Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 09:52:02 -0800 (PST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Steven Johnson" <sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com>
Subject: Re: Propex: Starting the Installation
So Tom Forhan says:
>
> The instructions show, as a sample installation, the air inlet directly
> above the outlet. Since warm air rises, it would seem this would cause
> the heated air to get drawn back into the furnace. I'd rather see the
> inlet as far down toward the floor as possible, and the outlet above it.
> Another option would be to put the outlet near the center of the van,
> and have the inlet off to the right side, near the door. You only run
> hose from the furnace to the outlet, the inlet simply allows airflow
> into the area under the seat.
I mounted the thermostat on the closet just below the level of the speaker
on the adjacent panel.
I drilled the air inlet on the bench kick panel to where if you look on
the inside, it's just above the computer box. I didn't route a hose to
it as shown in the Propex diagram. Since I wanted the heat outlet as
short as possible (heat transfers poorly), I put the hole in the kick
panel just between the aux. heater box cover and the Propex heater.
This gave the shortest possible hose run to the heater outlet itself.
>
> >From the instructions, here is what you should either dig up in the
> basement, borrow from your unca', or go shopping for:
>
> Power drill and your usual drill bits
>
> Usual screw drivers
>
> 1" hole saw, or 1" bit. For cutting through the floorpan
> for the combustion inlet and exhaust; it needs to be able to
> cut metal.
Uhhh... This should be a 1.5" hole saw.
>
> 2" hole saw - for wood. This one is my suggestion for Westies, and not
> mentioned in the instructions. Propex shows the exhaust passing
> through a metal floor, but in my Westie it will have to pass through
> the wood floor of the underseat compartment before going through
> the metal floorpan. I examined the exhaust pipe, and it is not double
> walled. So to insulate the wall of the exhaust pipe from the wood,
> I want to open up the wood portion of the hole through the floor
> so that it never touches the exhaust pipe. I'd like to hear opinions on
> this...
I just used the 1.5". I don't think the exhaust will get hot enough to cause
problems with the wood. I went to about 10 places to find the 1.5" metal
hole saw.
> 3 3/4" hole saw: for cutting out the air inlet and outlet holes in the
> wood/laminate front face of the rear seat. I suppose you could do this
> with that wobbly, jumpy hand-held jigsaw, but I'll just use my hole saw.
> Call around, I found this item at a wholesale plumbing supply store, my
> fourth stop in the quest.
I found mine at a power tool outlet place. Be sure that the hole saws come
with a center tap for a guide. Forget using a jigsaw.
> 1/4 copper tubing. I got ten feet, probably twice as much as I need, but
> it allows for one major error.
Get a 20 foot one for when you do f**k up.
> Tubing cutting tool. The ones I like have cutting blades on both sides,
> and are called "minimum clearance" or something like that. They are
> designed for work in small, cramped spaces, like VW buses.
>
> Silicon sealant. This is used for sealing the holes in the floor pan.
The heater should have come with this???? Mine did. Maybe I ordered
it, but I don't remember doing so.
> (4) hook up the power to the aux battery system you installed last
> weekend ;-).
You should run, at least, a couple extra wires behind the fridge so
that if you need more for other uses, then you don't have to pull the
fridge again.
Good Luck!
Steven