propane and altitude

[Ynot4me2]

At what altitude should you expect to experience problems with gas appliances? And what would the symptoms be?
The reason I'm asking is on our recent trip in Upper New England (beautiful BTW) we were boondocking every few days. When we stayed over night at Mt. Washington, I had a hard time getting the water heater to light up. After messing around with it (confirming we had good spark, checking the thermo coupler, all other gas appliances working.... everything checked out) it eventually fired up after many tries. We never had any issues with it. it had worked great a few days prior. I did notice a different clicking sound when it tried to light up. It seemed to be coming from the h/w tank gas valve. The next day, we boondocked at Montpellier and the same problem occurred. Again, good spark but no fire and that clicking noise from the gas valve was there again.
I started suspecting that it might be due to altitude but we weren't that high. Where we parked at Mt. Washington was at 2500 ft and Montpellier 1200 ft. Is this normal? I thought that gas appliance would start having altitude problems at 6000 ft.

[MoonShadow_1911]

At what altitude should you expect to experience problems with gas appliances? And what would the symptoms be?
The reason I'm asking is on our recent trip in Upper New England (beautiful BTW) we were boondocking every few days. When we stayed over night at Mt. Washington, I had a hard time getting the water heater to light up. After messing around with it (confirming we had good spark, checking the thermo coupler, all other gas appliances working.... everything checked out) it eventually fired up after many tries. We never had any issues with it. it had worked great a few days prior. I did notice a different clicking sound when it tried to light up. It seemed to be coming from the h/w tank gas valve. The next day, we boondocked at Montpellier and the same problem occurred. Again, good spark but no fire and that clicking noise from the gas valve was there again.
I started suspecting that it might be due to altitude but we weren't that high. Where we parked at Mt. Washington was at 2500 ft and Montpellier 1200 ft. Is this normal? I thought that gas appliance would start having altitude problems at 6000 ft.

Altitude comes into play around 8-9k feet, for me.

It actually sounds like you have moisture in the combustion chamber, or something blocking the air flow to/from the combustion chamber.

[Second Chance]

First, some teasing: "altitude" if you're in an aircraft, "elevation" if you're on the ground, and "height" if you're on top of a building.

Now, we have routinely used our LP appliances (including the absorption fridge in the Reflection) at elevations over 5,000 feet without any issues. 1,200 and 2,500 ft. should be no problem at all. I agree with @MoonShadow_1911 that you have something else going on.

Rob

Addendum: above transition level, commercial aviation uses "flight level" instead of feet and altitude.

[MoonShadow_1911]

First, some teasing: "altitude" if you're in an aircraft, "elevation" if you're on the ground, and "height" if you're on top of a building.

Rob

Addendum: above transition level, commercial aviation uses "flight level" instead of feet and altitude.

Ugh. I should have known better... [emoji16]

[xrated]

I agree with the above info.....that elevation should not have affected anything propane. We were at Ruby's Inn Campground in Bryce City, Utah last year and the elevation in that area is just under 7700'. We were plugged into shore power, but the furnace ran every night we were there.....low 30's overnight and 26 degrees the last morning there before pulling out. Zero issues with propane. I used the grill a couple of times also....and no issues.

[Ynot4me2]

First, some teasing: "altitude" if you're in an aircraft, "elevation" if you're on the ground, and "height" if you're on top of a building.

That's one of the problem with being bilingual. LOL either way, it was giving me attitude. LOL
I kind of figured that I shouldn't have had any issues at that elevation. Its not like we brought it to the summit.
Funny thing is it work great after that and ever since.
I'll do some more digging and testing.

[traveldawg]

What was the temperature? Sometimes the propane regulator doesn't like cold weather. It gets cold, the gas trying to pass gets cold and then icing happens. On a previous rig I had to use a hair dryer on more than one occasion and/or rep an incandescent trouble light near the regulator.

Also, I have had issues with the gas stove lighting when I make rapid elevation changes but that out west with variances of up to 3000 feet in one day.

[Chief T]

I haven't had any issues when camping over 8 thousand feet above sea level in Colorado. Perhaps try to run the stove first for a minute or so to clear the gas line.

Safe and happy travels.

[Ynot4me2]

What was the temperature? Sometimes the propane regulator doesn't like cold weather. It gets cold, the gas trying to pass gets cold and then icing happens. On a previous rig I had to use a hair dryer on more than one occasion and/or rep an incandescent trouble light near the regulator.

Also, I have had issues with the gas stove lighting when I make rapid elevation changes but that out west with variances of up to 3000 feet in one day.

Temps were around mid 50 and some rain, it was real damp.
We arrived there from Conway, NH which is only 400ft elevation. So that and the dampness could explain.

[Crash753]

First, some teasing: "altitude" if you're in an aircraft, "elevation" if you're on the ground, and "height" if you're on top of a building.

Now, we have routinely used our LP appliances (including the absorption fridge in the Reflection) at elevations over 5,000 feet without any issues. 1,200 and 2,500 ft. should be no problem at all. I agree with @MoonShadow_1911 that you have something else going on.

Rob

Addendum: above transition level, commercial aviation uses "flight level" instead of feet and altitude.

It is not just commercial aviation, but ALL aviation (including military and private civilian) uses
“Flight Level” above transition altitude.