dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Okay...
So my truck has a 5 gallon horizontal propane tank mounted under the floor on the right side below the sliding side door. The truck is a 1976, but I think the RV conversion was done in 1978 or so (professional conversion).
Anyway, the tank has an early model OPD fill valve called an "Auto Stop":
Unlike a normal (modern) OPD with a float to halt the flow, this stupid thing apparently just blows off whenever it thinks the tank is overfilled. And once it blows, it continues to blow until the tank is empty, at which time you can push a reset button (under the red rubber cap in the pic) on the side (but the reset button has a shaft which goes through the body of the valve and it cannot be pushed unless the bleeder on the side of the valve is all the way open).
It also seems that this valve is a known problem, in that it will go bad - eventually, after filling, it will leak propane back out through the fill port (mine did that a few times), and/or once it blows off from overflow, it'll never work right again (yea...mine did that too).
It seems that this valve was somewhat common on the older Westys with 2.5g tank. Someone on TheSamba sells a "normal" valve/bleeder to replace it:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=426729
But, no OPD.
So a couple weeks ago, I'm getting the tank filled at my favorite propane yard, TransGas Propane in Glendale at the corner of San Fernando and Doran ($2.19/gallon yard price as of yesterday (minimum 5g but no handling charge)):
http://www.transgaspropane.com/
And, of course, the stupid Auto Stop blows off (first time that ever happened). So we let the tank drain (5g wasted that I paid for since it wasn't their fault) and then do the reset and stuff a little propane in the tank to test it and...it's still blowing off.
So John, the manager, says he'll check with Manchester about a replacement and let me know. In the meantime I do some research.
I find out the story on the Auto Stop, and find the replacement valve/bleeder on The Samba and John tells me that he can get a replacement Auto Stop from Manchester...but it won't be cheap. I didn't even bother to ask how much, because...
One thing I found out in my research, is that code *requires* an OPD - but there is an exemption for horizontal tanks made prior to 10/1/1998. Yay!
(last bullet on the page)
http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?...illing prevention devices (OPD)&cookie_test=1
(Even if there was no exemption, I would have junked the Auto Stop anyway, but I would've had to do it myself because TGP would not have done anything that wasn't up to code.)
So yesterday, I took the truck over to TGP and John and their head mechanic Mike removed the Auto Stop and the 90 and hose that leads from the bleeder port to the bleeder on the side of the Auto Stop (the pic above shows a copper line, but mine had a flex hose) and refitted a standard fill valve and bleeder.
John chopped a chunk out of the rock shield to make the bleeder easy to access from underneath (the bleeder port on the tank is down near the bottom). I had to grind out a notch in the rock shield anyway when I removed the old single-stage regulator and fitted a two-stage regulator, so no worries...it's totally hacked...uh...I mean custom now.
New fill valve and bleeder, installed by the pros in under an hour, with hacked...uh, custom...rock shield mod, leak tested and filled with 5g of propane - $100 out the door, tax included.
Nice. Good people over at TGP.
But while I was down there before - replacing the regulator and the flex lines with new right after I bought the truck, I did a little eyeballing and saw that there is room for a larger tank. My existing tank is hung from the floor, and it has spacers to lower it in order to make the valves accessible.
The tank I have is, I'm pretty sure, the "5.5g" tank shown here:
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/lp-gas/rv-propane-tank.htm
Which is 10" X 23", but I've got room for the 11.2g which is 12" x 32".
But I'll be damned if I'll pay 500 bucks for a new one, when I only paid 200 for the truck.
Two years ago I knew I could fit a larger tank, and I've been keeping my eyes open ever since. But I've had a devil of a time finding ANY RV junkyards around the SFV in particular and L.A. in general, so I just sort of let it slide.
But now I really want the bigger tank.
So...anyone got a recommendation for an RV junkyard in the L.A. area that might have a Manchester 11.2g van-style (fittings down low) propane tank?
