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Old 01-15-2025, 02:19 PM   #1
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Replacing Propane Hoses - St Steel Good Idea ?

Greetings -

Seeking opinions on replacing my propane hoses to Suburban heater and water heater/tank - 6 gallons. Hoses - regulator - etc. Not positive on this - but van is 2002 vintage - don't know if previously replaced by original owner ? Van only at 3,740 original miles when I bought it - but 22 years old ! Van now has 32 TH on it - and have never used any propane devices yet. Replacing for proactive upgrade purposes.

I bought st/steel hoses versus rubber - good idea ? Also high pressure regulator planned. I bought 6 ft - 10 ft - and 12 ft hoses - one each -- enough length/variety ?

Please respond with how hard to replace (hours spent) and what was your replace/install experience with cost if you farmed out the job professionally within the last 5 years or so ?

Thanks MUCH !

Russ G

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Old 01-15-2025, 11:09 PM   #2
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We have SS hoses in our home built van so our routing is different from what SMB did on yours.

I guess the first question is what are your current hoses made of. If rubber then replacement may be a good idea. If they are copper they should be fine for the rest of the vans life. This assumes that the copper lines are not rubbing on anything.

One way to tackle the replacement is to figure out how the existing hoses were run. IIRC the routing goes from the tank on the driver to furnace on the passenger side. Most likely under the van along the frame rail and cross members. The replacement lines could follow the same routing.

Hope this helps.
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Old 01-23-2025, 03:38 PM   #3
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Sportsmobile uses clamped copper tubing and plastic covering from what I have seen. One would think copper would be a bit easier to deal with than stainless tubing. You can get fork lift propane line that is (polymer?) braided, protected rubber, but fairly pricey. I did use some of that on a tricky path adding an on demand water heater..
On re reading OP did you buy stainless outer weave rubber hoses? No idea if that would last or tolerate high temps...
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Old 01-23-2025, 03:57 PM   #4
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Surprise surprise - the garage that was doing the work advised I had hard copper going to Suburban heater and hot water tank - Yay ! Sending all back to Amzncabinets to provide more air for credit. I had bought braided lines. On the Suburban heater - it has about 1/2 inch clearance from cabinets - not a good thing - they replaced the igniter - that's all they could get to without tearing out all the cabinets to get to main unit. Advised that I put some vents in cabinets for more air supply, etc.
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