After several months of waiting I got my Plat Cat Vented Heater, should be a one day install right? Nope, not that much to it wire power, thermostat, vent and propane but then the problems start mine not the heater. I don't want to drill a 2" hole in the roof, can't go through the side due to the door post, so I need to go through the floor. Call up Plat Cat and the owner tells me the heater can be vented through the floor but will need a special fitting which he will build for me. I've got one spot were I can run the vent through the floor and drill a small test hole and crawl under the van. Just enough room but it's going to take some fancy pluming with ABS pipe to make it work. While I'm waiting to get the floor fitting I decide to go ahead and drill the 2" hole. My van was a insurance adjusters window van with no passenger seats and contained a desk sliding chair and the metal floor was covered with ridged 3/8" poly floor. I drilled through the poly floor and suddenly sparks shot out, many bad words followed. I quickly grabbed some pliers and disconnected the battery. I next had to take out the passenger side bulkhead and get the floor up by the hole. I couldn't believe the company that did the commercial conversion had routed the large bundle of wiring going to the rear flattened it to just fit between the ridges of the metal floor and covered by the poly floor. All but a few of the wire at the bottom were cut most missing 2" of wire and sized 10ga to 20ga. I didn't count but I had to splice 25-30 wires and it took for ever. It was cold in my garage and I couldn't get the wire hot enough with my soldering iron so I ended up buying a butane soldering torch. So that's between 50-60 soldered splices due to the missing 2" of wire. This job just wasn't meant for an old guy with arthritic hands.
Got the wiring done now it's time to check fuses, where the heck is the fuse box? Turns out there are two one buried in the engine compartment the other under the drivers seat. What a pain in the butt, took a couple of trips to the auto parts store and I now have a functioning electrical system. Hopefully no more disasters and I can finish my heater install. One thing that is a shame is the mobile desk and chair that came with the van, I checked on line and they cost $2800 new plus installation. I put it on Craig's list under several categories and couldn't find anyone interested. Wife finally sad it had to go so I had to call bulky item pick-up and it's now in the dump, what a shame.
Got the wiring done now it's time to check fuses, where the heck is the fuse box? Turns out there are two one buried in the engine compartment the other under the drivers seat. What a pain in the butt, took a couple of trips to the auto parts store and I now have a functioning electrical system. Hopefully no more disasters and I can finish my heater install. One thing that is a shame is the mobile desk and chair that came with the van, I checked on line and they cost $2800 new plus installation. I put it on Craig's list under several categories and couldn't find anyone interested. Wife finally sad it had to go so I had to call bulky item pick-up and it's now in the dump, what a shame.