Looks like this:
So my truck has a 5 gallon horizontal propane tank mounted under the floor on the right side below the sliding side door. The truck is a 1976, but I think the RV conversion was done in 1978 or so (professional conversion).
Anyway, the tank has an early model OPD fill valve called an "Auto Stop":
Unlike a normal (modern) OPD with a float to halt the flow, this stupid thing apparently just blows off whenever it thinks the tank is overfilled. And once it blows, it continues to blow until the tank is empty, at which time you can push a reset button (under the red rubber cap in the pic) on the side (but the reset button has a shaft which goes through the body of the valve and it cannot be pushed unless the bleeder on the side of the valve is all the way open).
It also seems that this valve is a known problem, in that it will go bad - eventually, after filling, it will leak propane back out through the fill port (mine did that a few times), and/or once it blows off from overflow, it'll never work right again (yea...mine did that too).
It seems that this valve was somewhat common on the older Westys with 2.5g tank. Someone on TheSamba sells a "normal" valve/bleeder to replace it:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=426729
But, no OPD.
So a couple weeks ago, I'm getting the tank filled at my favorite propane yard, TransGas Propane in Glendale at the corner of San Fernando and Doran ($2.19/gallon yard price as of yesterday (minimum 5g but no handling charge)):
http://www.transgaspropane.com/
And, of course, the stupid Auto Stop blows off (first time that ever happened). So we let the tank drain (5g wasted that I paid for since it wasn't their fault) and then do the reset and stuff a little propane in the tank to test it and...it's still blowing off.
So John, the manager, says he'll check with Manchester about a replacement and let me know. In the meantime I do some research.
I find out the story on the Auto Stop, and find the replacement valve/bleeder on The Samba and John tells me that he can get a replacement Auto Stop from Manchester...but it won't be cheap. I didn't even bother to ask how much, because...
One thing I found out in my research, is that code *requires* an OPD - but there is an exemption for horizontal tanks made prior to 10/1/1998. Yay!
(last bullet on the page)
http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?...illing prevention devices (OPD)&cookie_test=1
(Even if there was no exemption, I would have junked the Auto Stop anyway, but I would've had to do it myself because TGP would not have done anything that wasn't up to code.)
So yesterday, I took the truck over to TGP and John and their head mechanic Mike removed the Auto Stop and the 90 and hose that leads from the bleeder port to the bleeder on the side of the Auto Stop (the pic above shows a copper line, but mine had a flex hose) and refitted a standard fill valve and bleeder.
John chopped a chunk out of the rock shield to make the bleeder easy to access from underneath (the bleeder port on the tank is down near the bottom). I had to grind out a notch in the rock shield anyway when I removed the old single-stage regulator and fitted a two-stage regulator, so no worries...it's totally hacked...uh...I mean custom now.
New fill valve and bleeder, installed by the pros in under an hour, with hacked...uh, custom...rock shield mod, leak tested and filled with 5g of propane - $100 out the door, tax included.
Nice. Good people over at TGP.
But while I was down there before - replacing the regulator and the flex lines with new right after I bought the truck, I did a little eyeballing and saw that there is room for a larger tank. My existing tank is hung from the floor, and it has spacers to lower it in order to make the valves accessible.
The tank I have is, I'm pretty sure, the "5.5g" tank shown here:
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/lp-gas/rv-propane-tank.htm
Which is 10" X 23", but I've got room for the 11.2g which is 12" x 32".
But I'll be damned if I'll pay 500 bucks for a new one, when I only paid 200 for the truck.
Two years ago I knew I could fit a larger tank, and I've been keeping my eyes open ever since. But I've had a devil of a time finding ANY RV junkyards around the SFV in particular and L.A. in general, so I just sort of let it slide.
But now I really want the bigger tank.
So...anyone got a recommendation for an RV junkyard in the L.A. area that might have a Manchester 11.2g van-style (fittings down low) propane tank?
Looks like this:
