Coleman Roadtrip, Hook To Low Pressure

Thanks to all who replied but I think for the time being I'll have to wave the white flag and clamp the hose onto it.

I measured the pipe and it measured .310" which is .0025" shy of 5/16". I went to Lowes and struck out completely. I went to ACE as suggested by wowens79 and even though they had a better selection than Lowes I still couldn't find anything that would thread onto it. I saw some 5/16" flare fittings so I bought a nut and a fitting to switch it to 1/4" NPT. When I went to flare it I found that I couldn't put the nut on and have enough room for the flaring tool. I have a tubing bender and tried use it to straighten the bend out so that the flare nut would move on back. Well it's not copper and I wasn't able to take any of the bend out. I even tried to put a little heat to it but no luck.

I ordered a hose which should be here next week so I'll just have to wait 'till then and clamp it up.

Thanks for your clamp info myredracer. I'll do the same thing or something similar.

Thanks to all
Danny

danrclem wrote:
Myredracer, are those clamps you put on your quick connect supply available at hardware store. They look very sturdy.

The insulated pipe clamps are from a plumbing wholesaler. They are sized based on the o.d. of the pipe they're clamping - 1/2" IP or 3/4" copper, 3/4" IP or 1" copper, etc. Might be best to take in the part you'll clamping.

The flat stand-off brackets are for Uni-strut (or similar) electrical channel and HD carries them. Both the clamp and bracket use 3/8" threaded rod. I bought a couple of galvanized carriage bolts and cut the heads off.

The dust plug was the hardest part to find and I got it from an industrial hose supplier.

On my Coleman stove the thread was not a normal pipe thread, but it was the same thread as a tire valve stem. My local Ace Hardware had a fitting that would connect to it, and convert it to a normal pipe thread.

Unfortunately my stove is high pressure, and I just got a tiny flame of the low pressure connection. I spent a bunch of time looking for what thread was on that stupid connection. Then I was walking to the truck leaving Home Depot, and I saw my tire, and bingo, there was the valve stem, and it screwed right on.

Thanks for all of the replies.

Unfortunately mine is not like the picture that myredracer posted. I was able to unscrew the connection out of the regulator. I'm hoping that I can match those threads with something or find a copper fitting that I can solder to it. If those two options don't pan out I took the fitting just inside the grill off and maybe I can find something that will adapt to that.

If none of those three things don't work I'll have to clamp a hose to the curved tube. If I do clamp a hose to it I'll try to put a double flare on the tubing to help hold it tight. I'll report on my progress asap.

Myredracer, are those clamps you put on your quick connect supply available at hardware store. They look very sturdy.

Thanks to all, Danny

I did the mod on our old Road Trip grill and shown in the photo. Worked well. You don't want two regulators in series.

Taking the pieces apart on the Coleman regulator may be really tight or may not be. I had to take ours to a machine shop. When you take the knurled piece apart, there is a little spring & plunger inside that is the check valve. Be careful that they don't get away on you and make sure to put them back in.

If you have such a place in your area, I'd go to an industrial hose supplier. They'll have all the right parts. I went to 3 different retail places to get the right parts. I'd suggest a 20' hose so you can move the grill around and a 3/8" dia. (not 1/4") to get better flow. There are a couple of types of material the hoses are made from and one is very flexible and is easy to uncoil. The other can get stiff in colder weather.

Don't know what's under the TT but you might be able to add a tee either at the line to the furnace, stove or fridge. On a previous TT it had a capped tee already. The 2nd photo shows the quick connect fitting I added on the same TT. If you end up having to add a tee that isn't where you want the female quick connect fitting you could always run a length of 1/2" rubber propane hose and tie wrap it in place. Leak test what you modify with soapy water and use the correct PTFE tape.

There is a bit more to it than described above but this should not affect the O/P

The curved tube from the regulator that connects to the grill has a valve, like a tire valve stem type valve in it. There is a probe in the grill's half that depresses the valve so propane can flow, if the regulator is not connected to the grill no flow. (Safety feature) this is not true of many other grills by the way Just so you know.

However since the valve is in the regulator portion.. It does not affect the O/P
What you'd need is to have a Propane store find a fitting that matches the fitting on the grill (either that or wack the regulator off the curved pipe, which I do not suggest, Unless the regulator has failed for other reasons) and attach a hose to it.. That way you could simply connect at the low pressure point.

I'm not comfortable doing that kind of work myself.. though I do have the skills, But though I am comfortable working with propane.. NOT THAT comfortable. After all as I answered for the class during test review:

What happens if you mix Air and propane in the proper ratio and there is a spark?

You land 2 counties over... (When the laughter died the instructor said "Exactly")
3

danrclem wrote:
I borrowed this picture from Gene and Ginny from the link I gave in the OP and this is what I have which is different than the regulator in the video. This on has a sleeve that slides back so that it can be connected to the grill

That's just what I did with ours. The regulator just unscrews from the pipe with the grill connector. then because it's already low pressure a hose clamp on the pipe works fine.

I borrowed this picture from Gene and Ginny from the link I gave in the OP and this is what I have which is different than the regulator in the video. This on has a sleeve that slides back so that it can be connected to the grill. I may have to do it like this with clamps.

naturist wrote:
Do be aware that there are/were two different bayonet quick connects used on RVs. The two look to the eye to be identical, but they are completely incompatible, with each other as well as with the common quick connect used for compressed air.

When I did my grill, I had the advantage of buying the male QC coupling from an RV dealer who told me about the two, and even sold me one of each with the promise of a refund when I brought back the one that didn't work.

Thanks for that info naturist because wasn't aware that there were two types. I was wondering about the air connects since they're so common but wasn't going to use them unless I could verify without doubt that they would work.

My camper doesn't have a quick connect port right now so I have to plumb one in. I'll buy all of my quick connects from the same supplier so I know they'll all be the same.

You cannot run two reg's. You'll end up with zilch for pressure.
Been there and got the T-shirt.