We recently bought a 2005 Itasca Horizon, and it has a good sized propane tank. Rather than have to carry around a bottle for my BBQ, what would be ideal is if there was a hose and connection off the main tank that I could just connect my BBQ to.
I was wondering if anyone has done this before, and if they have any advice, comments, instructions, warnings, etc.
I thought that is what I'd do until I did lots of homework on the topic, and they do make special connections and hoses to do it. It all depends on your propane grill and if it has a regulator or not, and whether or not you are connected pre or post regulator on the motorhomes tank. Also, if you have a Weber Q, the Weber company recommends you use the smaller disposable cylinders or a small DOT cylinder. I chose to haul a 10 lb refillable DOT cylinder (half the size you would have connected to your home grill) rather than messing with a hose. And I have a very large on board propane tank - 42 gallons or 174 lbs. Just much easier to mess with the small DOT cylinder and short hose than mess with a long 18 foot hose and a grill that is temperamental when trying to light because it is connected to that long hose.
Now having said all that, if you do decide to hook up a hose anyway, it is cheaper to have a propane shop set it up for you. They have all the quick connections and everything to plumb it in.
I installed a T in mine for my BBQ and others. Been working great for 5 years. I still keep a couple small LP bottles in case I want to use the BBQ in a different location. I have about 10' of hose.
I 'T"ed into my iron gas pipe on the curb side going to the kitchen range..have a quick disconnect hose about 15 feet long...this is low pressure gas (post regulator) and it works GREAT with a Weber Q that has the regulator removed and a quick connect fitting in its place...I think Weber is one of the few where the gas valve is actually seperate from the regulator, making it an easy mod...never a lighting problem and the hose is very supple and easy to store
2006 Mountain Aire 43
Short haired wife, long haired daschund and 3 sugar gliders are co-pilots, along with Garmin Nuvi 855
05 Honda Pilot with Air Force One supplemental brake
Blue Ox Aventa II towbar
Whirlpool Residential Fridge !!!
Yep. Did the above. My 'T' goes straight down. Cut a hole in the bracket for the hose to pass through. This lets me close the compartment door without pinching the hose.
May God bless your travels
Me, The Wonderful Wife
and two Spastic Border Collies U.S. Army Retired 2004 Coachmen Aurora, 3480DS 2007 Saturn Outlook, FROG
We too thought we wanted to tap off the MH tank to use a "mountable" grill - but after researching that type setup (and the grill) we decided not to do it. Install issues {tapping into the gas line + drilling holes in the sidewalls to mount the grill rail} was not in my mind set. Plus the trouble of doing all that to simply connect a VERY high-dollar mountable grill - just crazy...
We found a good quality grill {with folding legs} at Kmart, cost 40 bucks. No gas pipe engineering work, no fixed grilling location, and I could replace that little grill 5 times and not even touch the cost of a new "mountable" grill!
Our little Kmart grill has it's own regulator, and we found a 10-pound propane tank to power it (we were able to use the hose from the extendaflow kit that came with our MH). The 'short' propane tank is half as tall as a gas grill tank, weighs half as much, and it easily fits into the belly box.
I think the trick to making it easy to haul and to use our little grill & tank is the "Tank Foot" (camping world item #42247) on sale this week for $8. Keeps the tank really secure / upright both in storage and while in use outside. We also store the grill in a perfect size $5 snap-tight plastic storage box.
We have spent about $75, have quick set-up of the grill where-ever we want it, and it all packs neatly into a belly-box. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
I have used Extend A Flow for many years works great. I don't understand some of the post about grill types and adaptation. The extend a flow hose has the same fitting as what a 16oz gas bottle would have so I never modified anything. I like the grill away from the camper so I purchased an extension hose. Because of the gas connection being on the street side of the current camper and having to run the hose under the camper I just purchased a 10lb tank and set the grill or smoker any where I want. If we are camping with friends (we often do) I can take my grill to there site.
Extend A Flow kit has all the pieces, or you can buy them separately for maybe a little less.
I can see doing it for convenience, if you think your stove or grill tethered to the RV is a convenience, and driving the RV to a propane dealer for refills is a convenience. This can go either way. I sometimes grill more than 50 feet away, that's a lot of hose. One of our camping buddies put the equivalent of an Extend A Stay on his motorhome when he bought it, so he would never have to take the motorhome somewhere to fill the LPG tank, has been using 20 pound bottles for the past 10 years.
If you are doing it for the cost, figure out how often you use that grill, how many one-pound bottles you go through, compare that to cost of conversion. Along the lines of spending $130,000 for a new MH that gets 12 mpg to replace the one that gets 8 mpg, to same money on fuel. Need to figure out the payout period for your own pattern of use.
This has been done many times and some coaches even come with a "quick coupling" installed to connect a grill. The only thing to be aware of is whether the connection point is before (high pressure) or after the regulator (low pressure). If your connection point is before the main regulator, use a single appliance (small) regulator permanently affixed to the hose AT THE TANK END. Failure to do so will allow the hose to be filled with high pressure LP. This poses two problems, one, if you shut off the grill, the hose remains full of high pressure LP and will be released upon disconnecting the hose at either end. This could cause a big FLASH of fire. Second, if you shut off thew source, the grill will continue to burn until all of the gas is consumed. That must be done each and every time you want to disconnect. Installing the regulator on the tank end of the hose eliminates these problems and the danger of a flash-over.
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