Date:         Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:01:53 -0400
Reply-To:     Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Subject:      Re: Extend-A-Stay Propane Kit
In-Reply-To:  <20080413143815.3FC5C1E82C1@tc2.main.nc.us>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Seeing your pics, it is installed correctly.  When you have the hose
connected and you open the valve on the westy tank, does propane come
out of the hose?  Not sure what kind of check valves are
involved.  The whoosh of propane you are experiencing may be quite
normal.  When you are dealing with tank pressure, quite a bit can be
stored in small areas of tubing or pipe.  I have a gadget to refill
the 1 pound tanks from the bbq tank, and when I take that off, I get
quite a discharge of propane gas that is stored in the adapter
pipe.  Hoses also expand and can store pressure.  I also use a "weed
burner" attached to a bbq tank.  it has a 8' (or so) hose on
it.  When I'm done, I turn off the valve on the tank and it will burn
for a while as the pressure bleeds out of the hose.  You can feel the
hose expand when you turn the pressure on.  That hose is 300psi rated.

I would like to achieve some of what the extend a stay can do.  I
just want to connect the portable tank to the Westy tank when it runs
out.  I'm concentrating on doing this on the fill valve of the tank
rather than the outlet side.  No solution yet, but I'm not working on
it very hard either...

Edward

At 10:38 AM 4/13/2008, Edward Maglott wrote:
>The extend a stay adapter needs to go *before* the
>regulator.  Between the tank and the regulator would be another way
>to say it.  Otherwise you will be getting tank pressure to the stove
>and fridge, which they are not rated for.  the regulator reduces the
>pressure to about 1 psi.  Tank pressure varies with temperatures and
>it generally about 200 psi, iirc.  This would be a dangerous mistake!
>
>Edward
>
>At 10:08 AM 4/13/2008, Mike wrote:
>>  The new adapter is a 't'-fitting also?  I was referring to the actual
>>camper's regulator brass t-fitting.  It's on the output side of the
>>regulator, making one feed input able to connect to 2 lines on it's output
>>side.  Your new adapter needs to go in between your brass tee and your
>>regulator output to it, not from one of you brass tee outputs to one of your
>>lines, as you've described.  If you remove the whole tank assy and the
>>regulator plastic stone cover, you'll be able to clearly see all of this.
>>
>>Mike B.
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "J Stewart" <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
>>To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>>Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 9:54 AM
>>Subject: Re: Extend-A-Stay Propane Kit
>>
>>
>>>It sounds like you installed it after the 't'-fitting.  It would have to
>>>be installed between the regulator and the 't'-fitting to be able to use
>>>both appliances at the same time.
>>>
>>>
>>>Maybe I shouldn't have called it a "T" fitting. The fitting in the kit has
>>>two connections on it-one for the short hose that connects to the 1lb
>>>bottle and another one for the longer hose which is for connecting to a
>>>BBQ grill. The only logical place I could see to install this is between
>>>the on/off valve and the regulator. It's tight in there, unlike say on a
>>>travel trailer or large RV which is what this thing is intended for, I
>>>believe. I've had requests for pics, so later on today I'll post pics of
>>>the install.     Jeff