Karl,

There have been concerns with that unit that it gives off poisonous
gasses despite being advertised as requiring little ventilation. There
was/is a law suit regarding two fellows who passed away in a *tent*
using a coleman catalytic heater. I'm not convinced that the vanagon
has enough ventilation without cranking the windows right down so I'm
returning my ProCat today. BTW, it didn't light anyway but I don't
want an exchange.

Cheers.

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 19:22:18 -0400, Karl Hartmut Filc
<kfilc@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I have the Coleman cat-heater pat# 5053A751 which uses the green 16oz gas
> cylinders. This unit has a battery powered motor and runs on 2 D batteries
> for 18hrs. Fits snugly between the front seats and runs permanent for 8hrs
> on one cylinder. 3000 BTU is plenty for a Vanagon without the pop off roof.
>
> I like this unit because you can move it around and this is the reason why I
> don't connect it to the lp-tank. The gas cylinder cost ca. $3,50 here in
> Canada which is a bit pricy. But I got lately a catalog from Harbor Freight
> (www.harborfreight.com) better known in the USA than in Canada. They have a
> unit #45989-QUAN which enables you to fill the 16oz cylinder from a BBQ tank
> and save some money. Works for me and I don't have to use my propane from
> the bus tank.
>
> Hartmut
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Jim Felder
> Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 :16:08 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Converting Coleman Catalytic Heater to LP tank?
>
> Those heaters that say they are for tents need ventilation too. The
> instructions are very explicit about that when yu get the box home and
> open it up.
>
> If you don't want to worry about that at all, buy and install a vented
> heater. there are plenty of good installations mentioned in the
> archive, I'm sure some of these folks will write you.
>
> I chose my unvented Olympian Wave 3 because of its compact design, wall
> mounting and low oxygen use. It stilluses a certain amount of oxygen,
> the instructions say a 4 inch square hole so you can figure out what
> this is with a side window or front window cracked, I usually do about
> half an inch which is probably overkill but it doesn't get all that
> cold around here.
>
> Make sure you have a shutoff valve you can get to so you can take the
> heater offline if any leaks develop. Test every joint thoroughly with
> soapy water. LP is nothing to mess around with.
>
> Jim
>
> On Oct 10, 2004, at 2:37 PM, Parker Beeson wrote:
>
> > Starting to get really cold again in Montana and I was thinking about
> > winter heating. Seems the archives are full of intricate conversions of
> > externally vented propane solutions with 5,000+BTU, but for me that
> > would be overkill and too expensive at this point I think.
> >
> > Was wondering if anyone has bought one of those little Coleman
> > Catalytic Heaters that are designed for in tent use (which I assume
> > means they are fairly safe with even minimal ventilation) and hooked it
> > up to the existing LP tank? I already have a t-joint inline on the
> > stove pipe feed from a previous propane heater that was in the van when
> > I bought it. I removed that heater though as it was oooold and deadly
> > according to the PO... so kinda useless really. I sleep in the van with
> > a warm 0 degree sleeping bag so am thinking a little 1,000-3,000BTU
> > unit would be fine to just keep the ambient temperature above freezing
> > so my water lines won't freeze up so much. I'd be fine with internal
> > temps of 35-40 degrees. With the top down, skylight closed and one side
> > window cracked I think that would be enough maybe? My main curiosity is
> > would copper piping be required for the line or is the LP tank pressure
> > low enough to just use a reinforced flexible tubing?
> >
> > If no one has done this I'd love to know why and if yes I'd love your
> > thoughts. If I do it I'll post a "how-to" link with photos etc.
> >
> > http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanCom/subcategory.asp?
> > CategoryID=3000&SourcePage=category_main.asp
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Parker
> > '89 Westy
> >
>