Don & Christi's 6 x 10 Cargo Conversion

[d30gaijin]

Cut out the galley countertop and installed the ADTH two burner propane stove (hat tip to Goatdog) today. Installation was fairly straight forward and it makes a good looking addition to the CT galley, but right now that's all I can do, look at it. It doesn't work. I think I know why, or at least I hope I know why. I am using the wrong outlet psi regulator. I took the hose with regulator attached from a small BBQ grill I don't use much. All the connections were perfect for the stove and propane bottle, and of the right length hose but the outlet psi of this regulator is only 10 psi. The stove has its own internal pressure regulator so it must take something greater than 10 psi to feed it and allow it to do its job.

I don't know what the outlet psi is for a standard regulator for an RV propane system is but I suspect it must be greater than 10 psi. Will try to sort that out tomorrow. It's nice to have a built in counter top two burner stove, it would be nicer if it worked.

UPDATE I:

Now I am officially PO'd. Did some internet sleuthing and came up with RV propane regulator output is typically 10 psi single stage and 2 stage regulators drop that to 11 water column inches (whatever the heck that is). So this stove should operate off of 10 psi input and the internal stove regulator drops the pressure to 11 water column inches (whatever the heck that is). In short, it appears I received a defective stove. So that means sending it back, if they'll take it back. I had to modify it by drilling a 1 1/8" hole at the rear left side of the lower stove pan to run the inlet line through because the factory knockout penetrations were in the wrong place for my installation, and even if they would take it back there's no way I can get a replacement before we're scheduled to leave so I end up with a huge gaping hole in my countertop. It's either that or I figure a way to bypass the stove's internal regulator and put a two stage regulator at the propane bottle (with two stage regulators, typical on most RV's, the first stage drops pressure to 10 psi, the second stage drops that to 11 water column inches... what ever the heck that is). I'll try one last thing, using another hose and regulator off of the bottle. I suppose it's possible the regulator attached to the hose I have from my BBQ grill is bad since I have never used it before (the BBQ grill is the Volcano grill that runs off of propane, briquettes, or wood and I have only used that grill with briquettes.

UPDATE II:

None of this makes any sense. I removed the hose and its regulator from the stove and hooked it to the propane burner of the Volcano BBQ grill. In that mode of use it works perfectly. Next step was to remove the stove's internal regulator and hook it to the propane bottle with the Volcano hose/regulator combo and see if propane flows through. It does. Next was to blow air through the stove piping (minus its internal regulator) with the two burner vales open. Air flows through the piping just fine and comes out the burners. So I have flow through both regulators, through the stove piping and to the burners, but when I put it all back together propane doesn't flow through the stove piping to the burners.

UPDATE III:

Today I said the heck with the warranty and took the plug out of it that caps the pressure adjusting screw of the stoves internal regulator. Then I put the regulator back in the stove with the adjustment screw facing up so I could adjust it. I turned on the propane and started adjusting the screw clockwise until I was able to hear the faint hiss from the burner. I lit the burner and continued to adjust until I got a decent flame from each. So I did indeed get a lemon stove in that the regulator was faulty but at least I was able to get it working. The thought of returning the stove didn't sit well with me.

Don

[bigbendhiker]

Don,

That stove top looks really nice installed. I hope one of your proposed solutions works. It sounds like you at least have a couple of options.

Good luck.

[d30gaijin]

Lol You went a little over board with the compressor didn't ya? Viair Compressors are pretty good though. Infact when I said I had onboard air on my Duramax that what it has. a Viair 480c compressor and a 5 gallon air tank. I run the tank at 200Psi. So with 5 gallons of 200psi air plus the compressor I have enough air to run an impact, Inflate tires ect. I have air fittings in each rear wheel well for connecting an air hose.. It impresses people at the local home depot when you pull a screw out of your trailer tire, plug it then pull an airline out of the tool box and run it from the side of the truck to the tire to reinflate it. Toss everything back in the tool box and go on your way

8B,

I subscribe to the school of: If some is good and more is better, then too much is just enough. I like stuff to work when I most need it to work. I don't want surprises out on the road. It appears you are the same. Nice compressor setup you have on your Duramax in the Viair 480c.

A question for you: I bought a 1 gal. air tank and a relay pressure switch combo 110psi on 150psi off but think I bought the wrong pressure shut off switch considering the Viair compressor I have is only rated to 130psi i.e., it may never shut off. Do you have a pressure shut off switch on your system?

UPDATE: I answered my own question and reordered a 90 on 120 off relay/switch combo. Still, my question for you remains: Did you put a pressure relay/switch combo in your system, or just a pressure off switch?

Don

[roadinspector]

8ball_99,
Have you had any problems or noticed any rock cuts or nicks in your line since it is inside the fenderwell with your tires? I ran mine towards the front of the bed and mounted it to the step rail to avoid this. Just wondering if my paranoia was kicking in again?

