LP Issues for Truck Camper Folks

Away back when, RVers were faced with a new and somewhat costly development: Convert your old LP gas container fittings from the old style POL to the new OPD (overfill protection device) style. For those of us in the TC game back then, it didn't have as much impact on us as for towable RVers. That was because at the time, technology couldn't come up with an OPD valve design that would work with the most common sort of LP container for truck campers--a horizontal tank.

We don't have statistics readily at hand, but as my mother-in-law used to say, "Two donuts to a dollar," the majority of truck campers are still equipped with the POL style gas valves. That's a particular concern at filling time. We had a nasty experience on a road trip a few months back: The LP leak alarm in our camper started sounding off. We did say "in our camper," mind you. Our LP containers are outside of course, so our initial focus on leak points were any connections inside the rig. After a long session of "leak sniffing," we finally determined the problem lay, not with any connections inside, but rather, in the tank compartment. Sure enough, the fellow at the LP filling station had not tightened the POL fitting enough. Just a tiny little leak, migrating along the side of the truck, down in the wheel wells, and seeping inside the rig through the wheel well access door was enough to set the whole process in motion.

POL fittings can be particularly difficult to secure. But a leak here can cause problems--first if the gas goes somewhere that could cause a flash off (explosion), and secondarily, who wants to pay for LP and just spill it out in the open air? Hence, we really can't emphasize enough the importance of leak checking your POL fittings every time you "fuel up." Soap bubble or "sniffer" device, just test them. Another route that we've taken that seems to help is the addition of an O-ring that precisely fits the seat of the POL valve. If the fit isn't "perzactly" tight, the O-ring offers an additional layer of leak protection. Carry spares and inspect the ring at every filling, if you cinch too tight, the ring will wear.

photo: R&T DeMaris