Gas Piping

January 28, 2013, 10:53:13 pm

Howdy Folks,

I just wanted to make mention of something I noticed which struck me a bit odd. Some buses seem to have used rubber tubing to pipe gas into the refrigerator compartment. I never gave this a second thought until a friend showed me his setup. My gas piping is steel tubing all the way down into where the propane tank is installed. Here's a shot of it:

http://muniac.smugmug.com/Maintenance/Another-Frig-Melt-Down-1142012/i-kqrV7Rn/0/M/IMG_3637-M.jpg I, of course, have disconnected the Norcold rubber feed tubing and capped off the entrance connection with a brass cap. Below the brass cap is steel tubing. There is a length of rubber tubing coming from the propane tank which connects to the steel tubing gas distribution system. Photo here:

http://muniac.smugmug.com/Travel/Country-Coach-2006-430-Allure/i-TrxXfCx/0/M/IMG_0639-M.jpg Fire danger here would be lower than behind the refrigerator. Back in the day we used flexible metal hose to make gas connections behind stoves, etc.

As for the refrigerator compartment, the feed piping is under pressure. If a fire and/or excessive heat where to burn through that tubing you'd have a blow torch in there. On the downstream side of the solenoid valve Norcold used aluminum tubing on into the burner box. The only place I've seen rubber tubing is on gas grills used outside. Does anyone else see any safety issues with using rubber tubing in an area where heat and fire could be present? --

Best - Scott

2006 Allure 430 40' #31349

(Bus-Stead Lemon) My Allure Page http://www.muniac.com/Allure%20Page.html

Re: Gas Piping

Reply #1 – January 30, 2013, 05:32:34 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 85511

I suppose I may be the one who sent photos to you, Scott, which showed Country Coach has used rubber tubing from the GACU down to the LP gas tank. You brought it to my attention at the time and it has been on my mind to replace it. I'm not sure what you meant by "Back in the day we used flexible metal hose to make gas connections behind stoves, etc." Is that to imply that flexible metal tubing is not longer advisable? If so, why?

A quick search on google turned up these two options:
http://www.wasserstrom.com/restaurant-supplies-equipment/Product_701091 http://www.plumbingsupply.com/gasconnectors.html
I'm sure there are plenty more. I was thinking to get something like this and remove the rubbber tubing and replace it with something like this. I cannot see how I could do fixed steel tubing without hiring someone to do the welding for the turns, fittings and so on, so a flexible connector seems like the easy way to go. Is there some reason not to do this?
Furthermore... the question comes to mind, if I turn off the valve on the propane tank and then disconnect the fiting in the GACU compartment, I wondered if there is some problem with introducing air in the lines? Obviously when you get air in the lines to your gas burners, you just light the stove burners and ignite it and wait til the air is forced thru and you get a steady flame. I'm not sure what to do about the line to the Norcold.
Incidentally, I purchased the self deploying Halon extingisher with the 90 degree head and mounted it neatly in the compartment so I feel reasonably well protected in the event a fire breaks out back there. I have also thoroughly inspected the burners, the lines, the cartridge heater tubes, etc and the whole unit looks factory new with no leaks of any kind. I have no intention whatsoever of replacing the GACU or going to an all electric fridge, when regular inspections show no problems. If it ain't broke don't fix it, applies here. The halon unit will help protect against fires and I would like to replace the rubber tube as well, so I would appreciate your input.

thanks

Joseph Burkle

2008 Country Coach Inspire 360 Founders Edition 43' quad slide tag axle 425 HP C9 pusher http://www. Wind-seeker.com/

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