LP extension for grill

Before you jump in and connect to the high pressure side of your propane tank, you better do a little research. There are many considerations when designing a SAFE propane fuel delivery system. I will just go into enough detail to ward off potential hazards. The propane gas system in our RV is a VAPOR delivery system. A pressure regulator that is located close to the storage tank(s)reduces and regulates pressure to about 11" WC, that is less than 1/2 PSI. Most common is a two stage regulator. The first regulator takes the tank pressure that can vary from below 10 PSI to more than 200 PSI and down to about 10 PSI. The second stage regulator delivers a steady flow to the various gas appliances in the RV at 11" WC. Some of the appliances may have an additional regulator as well. Here is where the trouble starts. Our RV may not have a factory installed connection for an auxiliary appliance. To illustrate, here are two examples. I had a RoadTrek van camper that had a connection for a BBQ grill. The quick connect hose was connected to a separate high pressure regulator (15 PSI)to provide enough working pressure so that the built-in regulator found on most portable propane gas grill would operate properly. When I moved into an Itasca Navion class C camper I wanted an outdoor connection just like my RoadTrek. At the tank I installed a tee just before the dual stage regulator where I connected a 10 PSI regulator. From there I installed a 20 foot hose to a quick connect at the rear of the RV. Using an adapter hose of about 15 foot in length I can place the grill anywhere convenient. Question: Is that hose and quick connect rated for 200+ PSI? Here is an actual experience that I had. The high pressure regulator on my RoadTrek failed and vented nearly a full tank of propane. To get by, I removed the regulator and connected the pigtail directly to the tank. Since the daytime temperature at the lake in Northern California was in the triple digits, the pressure in the hose to the grill was insane and above what it was rated. I could turn off the tank and the grill would continue to operate for a couple of minutes. A week later we were at Lake Louise in Canada where it was quite cold. Now the unregulated propane is condensing in the hose and the grill is acting funny. Then I got ambitious and installed the new regulator I bought at a propane supplier in Washington State before we crossed the border. Back to normal. So, when it got to my new RV, I wasn't going to screw around. I learned by example why the regulators are there. The next example is a friend bought a new fifth wheel that had three outside gas connections. His old rig had a setup like mine that we made up. He connected his grill and it barely lit. The connections on his new rig are behind the regulator so there is not enough pressure to operate the built in regulator on the grill. There are not a lot of choices in grills that he liked so plan B: modify a portable gas grill by removing the regulator. Tough to do when you have a regulator with a built in control. There are several Coleman grills that lend themselves to modification. We opted to modify the Weber 200 portable. The regulator is a separate unit and easily removed and replaced with a short pigtail and quick connect. That bad boy does the job and then some. In many cases it is easier to use or add a connection to the existing gas lines. If you choose to have a separate high pressure line, make sure it has a regulator in it regardless of the length of hose off the tank. A 10 or 15 PSI regulator will suffice for most BBQ grills and stoves. But, there may not be enough flow to handle the higher BTU output of a fireplace or cooker. There are a variety of fixed and variable regulators that will deliver the necessary pressure. Be safe. A propane tank at 130 deg. is over 300 PSI. :E