Rusted propane lines on 1972 Shasta: help

I am all for workarounds since my skill kit doesnt include gas plumbing. There already is a CO monitor inside. And I am attempting to talk my friend into an electric heater and a good heating blanket rather than the expense of doing anything about the furnace. She is highly unlikely to ever be boondocking, in fact this trip will decide if she even wants to keep the Shasta at all.

I replaced the '72 furnace in my Starcraft with a Sportsman fish house heater. It's vented and has a thermostatic control valve. Exterior air is supplied by a pipe to the combustion chamber and the flue. I kept the original water heater and cooking stove. All of the copper propane supply pipes were replaced and the main iron supply pipe was sprayed with oil and then blown out before replacing the copper pipes.
It's good practice to have a tee near the appliance at the end of the iron pipe. The tee has a small nipple and cap so that any iron or rust can fall into that nipple and be removed, on occasion.

Well, I disagree with the people that have posted on this tread so far. If you do a good job of testing and make sure you are safe those old Gravity Feed Furnaces were great. (I wish my newer TT had one) They required no electricity. All of the new furnaces do.

You do need to be safe and makes sure you have no gas leaks and make sure the furnace has a good heat exchanger. Unfortunately this does mean you have to take everything apart. That is the only way to make sure it's safe and reliable.

That will be a lot of work and finding a different option would be easier.

I replaced the gas line in our teardrop with copper, easier to work with.

drsolo wrote:

rjxj wrote:
Sorry cant help with a repair place but may I please just offer my opinion on this matter. I would seriouslyconsider a new furnace at that age the heat exchanger is probably rusted also. If the original supply piping is black pipe it could well be rusted too. I would consider replacing it with new hose purchased from a propane supplier. It's probably a gravity type heater, I have looked for them myself with no luck you will probably have to replace it with a fan type model which will then use battery power.

There is no "battery power" in this little old Shasta, but the rusty heat exchanger should be considered and checked. Replacing the furnace would most likely be cost prohibitive. I loaned my friend a little plug in quartz heater.

Either replace or junk it..........lines and furnace (along with any other propane device).

Do it right or don't do it at all.

CO kills.

That is why OLD projects cost more than they are worth........SAFETY

rjxj wrote:
Sorry cant help with a repair place but may I please just offer my opinion on this matter. I would seriouslyconsider a new furnace at that age the heat exchanger is probably rusted also. If the original supply piping is black pipe it could well be rusted too. I would consider replacing it with new hose purchased from a propane supplier. It's probably a gravity type heater, I have looked for them myself with no luck you will probably have to replace it with a fan type model which will then use battery power.

There is no "battery power" in this little old Shasta, but the rusty heat exchanger should be considered and checked. Replacing the furnace would most likely be cost prohibitive. I loaned my friend a little plug in quartz heater.

Sorry cant help with a repair place but may I please just offer my opinion on this matter. I would seriouslyconsider a new furnace at that age the heat exchanger is probably rusted also. If the original supply piping is black pipe it could well be rusted too. I would consider replacing it with new hose purchased from a propane supplier. It's probably a gravity type heater, I have looked for them myself with no luck you will probably have to replace it with a fan type model which will then also use battery power to run the circuit board and fan. These newer heaters are much safer as they have built in safety switches