Greetings from rainy Ketchikan,

Firstly, let me thank you all for the advice about a replacement  P/S 
Rack for my �88 Westy, I already have half a dozen good sources after 
only two days (it takes longer than that to get through to VW Parts 
alone)!

PROPANE HEATERS FOR VOLKSWAGEN�S:
I picked up my heater about 3 years ago from PROPEX (UK) Ltd. after 
seeing them fitted in just about EVERY VW Camper conversion in Europe.  

First please let me apologize, like a DIVVY I cannot find the original 
information so I cannot answer such questions as BTU output exactly, 
sorry!

THE HEATER:
The heater is a �PROPEX COMPACT 1600� it measures a mere 14� long, 6� 
wide and 4.5� deep.  It fits beautifully underneath the rear bench seat 
in a Westy and is a snap to install.  The heater itself costs around 
$500 and comes complete with all you need (other than the copper pipe to 
link up with the propane bottle),  ONE WORD OF WARNING before I forget, 
make sure when you order the heater to ask for an 8mm down to quarter 
inch adaptor!  It seems that the standard European pipe size to and from 
the propane tank is 8mm and I couldn�t find it anywhere in the US, (it�s 
all quarter inch only here it seems).  The heater comes complete with a 
thermostat (real snazzy) that sits on the wardrobe of a Westy at around 
head height (supplied plenty of cable to go elsewhere if you so desire), 
it is just like a household unit  but smaller and in a high tech black 
case.  On the thermostat itself there is also a small rocker type switch 
that switches the heater on/off manually, or switches on the fan only 
for cooling or leaves the unit on controlled by the thermostat.  The 
heater also has a control box that sits under the seat that monitors the 
vehicle battery condition as well as the actual burner unit in the 
heater.  The control box will switch off the heater when either the 
flame goes out (or the battery becomes sufficiently discharged) shutting 
off the propane supply and putting the heater in standby mode!  Output 
of the heater is about equivalent to a good fan heater and is plenty 
warm enough to heat a Westy (even with the top up in Alaska).  The real 
beauty of the unit is it is �incredibly miserly on propane� I wish the 
fridge was half as good.  Don�t waste your time with extra propane 
bottles for the heater you will not need them, �a better investment is a 
twin battery conversion so you can leave the heater on all the time when 
its really cold�.  The fan in the unit is quite powerful and will 
circulate the heat around the van real well,  I opted for a second 
battery conversion and put all my camping gear directly to it and it 
works out great for the heater.

FITTING THE HEATER:
As I said the heater is 14 inches long, 6 inches wide and four and a 
half inches deep.  If you look at it from the top on one end you have 
the propane inlet connection (0.25� copper pipe - via 8mm adaptor) and 
at the other end of the heater you have two large (2.75�) air inlet and 
hot air outlets.  On the bottom of the unit you have two (1�) exhaust 
inlet and outlet pipes.  My heater is fitted so that when viewed from 
above it is sitting length ways under the rear seat of the Westy (with 
the hot air outlet to the center of the vehicle).  The heater comes with 
a length of (2.75�) black plastic heater pipe and two black plastic 
circular �rotating� grills that you can mount in the wood under the rear 
seat.
The two exhaust outlets require you to drill through the floor of the 
vehicle, the outlets are of sufficient length as to pass through both 
the wooden base of the seat as well as the floor of the vehicle.  Once 
you have drilled the floor of the vehicle and placed the heater in the 
seat well the heater exhausts will pertrude though the underside of the 
vehicle at least an inch, this makes the job of sealing the holes and 
connecting the flexible exhaust pipes a snap!   There are two exhaust 
pipes to fit to the underside, one outlet and one inlet, and CAUTION is 
advised here.  Once you identify the EXHAUST OUTLET you must route it to 
the outside of the vehicle (many do not!), there are plenty of places to 
anchor it near the jacking points at the rear of the van.  The air 
intake is OK mounted anywhere away from the exhaust .  

NOTE:
When you order the unit see if you can get a little �Mushroom� cover for 
the exhaust outlet, it saves the exhaust outlet getting full of snow and 
mud etc.

Well, that's basically it,  feel free to give me a call with any 
questions at (907) 225- 5057 if I can help I will!

Here�s the address for PROPEX (UK):

PROPEX (UK) LTD
CAMPION HOUSE
LINCOLN ROAD
LEADENHAM
LINCOLN, LN5 OPE
ENGLAND

Tel. 011-44 (0400) 72100
Fax. 011-44 (0400) 73416

I know the phone codes have changed in the past year, the address is 
still good!

Regards,

Chris Gibbs,