Earnest

[d30gaijin]

Don,

That stove top looks really nice installed. I hope one of your proposed solutions works. It sounds like you at least have a couple of options.

Good luck.

Scott,

Thank you for the encouragement. I will try a few options tomorrow to get the stove working, which might amount to finding a replacement in stove regulator locally or simply bypassing it and go with a two stage regulator at the tank.

I'm following your build and will enjoy seeing how it progresses, along with what ideas I can steal from you.

Don

[Goatdog]

Don, I am so sorry you had trouble with the stove. I just went outside and checked my stove setup as it has been a few months since I set it uop. I did use it this past weekend in the Outer banks and it worked great.

My regulator is a Marshall 230 single-stage regulator. There is no regulator on the 20lb tank itself. The flames is more than adequate and I am tickled with it.

It was worth the trouble, I really hope your stove isn't defective.

[d30gaijin]

Don, I am so sorry you had trouble with the stove. I just went outside and checked my stove setup as it has been a few months since I set it uop. I did use it this past weekend in the Outer banks and it worked great.

My regulator is a Marshall 230 single-stage regulator. There is no regulator on the 20lb tank itself. The flames is more than adequate and I am tickled with it.

It was worth the trouble, I really hope your stove isn't defective.

Goatdog,

I got the stove working today. I pulled the stoves internal regulator and figured the heck with it if I void the warranty because returning it and paying shipping both ways would cost more than I paid for the stove. So I popped the seal cap off the stove's regulator to get to the pressure adjustment screw. I then reinstalled the regulator and turned on the propane and started screwing in on the pressure adjustment screw until I finally heard propane hissing from the burner. Then I lit the burner and continued to adjust the screw until I got what I think is a nice flame at the burner. The regulator screw was very loose in the regulator housing and I was worried about road travel vibration causing it to back off from where I set it so doused it with superglue once I had it set where I wanted. I'm still not sure it is at the optimum setting as the flame doesn't seem all that great but there was a very fine line between getting a decent looking flame at the burner and then only a slight further twist would cause it to go to full 10 psi at the burner, which blows the flame out. I need to check it/compare it to my Jayco TT stove output, but it does work. I might eventually toss the stove's internal regulator as it appears faulty and go to a two stage regulator between the tank and the stove that puts out 11 Water Column Inches (I finally found out what that is and it is 1/2 psi), which is what the stove's regulator is supposed to reduce the 10 psi inlet pressure to but wasn't. It was reducing it to zero.

I'm just glad I sorted it out and the stove works. What I don't know is is it working optimally? I put a quart pan of water on the see how long it took to boil at its highest setting, it was just over ten minutes. That doesn't seem optimal to me but it will do for now. I'm just happy that I found the problem and got it working. I can at least use the stove as is, don't have to send it back, and know I have an option to, perhaps, improve the performance.

It's a good looking stove, a nice addition to the CT galley, a convenience, and thankfully I experienced no problems with the knobs breaking. It was frustrating to have to go through what I did to get the stove working but we all know that regardless of a product's reputation, bad products will occasionally slip through and into the system. Like I sort of said, now that I know what the problem is I know the solution (two stage in-line regulator and dump the stove's internal regulator) if I am not happy with my current fix.

Don

[Goatdog]

Good, I am glad you salvaged it. 10 minutes to boiling doesn't sound too slow, depending on how much water there was and whether or not you were watching it...a watched pot never boils you know.

[d30gaijin]

With regards to the Lodge Hibachi I recently bought and described in a previous post, like any BBQ grill there is a learning curve to its use, particularly with regards to cooking burgers. Varying the number of briquettes (or figuring out how many to use) is the first step to getting the hang of it. I started out with 40 briquettes, too hot. Backed off to 30, too cool, then settled on 35 as the optimum for burgers, but still there were the grease flare ups and charring of the burgers (I don't like to spray water to keep the flames down because that causes briquette coal ash to migrate to the burgers for a gritty chew to the burgers).

I subsequently stumbled across the Lodge Logic LPG13 PRO 20" x 10 7/16" cast iron reversible grill/griddle that fits perfectly atop the Lodge Hibachi (see photo below). Placing that in place of the Hibachi grill prevents grease dripping on the charcoal and allows me to cook perfect burgers, as I did tonight. One side of the griddle is ribbed and the other side smooth for cooking eggs, pancakes, bacon, etc. I cooked tonight's batch of burgers on the ribbed side atop the Lodge Hibachi (I used it in place of the original Lodge Hibachi grated grill). Gone were problems with grease flare up. The ribbed surface beautifully seared the burgers with nicely seared grill lines on the burgers. The burgers came out perfect. Juicy, seared, and very flavor able.

