Questions About Plumbing for Propane

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

Originally Posted by wrenchtech

I have acquired this KitchenAid cooktop, some orifices, and I am going to order these cheap imported regulators (because there are no other kind). The green regulator is a popular item on Amazon, which lots of reviewers are saying they used to repair gas grills and turkey fryers. It works with 30 psi at the inlet and puts out 9" W.C. (0.325 psi) I will replace the nat gas regulator that came with the cooktop with it, and regulate the tank output down to 30 psi with this red regulator.

the green regulator could be used inside but the vent will have to be piped to the outside.
the MAXITROL brand regulators half and three quarter inch pipe size are from the factory made to handle propane or natural gas without having to change anything and has a limited vent on it for indoor use without having to pipe it to the outside.
most lp appliances operate off of 7-11" water column which is just under a 1/2 a psi.
you could ditch the second stage regulator at each appliance and just get a dual stage first stage regulator for the tank which will take the pressure from 30 psi at the tank down to the 7-11" water column pressure required at each piece of equipment the only downside of this is that if for example that your water heater has a 3/8" connection and is 15 feet from the regulator then you would need to upsize your line to a 1/2" or 5/8" instead of 3/8" there but it would keep any regulators out of the bus.
the MAXITROL brand is cheap,reliable and pretty much trouble free.
I can help you size your lines if needed.
i dont recommend soft copper tubing in a mobile environment because as it flexes from vibration and movement it work hardens and will eventually break from metal fatigue.
i have heard of others using the CSST tubing but the few buildings or jobs i have used it in i didnt particularly like it? maybe because it was new to me.
the cuts and joints have to be perfect or it will leak so in a mobile application i would want to support every fitting connection so that new there would never be any strain on that connection but it was alot quicker to install than screw pipe or copper brazed hard pipe until it came time to leak test it.i personally would run schedule 40 steel thread pipe underneath and turn up and penetrate the floor through a sleeve to protect it from rubbing with steel pipe close enough to the appliance and support it with a shut off valve and then use the 18-24" flexible gas appliance lines sold at the store.
thats my option but i do piping for a living and have access to a threading machine,welding machine,and have torches for brazing.
if anyone is near me and want plumbing piping help just PM.

[Dragonpop]

The propane regulator looks like the one I have on my stove. If you take a quarter and insert it into the brass slot on the top of the regulator and push in and turn counter clockwise the center plug will come out leaving a light spring inside. You then turn the plug upside down and reinsert it into the regulator and push it in with the quarter engaging the two small notches on the outer rim of the plug and turn clockwise. This will expose the stamped abbreviation for propane on the plug. You now have changed the regulator to propane. Now if we had pictures of the propane nozzles we could tell you how to change the nozzles over. The nozzles are where the tube attached to the burner slides over.