I wasn't sure, but made some assumptions. His question was about filling an
empty tank.

The 1st posting stated that it was empty. I took his word that it was truly
empty, my 1st assumption. I have run out of gas before and checked it by
looking at my gauges (2) and tapping on the outside of the tank. You can tap
on the outside of a tank with the head of a 16 penny nail(vertically, up &
down) and the sound made by the tapping will change in pitch when you hit
the "level" where the LP is.

Some Westys have added on gauges by PO and the later Eurovan Campers come
with gauges. I did not see in his post what year Westy he owns. Also (albeit
a sin) but some people with Eurovan Campers refer to them as Westys,
therefore I made another assumption that he might have gauges.

My 95 Eurovan camper has a gauge on the tank and a LED in the cabin. My 80
westy lets me know when the stove won't light. I then lay down beside the
tank with a small metal object and tap on the end of the tank in a up and
down direction. If it sounds the same at the top as it does the bottom then
it is empty. I plan on buying a new valve that has a gauge on it from an RV
store. Their widely availible.

Hope that covers it ;-)
SeanG

>From: John Fried <john@dataknight.com>
>To: Sean Garrett <seangar@HOTMAIL.COM>
>CC: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: Filling LP tank for the first time
>Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 13:48:07 -0400
>
>Pardon me for jumping in, but how can you tell how full/empty the
>propane tank is? There is no gauge or indicator that I can find.
>
>John
>'85 Westy
>
>Sean Garrett wrote:
> >
> > Be careful here, some service stations will overfill your tank. Until
>you
> > get a handle on how much it will hold I would only put in 2 dollars of
>LP
> > the 1st time (if it is truly empty). Overfilling your tank can cause
>some
> > minor problems operating the fridge (in my experience). I don't think
>that
> > two many people will agree with me, but I have a theory about overfilled
> > tanks and their casual impact on fridge operation. It wont hurt to just
>put
> > in a little and not more than 80%. Most idiots that fill these tanks
>will
> > shut off the gas after it has reached the recommended 80% level.

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