I’m glad to hear that our “how to” videos are being well received. Kristy and I are in a somewhat unique position…although we are now very experienced RV’ers, we clearly remember how it felt to be newbies!

So with the education videos I’ll try to tell people what I wish we’d known when we first got started. The process of learning the RV ropes can be intimidating, so hopefully our website will help. And yes, we’ll do our best to “keep it real!”

I have your RSS feed. Keep up the great work and keep them coming.

MJB

Glad it might be of use! With your big tanks, if it doesn’t work with a drinking glass full, try a little more water – a small cooking pot full, maybe, especially if it is cold out. Always worked for me, and you gotta love those MacGyver solutions!

Alice

1) Fill a vessel (like a drinking glass) with hot tap water
2) Pour the water on the “hip” of the tank so that it runs all the way down the side of your tank
3) Right away, run your bare hand down the side of the tank (from top to bottom) where you poured the hot water
4) Where you feel the change from warm to cold that is the level of the propane in your tank.

Easy (if you can remember how to get the cover on your tank protector open), cheap, and reliable.

At the moment we are in Germany and we’ll spend the next several days here. We’ll definitely do some excursions into the Netherlands and Belgium, and maybe France too.

Anyway, thanks for your note. Merry Christmas to you from the other side of the pond!

Best to you and safe travels.

Bob.

Now one also needs to remember to vent the trailer when using the stove etc… I would recommend not only a gas detector.. which you can get … that send out a shrill voice before you get to the explosive limit… (too little propane for the air and .. no boom… too much propane for the air and .. no boom but get to where its one part per 11-15 of air.. and its SHOW TIME… if it ignites… )

Also one should look.. and you should install a CO detector… so as not to have some problems … and not wake up in the middle of the night if the heater/waterheater or refrig… leaks to the interior of the trailer…

I know some people who use the stove top to help heat the trailer… ahhh bad JU JU… as its a whopping big amount of CO …

So three detectors that you should put on your NICE list… the Co detector, the Gas detector and the Smoke detector.. and exactly where you mount them is different places for the best alert…

I don’t think AS has found out that they really should put them in the trailers… might want to do a TRAILER about install and why.. and send it to ‘em with a note saying… ahhhh… guys… here is a improvement you should put in every new trailer…

if you get out to Pasadena for the rose parade, new year, You can camp right along the route with your AS. may I suggest that you go up on ser madre blvd… towards the end of the route.. as the best for camping out.. its a hoot and something you never will forget… but the floats are soooo great this year…

however, we won’t be their… going to be heading North again for some more magic making .. if it ever snows…

oh and I have to root for texas… as my niece is going to school their… why she didn’t like USC is beyond me… but… oh well… she picked it.. and likes it.. sooooo… go texas…

Hey Merry Christmas … remember to pass it on.. it drives the whiners nuts…

The idea was to have the tank dropped out the back of the pane…some 5,000 gallons I think… with three drag chutes like the space cap… we were told to stay at least 20 miles away from it… as they would drop it… then about 1500 ft from the ground blow the back cover causing the propane to blow out of the tank… and hit the ground… (it being heaver than air… sinked into the tunnel rats holes… ) then as the tank hit the ground… it ignited…

Man you never have seen a shock wave like that one… it was like a spider web opening up the ground… and knocking trees and anything else over 3 ft tall down flat from the blast area… even at 20 miles away.. it rocked the plane… as you could see it coming…

Later in some of the movies the pro’s use propane for blowing things up… and it blew the AS into little pieces about 3 to 4 ft or so…

What I am getting at is… its a bomb… and if not treated with respect it can and does go off with a bang in the right conditons… as one of the pryo guys said .. its about equiv to 4 sticks of TNT per gallon…

Now you want to have that tank unchecked in the back of the PU… hit a bump and launch it out the back.. may just take your breath away when it hits and ruptures on the ground… SO… I wouldn’t just bungee it down next time… think of it this way… even empty its a 30 lb explosive device that if not protected… will and can take the back of the truck off… or go flying into the oncoming traffic and become a flying bomb… hmmmm….

Now you know why most of the new tech people are going to all elect RV’s… much safer…

By the way.. don’t keep the AS plugged in full time.. the univolt will boil the battery to death…as it will stay on charge all the time… not good… we replaced our univolt with a astron power unit… that has a built in regulation.. and then also a battery de-sulfinator… works great.. and no more .. go check the water in the battery to see if its gone… We did this 3 years ago and still using the same batteries… a product of high tech I guess….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPtpnZFBS38

but, if you don’t think the tanks can explode… watch this guy who had a loose one rupture in the back of his pickup truck…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7RNYw11XHM&NR=1

first you see the tank rupture.. then explode… it was the shock wave that knocked him down… the rest is history… as the tank then contenues to burn and take the truck with it… by the way it looks to be a ford like yours Sean…

serious stuff this propane and tanks…

Might want to go into checking for leaks also… not only at the tank but after you travel … as the fittings come lose also… and boom… etc…