Date:         Fri, 29 Nov 1996 21:21:25 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Forhan <tforhan@pipeline.com>
Subject:      Propex Installation, Day Three

Yet another tedious, detailed description of trival accomplishments:

Today,  I spent about three hours on the project today, got all the 
wiring done, with the exception of the inline fuse, see below, the
thermostat installed, and just about finished up the gas line installation. 

Lets start with the gas. I'm pretty much finished (I hope) under the seat.
Now that one end of the line is fixed, I worked in the rear compartment
to "push" the line back under the 110 stuff, up against the rear partition,
and into a nice gradual 90 degree bend, to that when I reinstall the partial
partition here -the one that hides the 110 stuff, my gas line will arc nicely
into the notch at the back of that partition before starting the run behind
the fridge. Don't kink it! Be gentle, pulling slack from the front, loose 
end of the line as you need it. don't reinstall the cable clamps or 
partitions yet, until the leak testing is done. 

At this point, I had to deal with putting the tee into the existing line, 
and it had to be in a space with room for the tee, the 3/8-1/4 reducer,
as will as the flare nut for the 1/4 inch line. After much measuring of
parts and the existing lines, coffee drinking and mumbling, I decided to
put the tee into the vertical run to the fridge, against the back partition
of the front compartment (are we having fun yet?). 

The 1/4 inch line will come in from the partition with the fridge,
do a 90 to go up along the side of the bus, then another 90 to go
along the side of the partition, and into the tee I'll insert in
the fridge supply line.  

Remove the two clamps that keep the fridge supply line attached to 
the partition. Bend the 3/8 line away from the partition so you 
can get the tube cutter in there. Remembering that I  took a shelf
out of here, I want the whole assemblage to be below the level of 
the shelf, so you want it to ge low, but you also have to have
room to accomodate two 90 degree bends in the 1/4'line. 

You want to cut the line where the bottom of the tee will connect
with it.  Measure twice, cut once. Put the top end, the part that 
connected to the fridge, aside.  Drop a 3/8 flare nut onto the 
remainder of the line, and make a flare where you just cut. Now you
need to trim the other piece to accomodate the length of the tee,
put on another flare nut, and flare it.


 Next I used that short section of 3/8 I bought the other day to 
make up a connection between the tee and the 3/8-1/4 reducer. 
For clearance, this needs to be as short as possible. Take a 
6"section, flare it, put on a flare nut for that flare, then put
 on a flare nut facing the other direction. Put this 
assemblage into your flaring jig for a moment, to see how much 
additional tubing you need to make the flare. Mark it, remove it 
from the jig, cut it, then put it back in the jig and flare it. 

Now you can assemble the whole thing, the tee and reducer, install
it on the 3/8 stub line, and add the new, shortened feed to the 
fridge. 

All that remains is making the two 90s in the 1/4, and connecting them
up. But I didn't get to that, I was tired and needed a change of pace.

So I started on the wiring. I got a  cheap, thin coathanger, and used
it to fish through the power line, following the other lines into the
hole at the back of the front compartment. I pulled it behind the fridge
area, then fished it into to the water tank area, below the access
panel but on top of the tank, using the existing holes for the water lines.

While I was at it, I fished two additional 10'lengths of 10 gauge wire
along the same lines. I'll keep them coiled up in the hidden compartment
till I need 'em.

Then I connected the controller cable to the furnace, and fished it 
through the same hole as the gas line, running to the back of that 
compartment, where I used the coathanger again, to wend its way up
and then back to the water tank. (Note, this controller cable
is none to long if you want to install the thermostat on the 
wall of the closet. Beware) 

Next, I needed  to cut an access hole between the void space above 
the water tank and below the horizontal partition that had the access 
plate. Of course, there no room for a drill in that space, so you have
to cut the hole from the closet toward the water tank. What fun!

I spent a good amount of time fretting about this, looking, measuring, 
probing, tc. Here is how I  finally made a worry-free cut: There are two 
bolts through the panel, I used them for reference marks. From the water 
tank side, measure from the center of the bolt down to the horizontal
partition, and add the thickness of the partition, plus 1/2 the diameter
of your drill (5/16", in my case). Measure the same distance down from 
the bolt on the inside of the closet, use a small square to move the mark
over toward the inside corner of the closet. Check it again, see if it makes
sense, and drill. At this point, there are two cabinets faces butting up 
against each other, so don't be surprised when your drill does not go 
through the wood as soon as you expected. 

Once the hole was in, I used the trusty coathook from the closet side
to fish the power wire and the controller cable from the water tank access
hatch into the closet. 

I decided to place the thermostat about half way between the ceiling and
the upright seat back, on the long face of the closet, just an inch and 
a half back from the front face. I was afraid that placing it at the 
height of, say, the speakers, there might be too much dead air. 

I drilled another 5/8 hole for the wires, and then mounted the thermostat.
Before running the wires up there, I stripped them and put on the crimp on
connectors included in the kit. Then I hooked it all up.

What I did not hook up was the inline fuse they included in the
package. The fitting was supposed to mount on something, but I
could not find the something. No screw holes, etc. I decided
to buy one of the inline fuse kits they sell at the FLAPS. I'll
put it in tommorrow, near the battery.

And that, friends, is enough for today, except todays shopping list:
 
5 amp inline fuse
clamps for the gas line and wiring