Range Update: 

For the last several months, we have had issues with the propane furnace in the Clubhouse out at the range.  The initial issue was with the gas valve.  Jim Sweeney replaced the gas valve and the unit operated intermittently for a while; then the igniter didn’t spark. Jim worked on the igniter circuit, cleaned contacts – adjusted points – whatever, and it worked intermittently again. 

By now, too much time and money had been spent on it and by the time we would have had a professional come out and take a look at it – we would have had over half the cost of a new unit in the repair on a well-used unit. So, the decision was made to just drop in a new unit.  Guess what – the new unit didn’t work either. 

After some more checking and poking about, it turned out that the pressure regulator on the propane tank had failed.  The propane guy said “Well, they hardly ever fail”, but after he checked all of our work – guess what?  It had failed. 

The heater wants about 1 PSI gas pressure – not a lot of flow.  The regulator on the tank had failed and was putting 50 PSI to the heater gas valve.  The valve is designed as Fail Safe – it just won’t open with that much supply pressure on the inlet side.  Good idea – that much gas would blow the back out of the building if the igniter tried to light it. 

Now – we have a new furnace (the old one really was past fixing), we have a new regulator on the propane tank and – we have heat in the building!  Thank you, Jim Sweeney, for dealing with all of the aggravation.