Date:         Mon, 02 Dec 1996 22:28:15 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Forhan <tforhan@pipeline.com>
Subject:      Propex Installation, Day Three :-(

What, you are still reading these! Don't you know how to set up a=20
kill file? :-)

Actually, this is days three, four and five,  'cause of other obligations
and one little problem... probably another two hours work to finish, if I
had been luckier.=20

A good night's sleep can clear your mind. The next morning, I went out and
took another look at the pile of fittings I had used to connect the furnace
1/4" feed to the fridge's 3/8" line. You may recall I had the 1/4 line
coming doing a 90 up from behind the fridge along the outer wall, then a 1/4
elbow, then a short length of 1/4 feeding to the 1/4-3/8 reducer, then a
short length of 3/8 going into the 3/8 tee.

Rest gave me the fresh insight that I could simply put the reducer directly
onto the 1/4 line as it ran up the wall, and use3/8 bent into a gentle 90 to
feed directly into the tee. This scheme eliminates two flares and one
fitting, and is much cleaner. So I tore the old thing apart, and made the=
 new.

Then it was time to test for gas leaks  using a little soap
and water. I had two small leaks, one at the furnace that responded to
tightening, and one at the lower end of the 3/8 tee that did not repond to
anything: tightening, reflaring, filing off the old flare, replaceing the
flare nut, and reflaring, etc. I was getting pretty discusted, and noticed
that the $13 flaring tool did not produce anything like the nice big flares
done by the factory. So I busied myself with other chores: replacing cabinet
doors, clamping wires and gas lines, screwing down the furnace, installing
the inline fuse, etc, and would go back to work on the flare when my mood
improved...only to have the flare still leak, and my mood worsen=
 considerably.

To get things back in order under the seat, once I had=20
tested all the gas line fittings under there, I screwed=20
the Propex into place, and then retested the fittings
just in case. I then reinstalled the "brain", and then
the rear heater unit.=20

(We all understand the difference between the heater  and
the furnace, right? For wasserboxers, the heater is the thing
that is already there, the furnace the thing you are installing.)

Now, back on day one I actually removed this unit, disconnecting the hoses
and wiring; in retropect you can get away without doing that, though you
might want to remove  the two screws that attach the unit to the floor,
sitting on two small wood pads. Then you can pull the unit back out of your=
 way.

Anyway, I reinstalled mine. Next in was th=E9 heater's cover,
which fits tighly against the bottom and the front panel of=20
the compartment. Since I now had cabling and the gas line
running accros the front, I cut two 45 degree notches, one on
the lower forward portion of each of the two sides of
the box, trying to make them look identical to the notches
you have already seen up against the left wall of the van
where the main cabinetry meets the floor. Four screws, two in the floor and
two in the kickpanel hold the cover down.

Now I was ready to install the furnace hot air outlet hose
and cut the two holes for the outlet and the cold air return.
But I discovered that there was very little room for the flexible tubing. I
could not get it on! To gain clearance, I removed the heater cover and was
able to slip it on, but you can seea little design flaw in the Propex outlet
tube, it tapers down a tad, making it difficult to get a clamp to stay on!
I'd get the tube in place and try to bend it out of the way to get the
heater cover on, and it would slip off. Finally, I used silicon sealant and
a clamp to get it on more permanently, and went and fiddle with my flare
while it set up. Once dry, I was able to  bend the outlet tubing back enough
to reattach the heater cover.

>From here, the only logical place to go was up a bit,
and so I installed the outlet vent toward the center of the van,
relatively high up on the kick panel. I gave quite a bit of
thought to no  even installing the cold air return, the heater
seems to find enough air to pump out, after all, and if it=20
is not in use its vent could also supply cold air to the heater.
After all that thought, I decided to install the other vent
anyway, hey, maybe it will improve the heater output as well!
I placed it at the far right side of the kick panel, up near
the top, level with the outlet. They look great.

With the inline fuse inplace, I had power and I started it
up on the "fan only" setting. It was good to go, very
quiet, about as loud as the rear heater on its lowest setting,
though the furnace pitch was a little higher. then I crawled
underneath and rigged the combustion inlet and exhaust tubing
per instructions, they include some nice clamps.

So, I am all set but still have a gas leak. I think the
problem is the flaring tool, but who knows. I'm just
giving myself some time for  a little perspective,
I'll probably price out a more professional tool against
the cost of an hour of professional time. In a past life
I put together 3000PSI compressed air manifolds with
stainless steel tubing and flare fittings, so maybe its hard for me to let
this one go. Maybe Friday I'll drive over the
the RV place.

PS.

Today Rocky Mountain Motorwerks delivered, for my new steel=20
brakeline project on my '64, a tube bending tool that looks
great, and I think it cost $6 or so. It fits up to 1/4=20
tubing, and can do short radius turns. Man, I wish I had
this before I did the furnace. It looks like something you
could get at a good FLAPS, RMMW has it on page 115 of
the current catalog, calls it a  brake line bending tool.
Get one, if you can.

Thats all for now,

Tom F.