Propane Extension Hose Connections

[Bwht4x4]

I'm looking for advice on what type of propane connections I would need to run a hose from a larger propane tank on the ground outside the camper up into the camper's propane box that will attach to the existing terminal hose end connection. Basically, I want to be able to run my existing two tanks down to empty and then leave them in place and take another propane tank that I can connect to the camper.

I want this option for really cold long duration camping trips. In the future I could do a couple of weeks hunting in Wyoming during mid-November and I'm not sure how long I could get out of the two tanks in the camper. I'd have my enclosed trailer that I could easily bring an additional propane tank with me.

Any help is welcomed!

Thanks

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

You should have a BBQ shop somewhere near you, they can custom make a hose for you. Here in Portland, it's Hometown Hearth and Grill.

 

[JJ1]

We got one of these Extend-a-Stay kits for the Class C, but ended up never installing it. Installation looked pretty simple, though.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=extend+a+stay+propane

 

[ntsqd]

If it's cold enough you may not want the tank to be sitting on the ground outside. Not a lot of experience with this sort of thing, but I have frozen off the larger disposable bottles in a couple camping trips that turned cold.

I added a Acme type female connector to our camper for connecting our Magna bbq and Camp Chef Sport Stove to. Could just as easily connect a tank to it with the right hose assembly. My local real hardware store has a range of propane specific connectors and fittings.
Note that propane hose is a unique hose. Can't use just any hose as the propane molecule can go through a lot of rubbers. That's solvable too, local industrial hose shop has the hose in a couple different flavors.

Just need to decide the convenience vs. need balance and go forward from there.

 

[idahoron]

I don't know about other appliances but for a Buddy heater they have to have a special hose. If you connect a hose to a high pressure tank the plasticizers will leak out of the rubber and contaminate the fuel.

 

[esimmers]

It sounds like your FWC is one of the newer rigs with the two-tank propane setup using a short propane pigtail with the newer Type 1 ACME nut at the tank and a 1/4" inverted male flare at the regulator end.

You could replace that propane pigtail with a longer one that would reach outside the camper to a tank sitting on the ground; I’ve seen them online up to 48” long. But then you’d always have that longer hose winding around inside your tank compartment.

Another approach is an extension hose you’d make with a Lasco 17-5381 or Mr. Heater F273791 (same, but twice the price) male ACME thread (available on Amazon) that would thread into the female ACME (male POL) that you now twist onto your internal tanks. These have 1/4" male NPT threads on the other side.


The other end of the extension hose would have an ACME nut, for instance a Mr. Heater F276495. Both of those fittings will accept a hose with 1/4” female pipe threads. I'll leave it to you to find the right hose with the correct fittings.

You could put the Lasco/Mr. Heater fitting on a longer propane pigtail with the ACME nut already fixed to one end. But you'd have to find something to adapt the 1/4" male NPT threads on the Lasco/Mr. Heater fitting to the typical 1/4" inverted male flare at the on the end of the pigtail.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Bwht4x4]

Thanks for the good info guys. I'll look into these various options and see what makes the best and easiest sense and then get back to folks on what I did.