I decided not to move on just yet; I paid for another two nights here at Crossroads CG. I realized that I needed a picnic table for several chores. I got the kayak off the car and put 303 Protectant on it; it gives 100% protection from sun damage and should be used at least once a year, especially if the kayak is stored outside. Well mine is stored on top of the car so it certainly gets full sun! I need to do all my tires too. A really strong wind came up late yesterday afternoon so I strapped the kayak to the picnic table to keep it from blowing off; I still have a little bit more work to do on it before I put it back on top of the car. While I was applying the 303, I noticed the kayak is a “GoPro” model, and there’s a gizmo at the front where you can attach one! Well I think it’ll be a long long time before I get a GoPro, but it’s a pretty neat idea. (This is my new Jackson Riviera kayak)
The other thing I did yesterday was to attempt to refill a bunch of my 1# propane cylinders. It’s not as easy as it looks in the YouTube video! I bought a $10 adapter that screws onto the 20# propane tank. Then you turn the big tank upside-down (that’s another reason I needed a picnic table) and screw on the 1# cylinder. Open the big tank’s valve and gas flows in, but there’s a lot of air in the small cylinder so you have to either have the small tank much colder than the big one (and my teeny fridge doesn’t have space for even one propane cylinder, let alone 7 of them!) Or you have to take a curved forceps and pull out a little tiny valve stem at the top of the cylinder, tilt the big tank way over so the small cylinder is mostly vertical instead of horizontal, and bleed off the excess air…..while it’s facing away from you and hampered by the handles of the big tank! I was able to do that with 3 of them but I couldn’t even get a good grip on the rest. So I ended up with 3 pretty full ones, one that’s about half full and 3 that are about 1/3 full. That’s OK, my small catalytic heater will run for about 12 hours on a full one, so even those partials will be useful. I thought it was a scary project and I’m glad it’s done!
The third thing I need the picnic table for is to cook a little pork tenderloin I bought last week. I have a lightweight aluminum rolled table but my Weber Q is heavy and I feel a lot better putting it on a real table. So I’ll bbq that this afternoon.
Thank goodness the wind died down at dark because it was really blowing in here; it would have been a really cold night! We had another pretty sunset though.
Arizona (oops, California!) does have really pretty sunsets.
Today I’m going to take a little drive up to the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge about 18 miles north of Parker.
Little Bitty Living 
10 replies on “Work Day Monday”
FYI… In lots of localities it is illegal to transport the 1# cylinders if they have been refilled. I would expect this is due to the possibility of leaking, particularly when you have messed with the side valve.
Personally, I’d get a section of hose that screws onto a 20# cylinder sitting outside and the other end connects where the 1# bottle sits.
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Tom, I tried that. I got a 10′ adapter hose, but it says on the packaging not to use it without a regulator! There’s no regulator on my little heater……so I guess I can’t use it. I’ll be very careful transporting them; they are all standing upright and secured.
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What the instructions said was right – some of the time. A propane container, 1#, 20# or whatever size, produces gas at a pressure that is too high for practicle use for many appliances. That is where the regulator comes in, to reduce that container pressure to where many appliances can use it. For example, the hose for a bbq will likely have a grey regulator permanently connected to it; if not you can see its distinctive shape is what the hose is being connected to. The regulator for your trailer is mounted right next to the tank because all the built in propane appliances want that lower pressure.
Appliances like lanterns, camp stoves & portable heaters, where you connect a 1# bottle directly to it, either operate with the high bottle pressure (lantern & heater) or have the regulator built in that you are connecting the bottle to (camp stove).
Therefor, unless your heater is strange, since you connect a 1# bottle to it, the warning on the hose doesn’t pertain to it.
I have a ‘propane tree’ that connects directly to the 20# tank and has 3 outlets. I’ve used it to simultaneously run a lantern, stove & bbq all without a regulator as part of one of the hoses (because the stove & bbq had the reg. built in and the lantern used high pressure). I also have a Mr. Buddy heater & one of the ‘campfire in a can’ firepits that I connect without a separate regulator.
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That’s interesting, Tom….maybe I’ll try using that hose on the heater OUTSIDE, just to make sure it works. That way if it blows up, my “house” won’t burn down. Been there, done that….twice! I have a hose all connected up to the big propane tank & run into the camper for the heaters, so it does go through the regulator, but the darn thing isn’t getting any gas through it! So frustrating.
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If the hose you have connected to the tank on the tongue is after the regulator then it will be supplying the gas at the low pressure, not the high pressure the heater wants. Thus it isn’t likely to light up (or at least not keep lit).
The hose has to be before the regulator to provide the necessary high pressure.
The fitting pictured here
http://www.etrailer.com/Propane/Camco/CAM59113.html
attaches directly to the tank and then the hose to the regulator attaches to it. This puts The high pressure within the fitting. The hose you would then use for your heater also attaches to this fitting. This particular model also has another port for attaching another tank to it (a spare or larger tank sitting on the ground to use instead of the one on the tongue). These come in two models. Which model you need is determined by whether your regulator hose has the big hand fitting that screws on the outside of the tank connection or the brass fitting that takes a wrench to tighten that screws inside the tank fitting. (Hand fitting is current models).
I would expect that the hose you have connects directly to the tank with or without the hand fitting and the other end connects directly where the 1# bottle goes. A hose with a different tank end fitting would be used with the T fitting in the link above.
I have one like this on my Chalet and my 5th wheel. I can use my camp stove or bbq near the tongue of the Chalet and can use a spare tank if the ones on the tongue run out. On my 5th wheel I’ve used it for my bbq, fire pit and I have a 120 gallon tank connected.
If pics of this fitting or hose being used would be handy I could post some on a Facebook thread. I’m not at my Chalet but like I said I’ve got the fitting on my 5th wheel and have the direct connect hose on a spare tank right outside (in the rain).
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Ahhh, now I see! Oy. Well we really were striving to connect the heater hose to the existing tee inside the camper, so we wouldn’t have to drill another hole in the skin of the camper. I see that’s not possible. Well I have the 10′ adapter hose; I can connect that to the spare tank and run it in through the partly opened baggage door, and then through the hole in the cabinet that’s already in place. Thanks Tom!
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Janis, I saw your post on the A Frame Campers Facebook page about your broken solar panel. If you get to the Tucson area, I have one just like it I will give you, no charge. I bought it, then decided to splurge and buy a light weight, bendable version…so this one’s never been used and I’d be happy to see you put it to good use! Just let me know if/when you’re in the Tucson area… 🙂
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Wow, Deb, that’s so generous of you! Is it a 100 watt panel, or what? I’d definitely come and get it!!
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It is a 100 Watt Renogy Monocrystalline panel like this one:
I bought it then splurged when Renogy had a sale on their thin, bendable 100 watt solar panel. So this one has literally been sitting in the garage under the camper in it’s original box since then. I’d much rather see you get use out of it than have it just sit there.
Email me you expected arrival in Tucson (dlheilig@gmail.com) and I’ll send you my telephone number so we can arrange a get-together for the hand off.
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So kind and generous of you. 🙂
Parker
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