Date:         Wed, 31 Aug 94 11:43:32 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         DerekDrew@aol.com
Subject:      Catalytic Heater

>Am definitely interested. Want to hear some further details as to the
>venting issues (was about to have an Olympian installed).

An unvented Olympian spews moisture into the air in your camper. If you camp
overnight at 0 degrees as I do, when you wake up the entire inside of your
car is coated with ice, which you have to scrape off or let melt, whereupon
the moisture begins rusting the inside of your vehicle. Also, as catalytic
heaters age, the give out increased amount of carbon monoxide and other
combustion byproducts. Furthermore, unvented catalytic heaters force you to
keep a window cracked (1 sq. inch per 1,000 btu), reducing their efficiency.
For these reasons, the vented catalytic heater seems like a smarter purchase.


If you *were* to buy an Olympain, be sure not to get the top of the line
model, which won't work over 5,000 feet of altitude because it has an
automatic shut off. Get the middle of the line model (there are three lines).

>Also, I have some general questions about cold weather camping. We are very 
>interested in being able to take our Westy on ski excursions where temps as
>low as 0-f may be encountered. Do we need to gut our rig and insulate to
>stay comfortable - even with a catalytic heater? If so, what is the best
>insulation? There's this stuff that I've seen at the hardware stores that
>is essentially aluminum foil coated bubble wrap. It seems like this would
>be easy to install just about everywhere (other than for the dismantling
>tasks). Anybody think this is the wrong way to go?

I have found that insulation tends to trap moisture against the sheet metal
inside the vehicle. When I took the fridge out once, I found that the
insulation along the lower edge of the drivers side of the vehicle was
soaking wet and significant rusting was in process. I therefore pulled out
all insulation from that side of the vehicle for a distance of 3" off the
floor. I am suspicious of insulation that may hold and trap moisture against
the sides of the vehicle. Besides, your vehicle already has factory
insulation.

>And Derek, what was involved in getting a second propane tank installed?

>Paul

All RV shops carry new Manchester 10 lb tanks or you could call
Campbell/Nelson VW probably or wrecking yard to find a used, wrecked camper.
The mounting holes for the second tank are already on the car so you just
bolt the 2nd tank in place under the sliding door and connect it up using
Marshall Brass components. 

A 2nd propane tank is the only reasonable way of handling the problem that
there is no way to accurately asess how much propane is in your original
factory tank. I am sure that 98% of the campers on this list either are
periodically big frustrated when they run out of propane or that they are
regularly refilling their tanks when the tanks are still 70% full.

derekdrew@aol.com