Date:         Thu, 12 Nov 1998 13:01:56 EST
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@IBM.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@IBM.NET>
Subject:      LP tank / Plat Cat
Comments: To: Robyn Rudisill <robyn.rudisill@HOME.COM>, vanagon@VANAGON.COM

** Reply to message from Robyn Rudisill <robyn.rudisill@HOME.COM> on
Thu, 12 Nov 1998 11:34:06 -0600

> What is the capacity of a 1991 Westy LP Tank?  With that auto shut
off
> valve it seems I can only get about a gallon and a half into that
tank
> before the pump quits.  Is that normal?

As far as I know it's the same as the '84 -- 10 lb or 3 gallons.  I
get 2.8 in mine.  In order to get proper fill the van has to be level
in both directions, since the shutoff is triggered by liquid propane
flowing through the bleed tube.  The tube is well aft of the center of
the tank -- when my van was in Scotland (most of its life) the only LP
supplier within 100 miles was a taxi company and their driveway was at
a steep grade -- never got more than a gallon into the tank.

Re someone's question about running time for the Plat Cat -- I did
some numbers awhile ago and found that you could run one stove burner
(5200 BTU/hr) for 48 hours straight on a full tank.  Therefore the
total running time for a 6000+ BTU/hr Plat Cat would be less than 48
hours.  I'd plan on bringing a BBQ tank, myself.
>
> Interestingly enough, the rv/propane guy said that when they get
complaints
> about these valves, their "fix" is to remove them.  His comment was
along
> the lines of, "any moron should be able to see propane coming out
of a
> bleeder valve and know that full is full."

I wish that someone would inform the NFPA -- as of today any LP tank
manufactured btw 4 and 40 lb must have an *internal, float-type*
shutoff *in addition to* the bleed valve.  As of January 2002 it will
be illegal to fill any such tank that does not.  The Westy autoshutoff
valve does *not* qualify.  I'm trying to find out whether ASME tanks
like ours have this requirement, but I fear they do....
>

david

David Beierl <dbeierl@ibm.net>
401 274-5827 voice, -6349 fax
OS/2 V4, FP7, JVM 1.1.6, JSM 98.6.3