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Date:         Sat, 9 Aug 2008 21:56:40 -0400
Reply-To:     craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: From rags to westy in a week.
Comments: To: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <ccd73a10808081857s3400d455m1b85220f0bfd681e@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Well today's progress was just astronomical. I started the day with a gutted van (But holes in the floor, and a few brackets welded in place. I ended the day with a fridge working on propane, EVERYTHING installed, and hardwood floors laid down. I even had time to do a little cleaning....

Well by "Everything" installed, i mean everything is in place....but not necessarily working. I have yet to hook up all the wiring, as it's non stock and scary.... The plumbing is....dismal but necessary, a new pump will need to be procured, and since no power is going to anything, the Westfalia indicator panel is useless, and the fan won't engage upon the back of the fridge (So i can expect even better cooling once it's all hooked up!). I did solder in a 80mm computer fan to help the dismal fan supplied by the factory, and hope to add a tiny fan inside the fridge at some point.

A jigsaw made the crazy shaped hole in the side a synch. I have a nice one, and i got some nice new blades and couldn't have been happier. It was just so easy, and really shouldn't be that scary to anyone thinking of doing the deed, as you can mess up quite a bit without anyone seeing it.

I"m heading out camping in my born again vanagon tommorow, for a good shake down. I still need to seal up a few holes....i'm thinking of using some type of exanding foam to fill in the hole around the sink drain. The propane and water tank drain are fine, but the sink drain "protective plate" and gasket were useless on my donor van. Does anyone see a problem with such an expanding foam?

I also need to produce a black door panel to go behind the kitchen. I installed the whole thing without a panel there as i cannot bear to cut into that panel which is in good shape, on my rare black interior..... So a trip to the hardware store for some plywood and black paint should make something nice. At that time i'll fill in that area with foam sheet insulation.

Someone had suggested instead of welding in brackets to the floor, just to drill strait through and stick a nut upon the other side. I had the 3 seat brackets welded in, but the only other neccessary bracket for the kitchen unit, i headed this advice and drilled another big hole. It worked smashingly and saved a ton of time.

The project is not yet "OVER", but i have a westy!

-Craig '85Westy 1980 Rust

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 9:57 PM, Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@gmail.com>wrote:

> dear craig > ok my bad ... i had not thought it all the way through in regard to the > multi purpose vent exhaust > requiring natural flow to work efficiently ... > > -- good thing we have this list to correct the sillies form doing stuff > that > would be uncool or unsafe > thanks > yours > > > > On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Bill Glenn <idahobill@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Fri, 8 Aug 2008 07:42:16 -0700, Roger Whittaker < > rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM> > > wrote: > > > > >the flu for the fridge simply needs to be pointed away from the van > > >so sown and to the side rather than up to the side ... > > >and no holes in the side of the van > > > > I would have to disagree. Except when manually operating the air pump to > > light the refrigerator in propane mode, the fridge is not power vented, > but > > relies on natural convection. The heat produced by any of the three > modes > > of operation results in hot air flowing upward through the exhaust tube > and > > exiting through the side of the van to the outside air. Since the intake > > and exhaust are open only on the ends where they penetrate the wall of > the > > van, and are otherwise sealed, this same convection in the exhaust is > > responsible for drawing in fresh air through the intake. Convection will > > not occur in an exhaust tube directed downward, with the result that the > > fridge would likely not work in any of the three modes, but particularly > in > > propane mode, where, without convection in the exhaust, there would be no > > fresh air arriving through the intake for combustion to take place. > > > > Bill > > > > > > This flow of air will not occur if the venting is routed downward, and > > without it, the fridge will not work in any mode. Further, this same > > convection in the exhaust also results in fresh air being drawn in for > > combustion when operating on propane. If you think the Dometic is hard > to > > light now Interfere with this design and risk the fridge not working > > > > > > -- > roger w > There are two kinds of jobs in the world: > Picking up garbage and telling people things. > Successful people do both, with the same good attitude. (riw) > ----------------------------------------------------------- > View the growing list of video work at: > http://revver.com/find/video/?query=LastonLastof&search_on=owners > and ... older work at > http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7135104650374818257 > http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3259745150182742364 >


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