| Author |
Message |
Phil Pellowski (Viater) (67.234.28.153)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 9:07 pm: | |
Hay guys, Whomever converted my bus put the propane tank in the most rearward bay along with the water tanks. The problem is, I would like to put a heater back there to keep my water from freezing during the winter. Before I do that I really would like to re-locate my Propane tank. I thought about putting them up in the first bay behind the front wheels where the heater core is today. I don't see much need to keep that giant heater up there. I think a smaller one will do nicely. How does this idea sound so far? Is there any "Gotcha's" I need to watch out for when tearing out the old heater and preparing the bay for propane? I plan to go with a 3 portable tank set-up so I can just schlep the empty tank to town during extended stay's. Any and all criticism is welcome. Thanks
Phil
PD4106-1726 |
John G Root Jr (Johnroot) (140.186.114.253)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 9:38 pm: | |
I have the same question. I am at the point of reading DaBook to find out how the heater ventilater is put together so I don't make a mess when I take it out. I put this job off because I didn't readily come up with a clear picture of where to tie off the water lines. So far I have the filter pulled out and lots of questions. How big a hole can I put in the floor without weakening the structure too much? I recall the code requirement from previous posts, but a bigger hole seems better.
John
PD4106-1638 |
RJ Long (Rjlong) (24.127.8.58)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 9:49 pm: | |
Phil -
Am kind of curious why you think having a heater in the baggage bay where the tanks are is a problem for the propane. . . You're not going to be heating this area that much, certainly not enough to cause the pressure in the propane bottle to become excessive. . .
Anyway, what's in the old A/C condenser compartment, the genset? If it's not, that's a good place for the propane bottles, lots of ventilation.
Another location is in the small baggage compartment directly behind the LF wheel, but you'll have to cut out holes in the floor to allow venting.
As I see it, putting the propane bottles in the old heater core area creates access problems. Do you really want to be crawling in and out of the baggage bin lugging empty/full bottles?
I've seen several 4106s with the propane in the old a/c condenser compartment. Usually it's two 10 gallon units (twice the size of the bbq ones) with a valve to switch between tanks. Nearly every one who has this set-up says it works really well, with plenty of capacity, and the tanks are not so bulky that they can't be loaded in the toad for refilling. . .
M2CW,
RJ
PD4106-2784
Fresno CA |
Jerry (64.12.104.24)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 19, 2002 - 12:10 am: | |
Howdy Phil
I have a 4106 also - I put my propane in the right front compartment just behind the axel. The original heater core was already disconnected. I removed this heater core and emptied the bay out completely side to side. It was lots of fun? -- took some time to rip out all the stuff. I replaced the wooden floor on the right side with about 1/8 - 3/16" thick diamond plate steel (just happened to have some around) and used the same to put a verticle wall. I put many about 1 -- 1-1/4" holes in the diamond plate floor and in the bulkhead at the top of the fuel tank compartment to allow for plenty of ventilation (I calculated I've the required sq" per pound of propane required by the code - I'd have to look it up again to tell you what that was). I also put a metal ceiling in the compartment and made sure the assembly was completely air tight to the inside of the vehicle and the other baggage compartments. I'll have room for 2 30# bottles (and since I'll only cook and refigerate I don't need to carry much -- I heat with a hydronic diesel fired system). Eventually I reconnected the plumbing to bring heat to a new heater core in the dash. My old class A RV had its permanent propane on the right side also -- this seemed to be the most convient for most every place I filled up at but don't know if this any standard.
Jerry - PD4106-1750
St Louis, Missouri |
Jerry (64.12.104.43)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 19, 2002 - 1:13 am: | |
Phil –
Some other information to my above post – I chose that compartment for my propane to keep it as far away as possible (and at least met the required distance) from potential sources of ignition – water pumps, relays, heater exhaust, inverters etc., that are or will be in my other baggage compartments. Also, I didn’t want to put holes in those larger compartment floors for the ventilation. Don’t know how “structural” these floors are to the rest of the bus but certainly more than the plywood floor that was in the original right side heating compartment -- plus I want to be able to heat these larger bays for winter travel. Eventually I’ll have a generator so I’m saving the left side condenser compartment for that. Don’t know yet if road dirt will be any problem since my propane compartment is the first compartment behind the right front wheel but I did install a new mud flap underneath the floor like was there originally. I did remove most of the vertical wall on this bay’s left side so I have access to the entire compartment up to the vertical wall of the propane compartment for storage and access to the center runs of pipes and wires and to run future ones.
Hope this is of some help - Jerry |
JimStacy (12.87.109.234)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 19, 2002 - 10:28 pm: | |
I acquired a 58 gallon fixed propane tank with my old coach. I mounted this in the old heater/blower compartment. My friendly propane dealer installed a remote fill and spit valve for about $50. Since I don't use propane for a gen set, I can boon dock for weeks without handling bottles at all. I top up the propane at truck stops as necessary. Saves a lot of messing around with small capacity bottles. I do have a connection and hose so I can hook up to a bottle in an emergency, but have never used it.
Used fixed tanks are available very cheaply in most areas. Many fleets went to propane and back to pump fuel in the last decade. My propane dealer has a bunch that came out of school busses. Just another way.
Jim Stacy |
Phil Pellowski (Viater) (192.11.223.120)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 22, 2002 - 5:52 pm: | |
RJ - My problem with having the propane in the same compartment with my water is, I would like to keep the propane compartment well ventelated and the ventelation holes make it hard to keep the space heated enough in the winter to prevent freezing. Plus, if there's even a small leak in my propane system I don't want my heater to ignite it.
I'm not sure where the old A/C condensor compartment is? If it's on the driver's side behind the front wheel I have my house batteries there with the genset behind it (across from the fuel tank).
Jerry - You've done what I'm thinking about doing. I need to: clean out my old heater core, re-route the lines to a new smaller core under the dash, take out the plywood floor and replace it with expanded metel, There's also a giant filter looking thing in the compartment that might have to be moved along with an electric pump which I think is to increase the pressure to pump the coolant through the heater core. I think I'll re-locate it closer to the new heater core location. I plan to put my tanks on a slide with hard tie-downs. I figure I can fit 3 tanks in there with two of them connected with an automatic switch. The 3rd will just be stored. This will let me switch them around to fill up the empty one when I take the toad into town.
At least that's the general idea. Ideally I'd like to get away from propane altogather but at the expense of a diesel fired heater, hot water heater, stove/oven, and genset it will probably be a while before I make the complete move.
Thanks for the info!
Phil
PD4106-1726 |