A query:  Why did you take out the propane tank?  It serves the cooktop,
which is an important item for most of us who use the van for camping.  I
don't mean that if you wanted it gone you should not have taken it out, but
without it, no functional cooktop.

Oh, and a note to Eric.  Keep reposting these posts from folks whose posts
get lost from some of us.  If you hadn't replied to this, I would have
never seen it.

mcneely

On Thu, Nov 5, 2020 at 11:45 AM Richard Smith (Smirby) <smirby@gmail.com>
wrote:

> [I wrote this back in April, but neglected to send it. Hopefully it is
> helpful to someone taking their fridge out.]
>
> Last night I took the propane tank out and managed to keep the lines
> intact. Probably a waste of time, but… whatever.
>
> Some lessons, from the fridge removal which happened today, in semi-random
> order.
>
> The gowesty video speaks specifically about an 18mm wrench for propane
> lines, but it is 19 (perhaps this is a Canadian thing?).
>
> Removing the front of the fridge the GoWesty video mentions “popping off
> the covers to the screws.” This makes it sound easy. It isn’t. Those
> suckers do not want to come off. Mangled one before I got the hang of it.
>
> The little shelf at the bottom of the cupboard under the sink is not
> symmetric. The right hand side has a slight curve, which helps you get it
> in and out. Work with that, don’t fight with the other side and wonder how
> the heck anyone ever got that shelf in there.
>
> The video mentions disconnecting the three wire connector and the one wire
> connector, but then there’s a jump cut that doesn’t show the struggle
> getting those apart. Actually, the three wire was simple, but the one wire
> was devilish. Looks like it should have a tab inside there somehow, but
> darned if I could find it. Eventually it did come apart when I probed it
> with a small screwdriver.
>
> The 12v lines to the fridge are in a bundle as they go from under the sink
> to atop the fridge. In the video they are loose. And on my van they looked
> loose. But they weren’t. They were strapped, with a small little button
> snap, like you have on the mosquito screen. It wraps from in the cabinet to
> the fridge side and holds that wire up there neatly. And completely halts
> your progress when you’re trying to wiggle the fridge out of there. Again,
> maybe this is a feature of Canadian vans?
>
> The screws holding the fridge on the right hand side (inside the sink
> cabinet) were so enthusiastically tightened that they were completely
> countersunk into the wood. Maybe a repair person? Maybe the factory?
> Whatever, it took a lot to get them out.
>
> The GoWesty kit includes a little block-off plate for the space were the
> chimney was. I spent WAY too long fabricating that little piece. (In the
> end I bought a replacement piece from defunk3D - looks pretty cool, if you
> ask me).
>
> The GoWesty kit includes a dozen or more little black screws to replace
> the ones that you undo to get the plastic front of the fridge off.
> Seriously? If you *really* don’t like those tiny holes you could always put
> the screws in that you just took out. Or fill the holes with putty? Me? I
> am going to leave the holes there.
>
> Found a piece of arborite under the house (looks like it was the back of a
> cheap set of bookshelves and I must have save it for some reason). Cut off
> a piece (16.75” wide, 29” tall) and wedged it into the back of the
> cupboard. It fit perfectly! Who needs a kit?
>
> The GoWesty kit includes “L” brackets for holding the front door trim. But
> if you look up under the edge, where the top right screw goes in, you can
> see the way that Westfalia did it themselves, and copy that to make your
> own. Really just a 2 inch piece of steel strapping and bend it into an L in
> the vise. Drill a screw hole or two on one side and then a smaller hole on
> the front facing side to meet the metal screw that will be coming in from
> the front.
>
> Under and behind the fridge was way cleaner than I would have ever hoped,
> and zero mouse poop. A miracle! Sadly, the rust has found its way into that
> spot right along the floor and the wall, and I have some work to do. I
> could see it starting from outside along the seam, so I knew it would be
> there. Just sad to see.
>
> [Later - discovered a crack in the “city water” connector. Even though I
> never used city water, there is water in that line and it leaks -
> especially when you run the pump. If you go this far, check your city water
> connector for leaks even if you don’t use it. I think it was the main
> source of water behind my cabinets.]
>
> The space under the van where the propane pipes go through is a tricky
> little thing. There are six screws, but the centre two just hold the two
> pieces together. Then the outside four mount that double piece into the
> floor of the van. But it is a bunch of curved pieces covering up a hole.
> Foam, rubber, steel, screws… I think I am going to go over the whole thing
> with some black silicon seal before I trust it in the rain.
>
> I did all this partly to save weight. For some time I have noticed that
> the driver’s side is a bit droopy, even without any water in the water
> tank. So, today, after removing the fridge and propane tank, I re-measured
> the distance from garage floor to bottom of the wheel well. They are now
> within 1/16” of each other. Success! The fridge isn’t that heavy, really.
> But the propane tank, plus fridge obviously does add up.
>
>
> --  <>
> Richard Smith, Professor and Director, Master of Digital Media
> Centre for Digital Media, 685 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, CANADA V5T 0C6
> Phone: 778-370-1012 http://thecdm.ca <http://thecdm.ca/> Twitter: @smith
>