cat. heater's fuel supply-Inside??

[pebblepoint]

My Overlander doesn't have a cat. heater, but I'm interested in buying one or two.
In a previous post, someone mentioned an 11 pound propane bottle being hooked to theirs. This sounds like they are using it indoors.
I just recently bought a Mr. Buddy heater (great unit) for my popup and it says to never put the auxillary propane tank indoors. I bought a hose to keep it outside. Problem there is that cold weather reduces the amount of propane that you can use from the bottle.
Do any of you have your bottle inside? Is this safe? Would a gas detector protect me?
Thanks from a newby.
don

[Pick]

I am against putting the gas bottle inside. They tell you these things for a reason, and that is the leak potential. I would not worry about propane in cold weather. Propane starts to boil at -47 F. Butane, on the other hand, starts to boil off at 31 F. So as long as it is over -40 F, I would not worry about having the bottle outside. Millions of homes are heated in the Northern United States with propane tanks sitting outside.

My cat heater which is mounted on the credenza, next to the fridge, is tapped into the fridges line, with a "T". Most AS have the propane plumbing mounted on the underbelly skin, so it should not be a problem to tap into it for an aux heater.

[davidz71]

Don,
I'm the one who had the earlier post on an 11 lb. bottle inside. I have used this combination for 16 yrs. in tents with the bottle outside most of the time and tried it last year in my 31' during the winter before installing my Wave 6. It does have the potential for disaster IF you do not check the connections carefully for leaks. I have a 12 ft. hose and run the bottle as far away as I can. I advise you to look at tapping into your existing gas system and running a quick disconnect through the floor or bulkhead if you are looking for a portable unit hooked to a larger bottle source. Go to www.rvsolarelectric.com for a description of this setup.

[Pahaska]

I heated my house in the Colorado mountains with propane and it worked just fine at 20 below zero. That should be a whole lot colder than you ever use your A/S.

[davidz71]

During all those years of camping in cold weather, the coldest it ever got was around 14 degrees. I had no trouble with the propane catalytic. 10 yrs. ago I bought a GAZ backpacking lantern which uses a propane/butane combination and had trouble lighting it in freezing weather. I remember reading that propane works better in colder weather than butane but am not sure of the source.