that in eastern Kansas yesterday so the Heat Pump wasn't even trying to run. I go outside and check the propane tank, 70% full, I already knew it wasn't out of propane but I thought I would check anyway. I'm walking back to the house and I see the regulator by the house with 1/4" of ice on it. I'm thinking that has to be the problem. Wife gets me her turbo hair dryer, that doesn't faze it. I got 3 large pitchers of hot water to get the ice off of it then used the hair dryer to dry out the water, that worked fine. Go back inside, cycled the power on the furnace and Yippee it fires right up. I know, long story right? I had no idea those regulators could freeze up and not function. Any thoughts on this? Is this just normal? Never has happened before in 4 years but we did get a lot of ice. Did the propane company install something wrong? This is all brand new equipment in the last 4 years, propane tank, propane line and regulators. New Heat Pump also, everything new.

 

[oosik]

As far as your regulator icing up and quitting - I would say that's normal. Obviously pretty cold outside. When we lived in Glennallen, Ak we had to keep a heat lamp shining on the regulator all winter. We had a heat lamp shining on the propane tank and would turn it on half an hour before we used the propane cook stove. Amazing, you could go outside and actually hear the propane bubbling inside the tank.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

It sounds like a defective regulator with a sticky diaphragm. Typically you don't start starving the regulator for pressure until about 20 below.

Propane Butane Mixures - Evaporation Pressures

 

[brokenknee]

I lived in northern MN were the temps get to minus 30* F. Never once had my propane regulator freeze up. Maybe it's more humid were you live, it is not normal in these parts, have not heard on one of my neighbors or co-workers with a frozen propane regulator.

Have heard on the news the natural gas companies warn to keep your regulator free of snow. But then they are normally mounted on the house close to the ground.

 

[Dutch445]

what is the proximity of the tank to the regulator?
our regulator is on the outside of the house, and my 2 tanks
are 50' away behind a big pine tree and we've never had
a freeze up like that.

 

[kcflhrc]

This was my regulator at the house not at the tank and it is about 2 feet off the ground. But the ice like I said originally was horrible yesterday. Supposed to get more ice tonight but I have a packing blanked wrapped around it now so hopefully it will be OK. My tank is about 100 feet or so from the house and secondary regulator

 

[Larry Caldwell]

You could freeze a regulator in a block of ice and it would still work fine. All the moving parts are internal. It's a very simple mechanism. Here's a drawing, with the difference that a propane regulator is set to deliver one pressure so there is no adjustment handle. There should be no internal water to freeze, though any contaminant during assembly can gel and cause the poppet to stick.

Pressure regulator - Wikipedia

 

[kcflhrc]

You could freeze a regulator in a block of ice and it would still work fine. All the moving parts are internal. It's a very simple mechanism. Here's a drawing, with the difference that a propane regulator is set to deliver one pressure so there is no adjustment handle. There should be no internal water to freeze, though any contaminant during assembly can gel and cause the poppet to stick.

Pressure regulator - Wikipedia

Well, all I can tell you that when I removed the 1/4" of ice it worked fine after that so I kinda disagree with that theory. And the drawing you referenced is a single stage regulator.

 

[oosik]

We always thought our propane regulator was freezing up because, some how or other, there was moisture in the propane we received.

 

[LouNY]

A regulator can get froze up, in cold weather the pressure drop across a regulator creates a temperature drop, humid wet conditions the temperature of the regulator can be several degrees cooler then ambient, humid air on the atmospheric side of the diaphragm can easily create ice in the regulator housing, its not in the propane side but the atmospheric side. I have had to replace diaphragms from external ice damage. On industrial equipment heaters and boilers and high capacity burners. It's common to see frost on regulators and tanks in the spring and early summer from vaporization thermal effects.