Hole in propane hose

[Thurman]

So we are crazy enough to go camping leaving Thursday for Ochlocknee Bay, FL. (Panacea area). Today I went out checking things on the TT to assure that they would be working when we get down there. In particular I wanted to check the furnace as we have not had to use it yet to heat the TT. I've ran it a few times to assure it was working. I could not get any burner on the stove to light nor could I get the furnace to light up. Start at the tanks and trace out the problem. One tank completely empty, I had left the valve on. The other tank is full. While checking the change-over/regulator for the tanks I happened to notice something odd about the gas hose, it had a hole in it. The area where the hole is has nothing at all sitting on it nor near it so I'm certain that nothing rubbed the hole in it. After looking at the hole closer I realized that a squirrel had chewed the hole in it. There were obvious teeth marks on the outer rubber cover. Now the problem is that of the three (3) LP gas dealers in this town none of them carry 1/2" I.D. hose. They can all order one which should be here in 7-10 days. We were planning on pulling out Thursday for a five day trip. A few phone calls and I find that there is place 30 miles away that can cut a new hose and crimp on the proper ends. Off early in the morning. Trying to post photo but something's not working, try again in the morning

[ependydad]

I used to have an issue with raccoons chewing our grill’s propane lines. Little jerks.

Glad to hear you’re getting fixed up in time.

[dlwilliams48]

to go camping leaving Thursday for Ochlocknee Bay, FL.

May I ask where you are camping? We are leaving next Wednesday for our annual trip to Ochlockonee River State Park, near Sopchoppy. We try to go down every Jan because we really like that S.P. Usually make a couple of visits to St. Marks NWR and ride the boat at Wakulla Springs.

Hope you get the hose situation solved. We usually have to run the furnace at least a little when camping in that area in Jan.

[KyDan]

IF it were me- in your situation- I would splice the hose using a brass double end hose barb with 2 worm screw automotive hose clamps on each end.
Check for leaks with soap bubble solution or just bubble fluid like found in the toy isle of any store.
You can probably get the hose splice and screw clamps at an auto part store or Home Depot or Lowes.

This is what I would do- your results might not be the same as mine!
Check carefully that there are no other damaged places on the hose!!

Get a new hose with SS braid when you get back.

[Rich5117]

I do not know what it is about propane hoses that squirrels like, my sister uses a long hose to her grill found hole from squirrel. Thought if was a fluke thing maybe had a bit of food on it. Replaced it couple days later went to use another chew thru.

If by chance something goes wrong with your new hose.

Agree with KyDan, if you have to you could temporally use a double barb, Brass only not plastic, providing it is the main hose coming from the regulator to the appliances. The pressure is only 0.4 psi. Do not know your layout if it is a hose coming from a second tank on the opposite side to your main regulator it should be 30 psi still ok to splice temporally.

Check repairs with soap and water for leaks. Do not do like the old timers, a match, that is not a good idea.

Have a good trip and safe travels. We are in Sebastian. Bring a coat down in 30's for a few nights.

[dlwilliams48]

I do not know what it is about propane hoses that squirrels like

They also seem to like coax cable. I found the coax running from my Ham radio to a roof mounted antenna chewed in multiple places. Had to relocate the antenna, which hopefully will help.

[KyDan]

I had a string of cheap Christmas lights wrapped around the trunk of a little maple tree in my front yard. They stopped working so I went to investigate and some critter- most likely a squirrel- had chewed the wires into several pieces! It brought to mind that scene in National Lampoon Christmas vacation where the cat chews thru the Christmas tree lights behind the couch- BOOM and just a scorched outline of a cat on the floor!

But my damage was likely done in the day light and the lights would have been off.

[FroggyRon]

Reminds me of a t-shirt I saw about a week ago that said “squirrels-nature’s little speed bumps”. Do you think the guy wearing it had a similar experience?😁

[Thurman]

@ "dlwilliams48": We'll be staying at "Holiday Campground" right on Ochlocknee Bay. It's on the right hand side where Hwy 98 goes across the bay, just a bit below Panacea, FL. It's an older park with 75 sites and each site is tight. We knew about Ochlocknee SP but decided on Holiday because it's closer to Wakulla Middle School where my g'son has a wrestling tournament Saturday. There is also an "Pancea RV Park" in Panacea which we rode through--IMO: nasty looking, many long termers, and two sites had cars up on jack-stands as if working on them. Could not find a hose at the three LP gas suppliers in Albany, they could order one with 7-10 day delivery. Don't tell anyone, especially "KyDan" , but I cut the bad place out, used a 1/2" brass hose nipple and two worm clamps. Tested for leaks, ran the stove and furnace and all appears well. YES, I will replace this hose after this trip. Re: squirrels--I have a chain link fence around my back yard, last spring I happened to notice that the aluminum wire ties used to hold the fence to the top rail had been broken, over 100 of these. After I looked closer it appeared that something/someone had been hitting on the wire ties and broken them. When I went to a local fence supplier to get new wire ties the lady told me that they sell a lot of these as squirrels love to chew on them. It seems that squirrels and rats have two front teeth that never stop growing so they chew on anything to grind their teeth down. For some reason I still cannot get photo of chewed hole to upload.

[Alleyantique]

Check the grill sections of Lowes or Home Depot. They usually have hoses and you may find one that will work. Another option is to stop at a RV dealer on your way . You can also usually find hoses at propane filling station.

[Iwannacamp]

If you can’t locate..splice, leak test and replace when they get it in.

[wanderingbob]

In reference to the campgrounds that you refer to . My experience speaking -Holiday is a nice park but the management are not nice at all .
Panacea Campground has wonderful , friendly people staying and managing the park , wonderful breakfast , good walking , fishing and bike riding . We stopped at Holiday , paid our money and left early . Went to Panacea and stayed couple months . Please come back and report on your experience with management ! Maybe their attitude has changed ,

[Scrapper]

Camping World has replacement hoses.

The reason squirrels and mice chew on hoses is the plastic on the outside is made from vegetable oil, the same with the insulation on many brands of electrical wires.

[Thurman]

"wanderingbob", I've heard stories such as that before, from people who stayed at Holiday. I'll certainly find out tomorrow. When we were down there last week we ate at "Posey's Steamroom" and met a lady who told us that the owners of Holiday had leased the CG for a number of years but the person who had the lease had let the place run down pretty bad. The lady told us that she knew the man and his daughter had taken the place back and were doing a lot of work to get the place back to a good condition. Hopefully the "bad relations" people were the one's who were leasing the CG and the owners will get everything running better. I'll share a report after we have stayed there.

[Rich5117]

Thurman that splice might last longer than your RV, but should probably get it replaced

[DouglasReid]

I like the brass barb coupler/worm gear repair.

Fast
Easy
Cheap
Effective

why buy another when that will work just as well for just as long as a new one?

[kb3jmz]

I had the same problem with my TT about a year after I bought it. The dealer replaced about 4' of the LP line with copper. Later I noticed bite marks all along the LP line. I stopped the squirrels by splitting a large diameter garden hose and putting it over the LP line and secured it with wire ties from the front of the TT to the rear were they replaced it with copper. No problems after that.