Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:53:01 EDT
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: LP tank refurb? Was: LP tank service near San Francisco?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 21/06/2006 1:59:57 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
that metal is 1/4 thick. it wont ever rust thru. your van's sheetmetal
body will rust out before you get a rust hole in your LP tank. and in cali,
that's highly unlikely.
im a east coaster and every LP tank ive ever seen has the ID plate
spotwelds coming off. big deal. cut the ID plate off if it bothers you or
flatten
it back down and epoxy the edges (to mimick welds) and wire brush your tank
and paint it with rustoleum and all will be fine.
Ok, Ok, this is one of those times I just have to jump in here ! The tanks
are indeed 1/4 inch thick BUT they will rust through and I have seen ones
here that I was able to stick my hand inside the tank through the rusted out
hole where that stupid data tag plate is/was ! First thing you all should do is
RIGHT NOW go out under you Van and remove that stupid plate. It does
nothing but harbor moisture, road dirt etc that is concentrating the rusting dead
center of that plate. Now I know some of you will see that you plate has been
welded on with a continuous weld around the perimeter of the plate. This is
a good thing. It is the newer style tank from Mr. Manchester after they
discovered the error of their ways with the previous screw up of welding the
data tag on with four spot welds in the corners. NOW, you have your data tag
removed. Check to see if you have any white frost (propane hitting the
atmosphere) seeping out under all that rust you found. If so your tank is rusted
through and leaking. If it's not leaking then you have a couple of options.
If your tight on dollars then just keep it coated with some kind of oil based
rust preventive until you can get around to having the tank refurbished,
otherwise remove the tank and refurbish it now ! If your tank is leaking then
you can either find someone to repair it if your lucky or buy a new one. I
have been refurbishing these tanks for a number of years with great success. I
have a local welder who can repair the rusted out tanks. He charges me
$100. I have the tanks sandblasted then I coat them with POR-15, Rustoleum or
any other spray bomb rust paint is useless unless you live in LaLa land.
Remember where that tanks lives, probably the harshed environment possible. Now
your newly coated tank is then better than new ! Even the new ones I get here
I strongly recommend to all my customers to spend the extra bucks to have
them stripped and POR-15 before installation to secure their investment and
future life of that tank. Nuff said PLUS I'm sure I wrote on this subject
before - CHECK THE ARCHIVES !
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
- Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 08 ~ 11, 2006
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