Transporting propane

[cwsqbm]

His reasoning was that in many places such as state or provincial or federal or national parks, you would be turned away if you were running a propane tank inside the van that wasn't set up to be filled from outside of the van (i.e., access hole & door to the propane locker from outside). As much as I didn't like the idea of hanging a propane tank on the back of my van, between the exorbitant cost of hanging a tank under the van, and the nasty thought of cutting an access hatch through my van and propane locker, I've pretty much decided for Plan A.

To play devil's advocate, if you've got the propane tank on the inside with no visible outside exits, who's going to know? I've never been given any kind of inspection before entering a park. Worry more about what's safe than what's legal - an inside locker will still need to be vented, so there's going to need to be a hole somewhere (floor?) for the vent hose.

 

[grizzlyj]

One of these allows gas use while driving, popular although I've not tried it yet

http://www.truma.com/int/en/gas-supply/secumotion.php

and this UK company has some good stuff

http://www.gaslow.co.uk/

 

[mudshark]

O.k., here's another idea. In fact, 2.

Idea #1; This idea is based on the assumption that one can buy a rear door hinge spare tire mount for Astros or Safaris. If such a mount is available, you could replace the tire mounting parts with tank mounting parts. Some welding required.

Idea #2; we've all seen sorts of carriers (bicycle, storage box, cargo racks) that replace the removable trailer hitch ball on your trailer hitch. What about a piece of square tubing that goes into the trailer hitch in place of the ball, then turns upward to support a propane tank on a bracket / platform high enough to get it out of the way of bumpers.

Of course these would have to be connected / disconnected at every stop, but that's not such a big deal is it?

What do you think? Does either idea hold any hope?

John B.

 

[bstory]

My husband - who used to be a boatbuilder and has seen a boat blown up by propane accumulating in the bilges (not one of his) - decided to build a propane locker for a 10lb tank in our Sprinter. We couldn't afford $500-1000 for a ready-made propane locker either. His is plywood sealed with epoxy, gasketed, and with robust pull-down hinges on the door for a good tight fit. It has a vent hole cut through the bottom of the locker and the floor of the van. Been fine for a couple of years with lots of national and state park camping. The only time someone asked was at the Brooklyn/Battery tunnel entrance. Luckily the tank wasn't in the locker at that point.

Someone suggested a 2nd vent hole to let air in and make the bottom vent work better, but we figure 1) propane sinks to the lowest spot, and 2) when we are moving we get a venturi effect with air rushing across the hole in the floor of the van, sucking out the air in the locker.

He even put air-tight glands in the top side of the locker so we can keep hoses set up in and out of the locker for a 1 burner coleman stove and our heater. We ALWAYS turn off the valve on the tank however, when we are not actually using propane. There is no propane in the hoses when the valve is shut on the tank. So this locker is just a way to safely carry the tank in the van that is also handy for use when we cook inside. We have a 2nd smaller locker in the back of the van, built the same way, with a 5lb tank for when we cook outside. That only has the bottom vent hole. If we had figured out what we were doing before making two lockers we would have made the first one - for inside cooking - for a 5lb tank and the one in back for the larger, 10lb tank - since we mostly cook outside. However, we did a month camping in the van every day last summer and didn't use up either tank. We usually cooked breakfast and dinner, but not lunch.

You CAN build your own locker, but we would urge a very serious consideration of any possibility of propane leaking/accumulating in your vehicle. Do everything you can think of to keep the locker air-tight and keep the tank turned off when not actually using it.

 

[craig333]

Does your van have a decent size flat area? You're converting it to a camper, why not go all the way and do it like campers do it. Makes venting simple, loading and unloading simple, and doesn't need to be real robust. The one on my camper is just some thin aluminum, you could easily make it yourself. Just buy a door.

 

[dwh]

Shouldn't be a big deal to find one of these used somewhere:

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=2447

 

[JBahr]

According to NFPA 1192 5.2.3 Location of Propane Containers section 5.2.3.4... Containers shall not be mounted on the exterior of the rear wall or the rear bumper of the vehicle.
http://www.nfpa.org/Assets/files/AboutTheCodes/1192/1192_F2013_FDR.pdf

 

[Chris Boyd]

Shouldn't be a big deal to find one of these used somewhere:

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=2447

Curious if anyone has installed one of these under a 100 series LandCruisers in the spare-tire well. Behind my Slee bumper, I doubt anyone could hit me from the rear and affect it!

With regard to the NFPA, that code is written for RVs, curious if applies to something like a 100 series with a ladder swing out. I've see a Few mounted there, so not sure if it was ignorance of the NFPA or didn't apply. I see the issue with a potential rear impact.