Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:50:14 EST
Reply-To: ThingGuy@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Steve Lashley <ThingGuy@AOL.COM>
Subject: Installing my Carver P4 heater (long, part 1)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
I've only had this heater for about 5 months, and as the weather continues to
get colder, I suddenly find myself with the energy and motivation to finish
the installation.
For my installation, I used information from several list members who have
installed either the Carver P4, or it's predecessor, the Propex. If you are
interested in a P4 heater, P-mail me for details, or visit my web pages below.
I now have these in stock.
It took me a while to decide where to mount it. I knew it would go under my
rear seat in my '74, Campmobile, but exactly where it would sit under there
was the problem.
I decided that I wanted as straight a route as possible for the blower tubing,
and I wanted the blower fitting at the bottom dead center on my kick panel.
With this in mind, I had 2 choices, mount the unit to the left, or right of
center.
I decided to mount it to the right, which is the driver's side of the bus when
looking down at the storage area under my rear seat. So I took some
measurements from above and below, and as I wanted to mount it as far to the
right as possible to give me more storage space, I still had to account for
the frame rail underneath and the routing of the intake and exhaust hoses. I
ended up mounting the unit so the intake hose is directly above the frame
rail, and the exhaust hose was just to the left, and clear of the rail. There
was just enough clearance above the frame rail to pull the intake hose through
and turn it sharply to feed it over to the side of my bus.
I borrowed a hole saw kit from our shop at work. It comes with at least a
dozen different sized hole saws. Using the provided paper template, I
selected 3 different blades. 2 of these matched exactly the exhaust and
intake, and the 3rd was about a half inch larger than the exhaust.
The first thing I did was to staple the template in place to the bottom and
side of the storage compartment. I then drilled a couple of pilot holes and
carefully checked underneath to make sure I was exactly where I wanted to be,
and clear of any obstructions. Once I was sure of the correct location, I
moved on to the hole saws.
I used the largest hole saw blade I selected to cut away the plywood for the
exhaust hole. I selected a bit that was oversized about 1/2 inch around, and
cut down until the plywood came free. Here I did run into a little problem,
as there was a metal boss under the plywood that was used to attach the
storage bottom to the bottom of the van. I had removed a bolt and washer that
was just to the left a little, but I didn't think about there being something
welded below. My plan was to line the inside of the plywood cutout with sheet
aluminum held in place with hi-temp RTV. The metal boss would require me to
cut around it with the sheet metal, so I decided to go ahead and cut through
the boss with the saw blade. This worked out well later, as there was a nice
slot in the metal boss to help hold the aluminum sheet metal in place while
the RTV dried.
Next, I used the smaller hole saw to cut through the metal floor of my bus. I
used a large drill with a 1/2" shank and took my time. Cutting through the
floor was not difficult, but if the drill binds, it can really knock you
around. I braced the drill handle with my leg and cut in short busts.
Once I had all my holes cut, and the mounting brackets for the P4 in place
(pilot holes only for the top brackets), I cleaned up the metal above and
below the holes, and used some rust fighting primer, and paint on the opening.
I then cut some strips of 1 1/4" aluminum sheet metal and dry fitted them to
line the holes. I buttered the inside of the holes with the RTV, and then
again the outside of the sheet aluminum, and then placed the strips inside the
openings up against the plywood. The RTV held them in place and I didn't need
any screws or nails. Since the floor of the bus is corrugated, I filled the
gaps at the bottom of the openings with more RTV. Crawling under the bus, I
used more RTV to smooth out the openings and cover up all gaps.
Moving on to the kick panel under my seat, I cut a hole dead center at the
bottom to mount the air blower connector, and another under my speaker at the
far left, for the air return. I then installed the screw-on fittings in place
and cut the hoses to length.
Once the RTV had dried, I put the hoses on the P4 and fed them through the
openings. I had to crawl under the bus a few times to get the intake hose to
go around the frame rail. I took my time here as I didn't want to put a hole
through the stainless steel flex tubing.
Once the tubing was all in place, I pushed the P4 down on the lower brackets
and then installed the upper brackets to secure it in place. I then connected
the blower and return fittings. The blower connection was a tight 90 degree
turn as the P4 is installed just to the left of center. It took a couple of
minutes to get the hose to bend, but it worked out fine.
Sorry this has been so long, but I'm hoping it will help those contemplating
this installation.
Next, Propane tank refurbish, underbody clean up, and hopefully gas line
installation.
Steve Lashley
SKL Enterprises
Importing German Side Tents, Carver P4 Heaters and accessories for Volkswagen
Eurovan, Vanagon and Bus.
http://members.aol.com/tentinfo
