Not long ago, my stove quit working, and I assumed I had run out of propane, but when I went to fill it a couple days later, it turned out to be full, and the stove began working again. Further diagnosis lead me to discover that the regulator had this nasty, smelly, oil substance dripping out of it. I replaced the regulator and the stove and furnace are working fine, with the odd exception of the stove flame burning orange now. This is normally a sign of incomplete combustion (think carbon monoxide
) This makes me wonder, what the hell is that stuff that clogged my regulator and will it clog my new regulator or heater? Research (mostly Google) says Propane can come with contaminates such as particulates (microscopic rocks) and other stuff like some type of oil, but it must be pretty uncommon as there is almost no info on this. The stuff on the regulator smelled just like the smell they put in the propane so you can detect leaks, but it was a much stronger odor than just the gas. I've asked at a couple Suburban propane dealers, but they had no idea what I was talking about. I've checked the stove burner parts for blockage, but they look fine. Anyone care to guess what this stuff is? Do I need to remove and empty the tank to clean it? How do I avoid this happening again?