Any way to stop lpg freezing??

matty_daak · Dec 3, 2010

Hi folks,

the cold weather is proving expensive for the old chugger, the lpg keeps freezing leaving me with no choice but to run petrol all the time.
I was thinking of insulating the pipes running from the tanks underneath as i guess this is where the cold is getting to. Do you think this will work or am I just wasting my time here? Could the problem lie with the vaporiser?

Cheers again, and I hope everyone is having fun in the snow!!!

Beast o Bodmin · Dec 3, 2010

lagged pipes is a must.they do get cold.also where is your tank?in side is ok outside and the tank connections may be frozen.

the vapouriser may also be freezing.does it start to run then cut out or just dont work?

barczyk · Dec 3, 2010

I would guess the vaporiser. I have LPG on two motors here in Poland - one with outside tank and one with inside tank. No lagging on the feed pipes at all and we regularly have temperatures well below -20. I have never had a problem with freezing lpg

p76rangie · Dec 5, 2010

It would appear that your coolant is not circulating properly to the vaporiser. A lot of conversions just put "T" junctions in the hoses going to the heater. This does not result in good circulation. Take the T joins out and run the return from the heater through the vaporiser.

gulfbluersr · Dec 5, 2010

Yep Vapouriser would be the 1st place to look, I've had a couple that have frozen in the past, as p76rangie says, water not circulating properly, you could try running the engine properly up to temp on petrol before switching to gas but really I would guess that you have a problem that is causing it to freeze, like barczyk has said he runs them in Poland without probs, my 1st Rangie Rover was purely lpg I ran that through a very hard winter here in Wales a few years back with no freezing issues, the ones I've had that have frozen had other issues....head gasket on one of them.......

Steve

barczyk · Dec 6, 2010

The system on both my cars starts on petrol and switches over at a pre-set time / temperature. In winter it is important to delay switching to LPG until the engine temperature is up to normal running

EeEk · Dec 6, 2010

my rangie pickup starts on petrol and I turn it to gas as soon as it fires up.....its cheaper to have it on gas as it heats up and defrosts

The gas tank is in the back under a foot of snow, none of the pipes are lagged, not that it would matter anyway theres a ton of ice hanging from chassis/outriggers it anyway

It doesn't freeze up.....and its been -13 here

Id be looking at hot coolant supply to the vaporiser as has been suggested.

matty_daak · Dec 16, 2010

Thanks for all the advice guys, the fuel feed pipes from the external tanks are not lagged, I've checked out the vaporiser, its coolant feed is just t-eed from the main loop as suggested. I have always let the engine fully warm up before switching although I have noticed a slight drop in heater temperature lately.. probably more problems!! The weather has warmed up a bit here now and its all running fine again, so I'll address the heating side of things and keep everyone posted. Thanks again.

robrennie · Dec 17, 2010

My mate had very similar sounding problem on his Disco 3.9 LPG. His heater matrix had gone.

Maybe try your wagon with the heater set to cold.

Ragtag · Dec 18, 2010

matty_daak said:
The weather has warmed up a bit here now and its all running fine again, so I'll address the heating side of things and keep everyone posted. Thanks again.

I'm with P76rangie on this, as I have my vapourisor plumbed directly in line with the heater and have never had a freee up.

However, one word of warning if you intend to go this route. This only works if the heater cannot be switched off, as is the case on early Rangies. I don't know if this is true for all landies (I note you have a Disco) so it would be worth confirming. Also if your heater matrix is blocked, this would also cause problems with the direct method, so worth flushing through.

Just out of interest, where is your vapourisor mounted. If the problem has cured itself, sounds like you might have had an airlock.

Cheers

Chris

zen · Dec 19, 2010

dont be so silly..lpg freezes at -187c!!!!!!!!!!

can only be vaporiser.

Zaphod · Dec 20, 2010

it is also possible you have the vaporiser plumbed in the wrong way round, there is an inlet and outlet, as I had this probelm just after I replumbed my vap in series as the original install was in parrallel. Thhe vap would freeze up till the engine was totally warm. Now I have swapped them round it it's fine.

slice · Dec 26, 2010

lpg froze for the first time yesterday in my disco 1...no problems in the bitter cold last week on my 25 miles commute to work - but xmas morning of all days!!! strange though it ran on unleaded for 5 minutes while clearing the windows, drove off then switched to gas and it stopped. Vaporiser looked looked like a block of ice so i decided the coolant wasnt getting through very well (temp gauge was showing ok)
strange though it wouldnt start again or run on unleaded (plenty in the tank) do you think that the unleaded could have been frozen too?
it all seemed to thaw out after 20 mins at the side of the road...any ideas pls?

Wookie · Dec 31, 2010

Lpg won't freeze in the UK, its good for -20+.
The pipes on my LT are rubber coated, if your's aren't its cheap to replace, but I don't think that's your problem.

Check out the cooling system for air blockages, the lpg system needs around 27c to vapourise the liquid before it will switch over. If it's only getting air it simply won't work.

I start on lpg all year round, spent about £10 on petrol in the last year just to refresh it.

Zaphod · Jan 1, 2011

Hmm no one is listening...
If this happens the Vaporiser is either getting no flow, or the flow is in reverse. If the heater is working then it's the latter (as even in parallel the vap will offer the less resistance to flow than the heater, hence so many heater problems when the vap is plumbed in worngly). First port of call, take the water pipes off the vap and swap them round, does not matter which end, I'd do it where they are attached to the heater pipes as that's normally the easiest place to access. Then refill and bleed the system.

If the vaporiser has no flow.. then it would freeze up in summer as well! but it also means you have a much more serious problem, either the heater matrix is blocked or you are leaking lots of coolant!

Wookie · Jan 2, 2011

If the vapouriser is warm its probably working. Cold its not, simple as that.
Pipes on the vap usually have arrows indicating flow, if the installer has got that wrong then surely the sytem would never work.

Zaphod · Jan 2, 2011

Yep the vaporizer does have arrows to indicate flow however they will work the with them the wrong way round. In this condition it will tend to freeze up if run from cold. Coolant will still flow though it, but will not circulate fully round the vaporizer, if the coolant is sufficiently hot it will even keep it from freezing as sufficient heat will conduct though the vaporizer body, if it has not then it will freeze. If the car is then run on petrol it will thaw out and then run on gas, however if the engine stalls on gas while frozen before its switched back over to petrol it can flood the engine with LPG vapor and will behave as a flooded engine (if this is the case foot to the floor and get it restarted with petrol, it will take a lot of turning to start, hope the battery is good! or wait 1/2 hour or so, it may stall a few more times as the vaporizer will still be flooding the engine with LPG till its unfrozen)

Any way to stop lpg freezing??

matty_daak

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Beast o Bodmin

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barczyk

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p76rangie

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gulfbluersr

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barczyk

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EeEk

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matty_daak

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Ragtag

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zen

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slice

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