The photo shows the dual purpose ribbed/smooth side griddle in place after cooking the burgers (ribbed side up). All that buildup you see on it is the excess from grilling the burgers and salt, lots of salt, to make cleaning the cast iron a simple matter once it cools down. Tonight's burgers were unanimously declared by family to be the best I have ever made. That's a good start.

Don, long in search of the perfect grilled burger and steak... now on the road to finding it... On the road to Shambala...

[GPW]

NICE Hibachi !!! That’s just Perfect !!!

[d30gaijin]

Today I finished another part of our build project that I have anticipated doing for weeks now but kept putting it off for reasons I don't fully understand, especially considering it was a rather simple task. That task being installing the Marinco 12v dc cigar lighter outlet inside the CT near the galley. Again, I am unsure of why I procrastinated. Be that as it may, I installed the exact same receptacle externally several months back at the front of the CT to support the "Big Kahuna" shower unit and any other external 12v dc use we might need, such as the Viair mini compressor.

So today I drilled a 1 1/8" hole in the galley lower front face and installed the Marinco 12v receptacle and wired it to the 12v dc side of my electrical supply. From there I plugged in the Wagan 400 Watt inverter to check the circuit connectivity and integrity. Everything worked as it should. Plugged in a 110v ac drill to the Wagan 400 Watt inverter and it worked great. Same with Cuisinart 110v ac blender. I like things that work. Please note that I bought the Wagan 400 Watt inverter only because it was the highest rated 400 Watt inverter on Amazon... regardless of ratings one takes their chances buying such a product but there is a bit more confidence in buying a highly rated product... I hope. Still, the 12v dc/Wagan 400 Watt inverter will likely only see use when we are either boon docking or parked in a Wal Mart parking lot and don't want to fire up the Honda generator to run a small appliance for a short period of time. But then again, we also found a couple of 12v dc small electrically heated units, a small 12v dc powered pot to boil a couple of cups of water in, or cook a can of soup or stew, and very small 12v dc frying pan suitable for cooking a couple of eggs. Both units have cigar lighter suitable plugs to plug into the Marinco 12v dc outlet and weigh next to nothing. I guess you could say we're keeping all options open in terms of camp cooking.

Made a run to Home Depot today in search of needed 12v electrical connection materials for the Marinco 12v dc outlet. Got what I needed to wire it in but also ran across a 1 gallon (4.25 lbs.) propane tank that will fill the bill perfectly for the newly installed ADTH two burner galley countertop stove. I have several 5 gallon (20 lbs.) propane tanks but why do I want to haul 20 pounds of propane along in the CT when it is only used to power the little two burner stove in the summertime? A smaller tank seemed appropriate. Odd thing is, the 1 gallon tank costs as much as a much larger 5 gallon tank. I guess it is a supply and demand thing. Everybody buys 5 gallon tanks I reckon, but who buys a 1 gallon tank... besides me?

I took the tank to my local RV dealer to get it filled. They had to purge the new tank then fill it, an ordeal of several times purging and then finally filling it. Nice thing is, my local RV dealer has a deal going for RV propane March 1st through Labor Day weekend at 99 cents a gallon. So for all the tech's time to prurge and fill the 1 gallon tank they got 99 cents. Be that as it may they are great folks to deal with and I will be seeing them for all my RV needs first; they being http://bretzrvidaho.reachlocal.net/. So if you're passing through Boise or Nampa Idaho on Interstate 84 and need some RV help or supplies I highly recommend them. Great service and very friendly staff... and yes, the propane tank will be secured during travel.

Don

[bigbendhiker]

I finally got another thing done today that I have wanted to do but kept putting it off for reasons I don't fully understand, considering it was a rather simple task, and that task being installing the Marinco 12v dc cigar lighter outlet inside the CT near the galley. I installed the exact same receptacle externally several months back at the front of the CT to support the "Big Kahuna" shower unit and any other external 12v dc use we might need, such as the Viair mini compressor.

So today I drilled a 1 1/8" hole in the galley lower front face and installed the Marinco 12v receptacle and wired it to the 12v dc side of my electrical supply. From there I plugged in the Wagan 400 Watt inverter to check the circuit connectivity and integrity. Everything worked as it should. Plugged in a 110v ac drill to the Wagan 400 Watt inverter and it worked great. Same with Cuisinart 110v ac blender. I like things that work. Please note that I bought the Wagan 400 Watt inverter only because it was the highest rated 400 Watt inverter on Amazon... regardless of ratings one takes their chances buying such a product but there is a bit more confidence in buying a highly rated product... I hope. Still, the 12v dc/Wagan 400 Watt inverter will likely only see use when we are either boon docking or parked in a Wal Mart parking lot and don't want to fire up the Honda generator to run a small appliance for a short period of time. But then again, we also found a couple of 12v dc small electrically heated units, a small 12v dc powered pot to boil a couple of cups of water in, or cook a can of soup or stew, and very small 12v dc frying pan suitable for cooking a couple of eggs. Both units have cigar lighter suitable plugs to plug into the Marinco 12v dc outlet and weigh next to nothing. I guess you could say we're keeping all options open in terms of camp cooking.

