Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 15:07:48 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject: Re: Converting Coleman Catalytic Heater to LP tank?
In-Reply-To: <D48AA5CA-1AF3-11D9-BA23-000A95A8745E@coreaddicts.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Those heaters that say they are for tents need ventilation too. The
instructions are very explicit about that when yu get the box home and
open it up.
If you don't want to worry about that at all, buy and install a vented
heater. there are plenty of good installations mentioned in the
archive, I'm sure some of these folks will write you.
I chose my unvented Olympian Wave 3 because of its compact design, wall
mounting and low oxygen use. It stilluses a certain amount of oxygen,
the instructions say a 4 inch square hole so you can figure out what
this is with a side window or front window cracked, I usually do about
half an inch which is probably overkill but it doesn't get all that
cold around here.
Make sure you have a shutoff valve you can get to so you can take the
heater offline if any leaks develop. Test every joint thoroughly with
soapy water. LP is nothing to mess around with.
Jim
On Oct 10, 2004, at 2:37 PM, Parker Beeson wrote:
> Starting to get really cold again in Montana and I was thinking about
> winter heating. Seems the archives are full of intricate conversions of
> externally vented propane solutions with 5,000+BTU, but for me that
> would be overkill and too expensive at this point I think.
>
> Was wondering if anyone has bought one of those little Coleman
> Catalytic Heaters that are designed for in tent use (which I assume
> means they are fairly safe with even minimal ventilation) and hooked it
> up to the existing LP tank? I already have a t-joint inline on the
> stove pipe feed from a previous propane heater that was in the van when
> I bought it. I removed that heater though as it was oooold and deadly
> according to the PO... so kinda useless really. I sleep in the van with
> a warm 0 degree sleeping bag so am thinking a little 1,000-3,000BTU
> unit would be fine to just keep the ambient temperature above freezing
> so my water lines won't freeze up so much. I'd be fine with internal
> temps of 35-40 degrees. With the top down, skylight closed and one side
> window cracked I think that would be enough maybe? My main curiosity is
> would copper piping be required for the line or is the LP tank pressure
> low enough to just use a reinforced flexible tubing?
>
> If no one has done this I'd love to know why and if yes I'd love your
> thoughts. If I do it I'll post a "how-to" link with photos etc.
>
> http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanCom/subcategory.asp?
> CategoryID=3000&SourcePage=category_main.asp
>
> Thanks,
> Parker
> '89 Westy
>
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