Eddie,
Thank you for all the great suggestions and validation of what I did.
The gasket seems to be snug as a bug but I might take it apart today to
apply Vaseline or cooking oil as you suggested, just to be safe and prolong
its life.
Thanks again for your help,
Glyn Judson
1969 Caravel #508
Santa Monica, CA
> Glen,
> I am licensed for propane service and new installation-forklift business. In
> the future, you can do just what you did, being careful to not destroy the
> gasket. When reassembling, use a grease, including what is handy such as
> vaseline, even just motor oil, cooking oil such as corn or vegetable oil,
> and coat all the mating surfaces on all sides, including if you broke the
> gasket. Never use any silicone sealant or other sealant such as gasket
> sealers. Just oil or grease.
>
> Here is what happens: The lubricant allows the gasket, even a torn gasket,
> broken gasket, or separated gasket, paper and cardboard or oil board gasket
> to do two things; absorb the lube making it more resiliant and flexible, and
> to move upon compression to mate and fill the three surfaces. The three
> surfaces are: Base, Gasket, and Cover. The other thing you did exactly right
> was to pay attention to the order of torque so as to not tighten any one
> part ahead of the other. The preferred method is a cross or X pattern of
> gradual tightening. It is also important to oil the screws, the threaded
> hole, and the cover surface the head of the screw will contact. This
> prevents thread damage and friction that can and often prevents even
> tightening.
>
> As clean as propane is, it still contains distillates. The distillates
> accumulate over time at the regulated points and leave a very gooey sticky
> black mess buildup that will cause a multitude of problems. Your simple
> cleanup, and the solvent of alcohol you used was perfect, safe, and dried
> leaving little or no residue. No harsher solvent can be used on any of the
> non-metal componets. It is ok to use soap and water, fantastic, simple
> green, purple power, or anything like that. It is just a gooey distillate
> you want to clean away from the rubber and metal parts.
>
> You must never leak-check with a flame. Propane is heavy. It collects. It
> pools and loves a static area such as the entire underside or a cabinet of
> an RV. Propane is therefore inherently dangerous as a flammable. Unlike
> natural gas, the PPM (parts per million) are extremely high. If you smell
> propane it is extremely hazardous and flammable exceedingly greater than if
> you smell natural gas. Always use a soapy solution such as AJAX liquid
> detergent and water mix to check for leaks. The solution is excellent to
> reveal the smallest of leaks.
>
> If you happen upon a flame, let's say at the cover. First be calm, turn off
> the propane bottle, just blow out the flame (it will blow out with a good
> strong breath) and turn off the appliance since the lines are under high
> pressure that takes a long time to empty.
>
> Do what you did. Use good common sense and thinking. You did good! You also
> saved a lot of money and work since the valve is expensive and seldom can be
> replaced without destroying the water heater in the process.
>
> -Eddie- Houston TX