Potential propane stove danger to be aware of

[sternwake]

I mainly  use a single burner propane stove. 
 The part which has the thousand holes in it for the propane flame, rusts out. On the bottom. 
Not sure what this part is called... Diffuser?

Propane is heavier than air.

I caught a whiff of propane when cooking, which was unusual, then put my nose to the floor and the smell was much stronger.  I'd also noted the green bottles seemed to be emptying at a noticeably faster rate.

I bought a new stove, just for this part:

   

   

Not sure exactly how the  propane leaking out of these holes was  remaining unlit,  then falling through the stove reflector to the floor, but it was, and I can certainly see this as being a huge issue, with good door seals, with propane pooling on the floor. Add spark and Whoosh. thump, perhaps Boom.

If your propane stove is old, consider this possible issue, and the  potential consequence of ignoring it.

I was able to rip the stem off the rusted diffuser, using about 1/20th of my available hand strength

[sternwake]

I checked my order history and this stove was in regular use for 8 years before it rusted to that degree.

No idea how much my salt air environment added to that, but if you have a stove in this age range, you might want to see if the underside of this 'diffuser' part is in similar condition.

I did not see any good way to repair it, and was rather miffed at having to buy a whole new stove because of it.

[TWIH]

Good safety catch. 8 yrs of use, probably it’s time anyway.

[tx2sturgis]

Wow...dodged a propane 'bullet' on that one!

[rvpopeye]

Hope you bought a lotto after that kind of luck.

Good to see you're still alive , close one. wow.

Sadly repair parts seem to be going the way of the dinosaurs....

[Gr8ful]

[Gr8ful]

I am careful with LP. I have a Cat forklift that run on 33# tanks. I had shut it off for only a few minutes & then it didn't start. I opened the hood hit the key & the distributor cap jumped(the engine had filled up with LP) & half the hanger lit up 3' high with a blue flame. I was wearing shorts, burned all the hair off my legs to the knees, set several things on fire. I kept 2 large fire ext which did the job. The diaphaghm had cracked on the Cat $50 fix. Now if I shut it off I turn the tank off even for a minute & bought a 175# large wheel long hose roll fresh services extingisher. I have a detector in the ambo.

[Scott7022]

Me and propane don’t mix. only outside and preferably in the wet Pacific Northwest. I believe there is a story in the story time section.

My build design uses a spare tire toroidal tank. But that will just run outdoor stove, BBQ, fire pit, nothing goes inside.

Still that may not be safe enough.


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[sternwake]

I regularly unscrew the diffuser to clean the reflector part of the stove, often submerging it in a tub of water and dawn dishsoap. One can hear little rust particles moving around inside of it. This loose rust can obscure the bottom row of holes where the flame exits, and not give off as much flame height.

My trick was to shake it, use a new wire brush on the outside and come compressed air up the stem until I could no longer hear the rust scraping around.

So this rust along the bottom nearer the stem did not catch me by surprise.

Catching the Whiff of propane was likely only because my passenger side window fan shroud has the diverter aiming the intake flow towards the floor, and pushed the heavier than propane air upwards where my sniffer detected it. I knew instantly what and why, then starter shopping and checking finances.

Finances were sketchy, and I actually waited a month or more before ordering. I kept using the stove, just insuring Fiona was not on the floor. I have another dual burner stove in storage. I kept thinking perhaps the diffuser parts were interchangeable, but I never went to pull it out and check.

I was not all that concerned about the leak, as it is a tiny amount which escapes and my sniffer seems to be fairly sensitive. The nearest and only vent down low, besides an open door or poor door seals, is my fridge's intake air vent, about 2 feet from where I place the stove during use. Right now when the compressor is running the air ushed through the condenser is pushed out the slider window of the conversion van window behind the fridge, but whether this fan is strong enough to exhaust any pool of propane on the floor is unknown. I also only fairly recently blocked off the cabinet partition which forces the heated air out the louvered window, in summertime heat. The other portion of the cabinet has an exhaust fan that recycles that condenser heated air back into cabin for winter.

Perhaps I am being too unconcerned about the risk of the leak. It was in the back of my Mind every time I made coffee in the morning, and that is usually when I have the flame set the highest and the most propane was escaping through the bottom of the rusted diffuser.

My previous one burner stoves had poor simmer ability and this one was good in that regard, and wihle i tried to order the same model again it is NLA. I took a small risk ordering another brand that it would be compatible with my failed diffuser.

The little arms which hold the pots and pans are riveted to the reflector. These get loose, and with 4 of them the pots and pans can rock. WTF they dont just use three is beyond me. I'd drilled holes and used stainless machine screws and two nuts to make new pots and pan supports. Getting them all the right height was problematic and I wound up sacrificing a sheet of sandaper on my large 8 inch sanding rotary pad to get the heads all flat.

This is why I did not just use the new stove reflector and valve, as I do not know if the simmer function works well, and I put so much effort into the new pot pan supports which is superior to the original design, in function as the pots and pans cannot easily slide off, or rock. So the whole of the new Stanford stove, but for the diffuser, rests on a shelf in my workshop. I could conceviably use its valve on my modified reflector, but never bothered to check if it has the ability to have a nice low simmer type flame.

I started this thread as I know there are a few who will not cook with propane. They never gave any backstory to that fear of it, but outside of boats, whose hulls wont let unburnt propane escape, and potential CO poisoning, I did not see any issue cooking with propane as long as those two issues were mitigated, and I was cooking with it when my ventilationm system was a Joke, with only a single 1000 cfHour ceiling vent. I have 50 times that much airflow on tap now.

The rust on the underside of this diffuser was allowing tiny amounts of propane to spill on the floor, and perhaps the same happened to larger degrees and perhaps did lead to catastrophe. I suspect the majority of propane that hit my floor, fell into the wheel well by the side doors, and the door seals there need some help. If it pooled there it fell out when I opened the door. I don't think I cook for long enough nor was such a large amount leaking that I was ever in danger of igniting it.

My only scary event with propane was when the stove shifted where I store it and turned the valve slightly. I came back from doing something unlocked the door and smelled propane. That was Pre Fiona and pre insane amounts of ventilation on tap.

I have grown contempt for the green bottles, both refilling them and or just purchasing them. When I knew this stove was failing I researched horizontal propane tanks again, and potential stove heads, and how I would ideally eliminate the green bottles from my system.
I decided even if money were not a factor, ergonomics would be.

So I just ordered another stove and resigned myself to the green bottle future

[sternwake]

A while back I transfered the new stove body to my reflector dish, to see if the simmer function was any better.

it wasn't, but I left it in place.

A few days ago I open the door after walking Fiona, and she decides she no longer wants in. i say fine and get in myself, and smell propane.

I took the stove and left it outside and forgot about it until coffee time

when that arose I brought the moka cup to the outside stove and found the propane tank empty.

Replace propane tank and then remove stove head off of propane tank after each meal/ cup of coffee last couple days.

Lots of other tasks going on.

Just now boiling water for pasta, inside van, and I hear a whumpff, and see orange flame, and turn off the stove. Yellow flame continues, with a 2 inch flame shooting out of the regulator body.

Blew out easy enough.

Returned old stove body to reflector tray.

Finishing cooking of pasta.


I'll have to see which brand of stove it was whose regulator started leaking, and recommend others avoid.