Propane leak tests—Here’s one from the Darwin Awards

By Russ and Tiña De Maris
[This post about a propane leak was from a few years ago, but it’s still a good reminder.]

Here’s another lesson from the Darwin Award files. A 79-year-old RVer in St. Amant, La., had a problem with his motorhome. Somewhere there was a gas leak, and he just needed to find it. You know the rest of the story—take out a cigarette lighter, strike off a flame, and KABOOM! While the RVer only flew 20 feet, some of his motorhome rocketed off nearly five times as far, damaging three nearby homes.

Amazingly, the unnamed man wasn’t seriously injured. A responding fire official is quoted as saying, “I don’t know how this cat walked away from that; it was unbelievable.” The fireman estimated the blast strength as equivalent to a half-dozen pipe bombs.

So, for the record. How do we check for gas leaks?

Old faithful: Mix up a solution of liquid dish soap and tap water. Here’s the recipe: 1 teaspoon of soap to 2 cups of tap water. Put the liquid in a spray bottle. Don’t shake it up, just gently swizzle it to mix the contents. Spray on any suspect area and watch for bubbles.

Commercial: Camco makes a liquid gas leak spray solution, and it comes in its own little spray bottle. It’ll fit in your toolbox or junk drawer. It works the same way as the old faithful brew.

Portable electronic detectors: We have one of these, and it’s right along the lines of the neatest thing since sliced bread. We keep ours tucked in the door pocket of our tow vehicle so we can check for leaks when we reconnect an LP bottle after filling. We also use it whenever we make up a new connection on a gas line, or “think” we might have a leak. Here’s one you can pick up on Amazon that gets good reviews and costs less than $35.

Yes, I know some who use the old “light a match and hold it near the joint” method. They’re entitled to their choice of testing methods, but I simply ask them to call me at least 15 minutes ahead of a test cycle. That way I can make sure I’m FAR away from ground zero.

##RVDT1805