Sunday, January 20, 2013

HEAT IT UP!

Sunday, January 20 – With Mother Nature continuing to treat us with some rather “BRISK” temperatures – especially at night, on Thursday, Paul decided to install our Blue Flame propane heater that he removed from the Motorhome. It took some searching to find all the needed parts, but after driving all over the RGV, Paul gathered all the parts and hopefully will get the installation completed in one day.

He started by installing a shut-off valve in place of an existing 1/2” plug in the propane line. This will allow us to shut off the propane gas supply when we remove the heater in warmer weather.

shut off valve

He then ran a propane line from this shut-off to the location of the heater. This required the removal of a wall in the main basement storage area. By removing this wall, Paul could crawl into an area normally reserved for running electrical, water, heat, and other utility lines.

no wall in basement'

From there he drilled a hole through the wall,

hole in wall

fed the propane line through the hole

line through hole

looking through hole

and bingo….he had a location for the heater. He used a quick disconnect on the heater so it could be easily removed and stored when not in use.

Quick disconnect

To finish up, Paul then checked all the fittings for leaks, using a soapy solution. No leaks, so the final check was to turn on the heater and see how it works. It was a pretty simple install except for the many trips to Home Depot for materials. It doesn't matter how well you plan, it always seems to require extra trips for parts and supplies......jeesh!

proprane heater

Bella prefers the warmth of the sun.
Bella in sun.

POST NOTE (SEVERAL DAYS LATER). It's amazing how much warmer the RV is with the Blue Flame heater and with very little propane used. These cold mornings made the overhead heat pump work pretty hard or required using the RV furnace which is not very fuel efficient. Now the Blue Flame heater has everything toasty in no time!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

22 comments:

  1. Paul certainly has an adventuresome spirit, as well as more energy and creativity than I have. Kudos for a job well done!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When it is chilly out we certainly need a little heat inside. We've been running our heater every morning but hopefully the worst of the cold is behind us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I assume Marsha supervised this project also. I see her stamp of approval in the work that Paul did.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paul's a brave man for tackling a propane job - Paulette wouldn't let me near a task like that OR drilling a hole in a wall either.

    Great job - and neat too. I'm impressed!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is so nice to have instant heat when you start your day. Paul, you are really good with those Honey-do lists.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good morning. We are now in Mercedes. Hoping to catch up with the two of you again. We start our NOMADS project next Monday. So perhaps one day this week. Wednesday we go to Corpus Christi and Thursday over to Mexico. Leonard actually saw the benefit of getting my new partial denture over there and I pick up the new one on Thursday.

    On Friday and Saturday we have to be here when the other NOMADS arrive to get them settled as we are the team leaders on this project.

    So how does either Monday or Tuesday look? We have no problem driving over to your area.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Isn't it amazing what those little propane heaters can do? Equally amazing to me is how very handy Paul is.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paul never ceases to amaze me with his resourcefulness. You will really be much warmer now, and from the sounds of it, that will be very good! Tell him to watch out working around that Dirt Devil, he's likely to try to influence Paul in ways he wouldn't recognize. We'll be praying for him.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Please check your schedule and see when you can work us in for an install...Thanks!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glad that worked out for you! That seems like a pretty scary project to me.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Glad you were able to find an efficient way to keep warm during the cold snap.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great job on the installation. Nice that Paul is so handy with things like that, it sure saves lots of money. Hopefully you won't have to use the Blue Flame heater too much.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good job on the install, Paul. We've been running the propane furnace for a little bit in the mornings to take off the chill, but the days have been warming up quite nicely, and all the sunshine has been keeping us very comfy during the day here in Montgomery.

    ReplyDelete
  14. We love our Blue Flame. I just hate the fact that if we're using it, that means it is cold outside. The girls sit in front of it all the time. But they also prefer sunshine.

    ReplyDelete
  15. you guys will do anything to get it to warm up in the RGV... it apparently worked!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Another project well done by Paul.I've alway wondered how well the Blue Flame heaters worked but never knew anyone that used one. Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am soooo impressed with Paul's adventuresome spirit drilling all those holes in the fiver for your many improvements. Have to say we're sorry to hear you've had a need for your Blue Flame, though. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  18. We were doing the same thing last week. Those parts were so hard to find. We had it a little easier than Paul. We have a bbq mounted on the outside of our rig and were able to run that hose under the sink and hook up the heater. Ours is not as big as yours but yeah- the heat is so much better than electric heaters or the furnace for that matter. And cheaper!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Very Cool! (or warm)
    We ought to look into one of those.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good job Paul. I need to put one of those in our house. See you down the road somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  21. It is always 3 trips to the hardware store AFTER we think we have everything :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving us a comment. We enjoy reading them. Have a great day!