I had a catalytic heater in my 84 Westy and could camp for weeks using
heater every morning and evening for a while to take the chill off.
Also using the the stove burners for most meals and the fridge on LP
mode. Wasn't running the heater all night or anything, but several
hours per day and still nowhere near the consumption of gas you
mentioned. Makes me think somethings up, like a leak perhaps?

On 6/17/07, Paul Chubbuck <paul@takingflight.net> wrote:
> A few years ago I installed an Olympian brand catalytic heater in my
> Vanagon.  I love it.  It works great and makes cold mountain camping
> downright cozy.
>
> I plumbed it into the existing gas lines and mounted a quick-release
> gas
> fitting on the lower right corner of the kitchen cabinet so that the
> heater
> literally plugs in there.
>
> The only problem is, the little 3 gallon propane tank wasn't really
> designed
> for this additional load, so on camping trips longer than about 3
> nights, if
> I'm using the heater, I run out of gas.
>
> I'm now considering mounting an additional, reusable, propane tank,
> the type
> that you can refil or exchange, inside the cabin, possibly on the
> platform
> behind the driver's seat.
>
> Does anyone have experience with adding propane capacity to a vanagon?
>
> Thanks,
> Paul