Made a run to Home Depot today in search of needed 12v electrical connection materials for the Marinco 12v dc outlet. Got what I needed to wire it in but also ran across a 1 gallon (4.25 lbs.) propane tank that will fill the bill perfectly for the newly installed ADTH two burner galley countertop stove. I have several 5 gallon (20 lbs.) propane tanks but why do I want to haul 20 pounds of propane along in the CT when it is only used to power the little two burner stove in the summertime? A smaller tank seemed appropriate. Odd thing is, the 1 gallon tank costs as much as a much larger 5 gallon tank. I guess it is a supply and demand thing. Everybody buys 5 gallon tanks I reckon, but who buys a 1 gallon tank... besides me?

I took the tank to my local RV dealer to get it filled. They had to purge the new tank then fill it, an ordeal of several times purging and then finally filling it. Nice thing is, my local RV dealer has a deal going for RV propane March 1st through Labor Day weekend at 99 cents a gallon. So for all the tech's time to prurge and fill the 1 gallon tank they got 99 cents. Be that as it may they are great folks to deal with and I will be seeing them for all my RV needs first; they being http://bretzrvidaho.reachlocal.net/. So if you're passing through Boise or Nampa Idaho on Interstate 84 and need some RV help or supplies I highly recommend them. Great service and very friendly staff... and yes, the propane tank will be secured during travel.

Don

Don,

I ordered (and have received) several of the same brand 12vdc receptacles that you are using. They seem to be really high quality units. I plan on using them in my conversion. Glad to hear they are working well. I'll have to look into that 12v fry pan.

I too like the idea of the smaller propane tank. I doesn't make sense to carry a full size tank around unless you have a need for that much propane. Great deal on the propane.

Question for you; what size/brand of battery are you using? I've looked online at some, but I'm still looking.

Thanks,

[d30gaijin]

Scott,

Currently I am using just a regular auto battery, nothing special other than it has dual conections I.e., connections for regular auto battery terminals as well as smaller connections for other use, the latter connections being what I use for the CT connections. But I do intend to go to better batteries in the future, specifically a pair of golf cart 6v batteries. The battery I have was only intended to get us going. In terms of the dual connection for the battery I am using, I will shoot a pic tomorrow of the connection I refer to. Based upon my limited research into batteries it appears that a pair of 6v golf cart batteries are superior to the deep cycle marine type batteries. Guess I will find out if that is true somewhere down the road.

Don

[Goatdog]

Don, good choice on choosing two 6V batts for your CT. I converted my motorhome from two 12V batteries to two 6V golf cart batteries froms Sams Club. They just seem to have endless amp hours and were only $79 each

[d30gaijin]

Today I added three things to the CT I have been, once again, meaning to do. The first two are the addition of CO & smoke detectors. I have been cruising the internet RV places searching for CO and smoke detectors but those I found seemed a bit ridiculous in price, perhaps because they have the "RV" label and came from an RV outfit? That leads to another discussion.

Christi was checking out Goatdog's build and noticed he had installed spy holes in his CT, those little 180 degree viewing ports many of us have in our home front doors to see who is ringing the doorbell. Once she saw Goatdog's she wanted the same in our CT side door. So I headed for Home Depot to get a spy hole to install. Once there I decided to see what they had in the way of smoke detectors. Not only did they have much less expensive smoke detectors (battery operated) they also had CO detectors (also battery operated) for very reasonable prices compared to the RV stuff. I paid $4.95 for the smoke detector and $18.95 for the CO detector. Compared to RV supplier prices those are incredibly low prices, and both came with the required batteries. Photos below show all installed. The CO and smoke detector placement is temporary for now. I will relocate them once I get around to installing the final wall paneling but wanted to get them in place before our extended trip. Also, considering I have LP in the CT, I will eventually install an LP detector, which are expensive but then what are our lives worth? In the mean time, the only time the LP tank valve will be open is when the little two burner stove is actually in use. The tank valve will be closed at the end of each use.

The first two pics of the spy hole make it appear off-center in the door. It is not. It appears off center due to the wide angle lens I shot the pics with. The third pic of the spy hole is straight on from outside. I think I will add another spy hole to the rear CT door. Additionally, something I learned from installing the spy hole in the side CT door is what that door is insulated with. I had no idea what, if any, insulation was used by the factory in the door's construction, and I certainly had no desire to take it apart just to see. Drilling the required 9/16" hole through the door revealed it is insulated with standard white 1" Styrofoam... that's better than nothing.

Don