Hey all,
Well, today I took the propane tank with leaky valve to a local RV place
(Fredericksburg RV).  I showed the service guy which valve was leaking,
luckily they had a valve on hand that would fit (Sherwood, I think was
the brand name).  The valve itself was $45.29 and their labor rate is
$56 an hour with a minimum half-hour labor charge, which is $28.

So I paid $79 by the time tax was added :-( .  I'm not too happy about
that.  I suppose I could have just bought the valve and installed it
myself but I guess it's better to leave it to someone who knows what
he's doing.  He put a little propane in the tank to make sure it didn't
leak.

Well, I took the tank home and decided to go ahead and install it
because it's sunny today but it's supposed to snow tonight.  It's
already getting cloudy out.  I installed the tank, which, as I
predicted, was a little more difficult than removing it :-) .  Nothing
too serious though and I re-connected the two propane lines that go into
the van and got them so that they are not leaking.  

And now I have propane!!!!  Woohoo!!  I'm ready for camping now.  The
stove and the fridge are both working and happy once again :-) .

BTW, while I was at the RV place I saw a couple interesting accessories
that might be useful to us VW campers.  First was a water tank filler,
which is a plastic piece that threads to the end of your standard hose
and then goes into a thinner long clear plastic tube which fits into the
tank.  I figured this would be good for us folks because a standard hose
won't fit the outside filler neck for the water tank.  I didn't buy it,
it was $3.69 and they probably have it cheaper at Wal-Mart or something.

On the back of this package, the company's other products were
showcased.  They make a little fan that sits on the floor of your
refrigerator and blows up to better circulate the air.  I know this
circulation really helps out our Dometic fridges.  They didn't have any
at the store or I would have bought one but keep your eyes open for this
little gadget.

Take care,
Sean
--
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Sean Bartnik                           "Life is tough, 
sbart7kb@www.mwc.edu          but it's tougher if you're stupid."
'81 Vanagon Westy                      --John Wayne             

Fahrvergnugen means "push harder."

http://www.mwc.edu/~sbart7kb/myvan.htm
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