Defect: gas line rubs against oven!

[ShrimpBurrito]

I was doing a bit of an inspection in preparation for an 8,000-mile trip, and came across an unpleasant surprise: the gas line that feeds the oven is rubbing against the back bottom edge of the oven. As far as I can tell, the line is still in good shape, but I want to address this, and not sure yet how to do it. As far as I can tell, there is inadequate slack in the line to add a gap between the line and oven, and even if there was, it would require re-bending the line, which I think would probably be difficult to do in such a confined space. Even if I disconnected the line from the regulator under the burner covers and added an extension, I'd still have that problem.

My initial thought is to put a few layers of some abrasion resistant woven wire protector over it. Either the plastic kind (or fiberglass or whatever it is; it is black) or maybe even the steel braid that covers plumbing lines. I'm concerned that the latter may not do much as it too is harder than the plumbing lines, so it may contribute to the problem as well.

This is obviously a manufacturing defect. I'm rather disappointed, and you might want to inspect yours.

Any thoughts on a solution?

Thanks,
Dave

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

I was doing a bit of an inspection in preparation for an 8,000-mile trip, and came across an unpleasant surprise: the gas line that feeds the oven is rubbing against the back bottom edge of the oven. As far as I can tell, the line is still in good shape, but I want to address this, and not sure yet how to do it. As far as I can tell, there is inadequate slack in the line to add a gap between the line and oven, and even if there was, it would require re-bending the line, which I think would probably be difficult to do in such a confined space. Even if I disconnected the line from the regulator under the burner covers and added an extension, I'd still have that problem.

My initial thought is to put a few layers of some abrasion resistant woven wire protector over it. Either the plastic kind (or fiberglass or whatever it is; it is black) or maybe even the steel braid that covers plumbing lines. I'm concerned that the latter may not do much as it too is harder than the plumbing lines, so it may contribute to the problem as well.

This is obviously a manufacturing defect. I'm rather disappointed, and you might want to inspect yours.

Any thoughts on a solution?

Thanks,
Dave

The best chafe resistant material that I have found is leather....like a piece from an old belt.

It this were a sailboat with a gimbaled stove, I'd be more concerned. Both the gas pipe and the stove are rigid and chafe should be rare (as witnessed by the lack there-of now). However, now that you've found it, you won't sleep well until you protect it (at least I wouldn't)........

A piece of leather and a couple of wire ties and you're done. I used to do stuff like that on my yacht all the time.

[ShrimpBurrito]

I like the leather idea, Wayne. Thanks for the tip. I actually have some leather swatches a photo album company sent me to sample that will work perfectly in this application. And I almost threw them out last week. Whew!

Dave

Thank you both for sharing this. Will check mine as well. What a spot for a possible leak!

'possible leak!' Definitely... been there, done that. Purchased a '99 3124KB last year.. kept smelling propane, could not find leak, detector would go off occasionally. Finally, first trip out this year, went to light burner and had a flame-up inside the top of the stove. Shut everything down, aired out and turned gas back on with top of stove up.... using lighter, moved it around (probably stupid idea at time, but was fortunate nothing bad happened) and found pinhole leak at back of stove where line angles in and rubs across entry hole. Replaced line, checked for leaks, happy to say all is well. No more smell, no more detector sounding off.

[T and C]

Originally Posted by kninshar57

'possible leak!' Definitely... been there, done that. Purchased a '99 3124KB last year.. kept smelling propane, could not find leak, detector would go off occasionally. Finally, first trip out this year, went to light burner and had a flame-up inside the top of the stove. Shut everything down, aired out and turned gas back on with top of stove up.... using lighter, moved it around (probably stupid idea at time, but was fortunate nothing bad happened) and found pinhole leak at back of stove where line angles in and rubs across entry hole. Replaced line, checked for leaks, happy to say all is well. No more smell, no more detector sounding off.

Propane is nothing to mess with. Many years ago I learned a lesson on my 1988 SixPac camper. I always used to test the heater before leaving on a trip. The thermostat worked fine, but the piazzo lighter thingy did not. I used to open the little view hole and light it with one of those lighters with a long nose on it.

It had been sitting for several months so I went out to light the refrigerator and heater to make sure they worked before I left. The heater pilot would not light, so I held the button down for about 60 seconds before stuck the lighter in the hole and hit the button. I figured that there would only be a little gas coming out of that little hole. Man was I wrong!

A long tongue of flame shot out of that was about 3 feet long. I got off with a good scare and some singed hair on my hand and arm. My caution factor when using propane went waaayy up, and has stayed there.

Lucky Tom

[scrubjaysnest]

We had the same rubbing problem on ours, is this something the factory needs to review their installation procedures on. My fix was to re-bend the tubing slightly. Use extreme caution if you do this or a kink will result.

As an aside I found several places under the camper where there were gas line rubs.

[MudDog]

Originally Posted by scrubjaysnest

As an aside I found several places under the camper where there were gas line rubs.

On my TM the LP detector started going off (after the first year of ownership) shortly after setup and take down if the LP tanks were open. It would go off once or twice and then wouldn't go off again until the next time we setup.

Shortly after this started I was under the TM adjusting the torsion bars to give more lift after adding solar panels. It was then that I found the propane line branch feeding the water heater rubbing against one of the torsion bars.

There wasn't a visible hole in the line, but there was a spot that was pretty worn. My dealer replaced the line at no charge and we haven't had the LP detector go off since then.

Would definetly recommend taking a peek under the TM to make sure all LP lines are routed with enough clearance.

I put protective plastic tubing (slit on one side) over the LP lines. I only secured the ends but paid special attention to areas where the LP lines went through or touched the frame. This is similar to what they do as standard on the RPod Campers.
So far so good, but I do inspect each year.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Yikes, you are very lucky you weren't injured or killed. Thanks for sharing. It's a very sneaky leak. I cannot believe the factory does not do a safer install of that line.

For your future reference, a dish soap/water mixture applied with a brush or spray bottle is a MUCH better leak detector than a match. Nothing like living on the wild side.....

Dave