Plumbers in Kerrville, Texas

Who owns the tank, and where our work starts

The first question on any Kerrville gas call is about ownership, because it decides who you should be phoning.

A leased tank belongs to the supplier, and so does the regulator on it. If the tank has a company name on it, the tank, its valves and the first stage regulator are theirs to maintain. Faults there are a call to them, usually at no charge, and it is worth making that call before paying anybody.

An owned tank makes all of it yours. Buying the tank buys the freedom to shop for gas, and the responsibility for its fittings and regulation. On acreage that trade is often worth it, as a decision rather than a discovery at the first fault.

The line from the tank to the house is the part we work on. Buried yard line, risers, the second stage regulator, the piping inside the house and every appliance connection. That is the side where age, corrosion and additions actually cause problems.

Regulators, pressure and what cold weather does

Almost every LP complaint we get in Kerr County is a pressure or a vapour problem wearing an appliance's clothes.

Propane arrives at the house at a much lower pressure than it leaves the tank. Tank pressure varies with temperature. A two stage system drops it once at the tank and again at the house, and appliances expect something close to eleven inches of water column. A single ageing regulator doing both jobs is a common cause of appliances that work individually and fail together.

Everything running at once is the real test. A system that is undersized or under-regulated behaves perfectly all summer and starves on a cold January evening with the furnace, the heater and the range all calling. That hour is when the diagnosis has to be made.

Vapour draw depends on wetted surface, not on how much gas you own. Liquid propane has to boil to feed the house, and that happens against the wetted wall of the tank. A tank at twenty percent on a cold morning has much less surface doing that work, and the symptom is low pressure with gas still in the tank. Keeping a tank above about thirty percent through winter is not a sales pitch.

A frosted regulator is telling you something. Frost on a regulator body means rapid vapour expansion and often high draw against a poor supply. A regulator vent blocked by ice, mud or a wasp nest is its own hazard, and the vent needs to point down and stay clear.

Out of gas is not simply refilled. When a tank empties, the system loses pressure, pilots go out and the line may draw air. Refilling and relighting requires a leak test on the system before it is put back in service. A supplier will normally insist on that, and it is the right call, not a formality.

Appliances, orifices, and why LP leaks behave differently

Propane and natural gas are not interchangeable at the appliance, and the differences matter in both directions.

An LP appliance needs LP orifices. Propane carries far more energy per cubic foot, so its burner openings are smaller. A natural gas appliance run on propane over-fires: roaring flame, soot, and a genuine hazard. Run the other way, it starves. Many appliances ship with a conversion kit, and fitting it is a job with a gas test at the end.

Flame colour is a reading you can take yourself. A propane burner should be mostly blue and stable. Lazy yellow tips, soot on a pan bottom or a burner that lifts off are reasons to stop using the appliance and have it looked at rather than adjusted by trial.

Propane is heavier than air, and that changes everything about a leak. Natural gas rises and disperses. Propane sinks, and it collects in low places: a crawlspace, a sunken room, a well pit, the bottom of a stairwell. That is why a leak smelled outdoors should never be walked past, and why gas detection in an LP house belongs low on the wall rather than at the ceiling.

If you smell gas, leave first. Get people out, do not operate switches, and shut the tank valve on the way past only if it is safe to reach. Call the supplier and the fire service from outside. Nothing in an LP system justifies standing inside trying to locate the smell.

How a call plays out

The phone is answered around the clock, holidays included. On an LP call, tell us whether the tank is leased or owned and roughly what percentage it shows, because those two answers often identify the fault before anyone is on site.

Kerr County is spread out and we plan for that: Kerrville, Ingram, Hunt and the river roads, with genuine after-hours dispatch. Where a fault belongs to your propane supplier we will say so rather than bill you for it, and on our side we pressure test what we work on and leave you the result.