Quick Connect Propane Option

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by dosby

This is what I bought on Amazon last year
Cuisinart CGG-306 Chef's Style Portable Propane Tabletop, Professional Gas Grill, Two-Burner, Stainless Steel

Apparently it's discontinued:
DISCONTINUED CHEF'S STYLE STAINLESS TABLETOP GRILL

[dlakeman]

I purchased a CampChef grill. I bought a 10 foot flexible propane hose, and installed the proper male and female connections so I could connect the hose to the grill and other end to trailer without regulator. Works great.

[Akfishman]

I use a campchef 2 burner grill, with flattop griddle, bbq box, and artisan oven. I changed the connection to a quick release and bought 20’ quick connect hose. The regulator on the trailers propane tanks works great. I also changed the connection on my Kuma gas fire pit. All for a few dollars on Amazon. Took a few minutes to change. Save the factory supplied hoses with regulator install a quick connect on the hose that way you could run them off a propane bottle without having to connect to the trailer. I wouldn’t have ordered the oven with my trailer had I known how great the artisan oven works

[zsbright]

I need some help here. I have tried two different camp stoves (Napoleon 285 and Weber Traveler) with my external quick connect propane and a 12ft hose. The flame on the stoves is so low that it barely burning. Not hot enough to cook anything.
I removed the regulators on both but can't seem to get enough propane pressure to generate a flame worth cooking on. Any advice?

[Mike G]

My new-to-me 2012 19' has the LP quick-connect by the door. At first I was a bit excited about this feature, but now it seems more like a useless appendage (like an extra left foot ) than a benefit.

I have a number of things that can run on a 1 lb disposable LP bottle, that I might want to hook to the trailer's LP system:
Weber Q100 grill
2-burner camp grill, 40 years old, not sure of brand
single burner butane/propane dual fuel burner, GasOne
Portable Buddy heater
Coleman BlackCat catalytic heater

Since all of these are made to run on a disposable tank, obviously each and every one of these must currently possess a built-in regulator. Otherwise the little bottle has waaay to much pressure (same with a 20 lb tank). So I'm thinking to myself, why would I ever want to remove all these regulators when I can simply turn off one of my 20 lb tanks, unscrew its hose, and attach an auxiliary hose between the tank and the appliance? The tanks are not very far away from the quick-connect; if a hose will reach one, there's a pretty good chance it will reach the other. Besides, if I removed all those regulators, none of the appliances would function with a disposable bottle (like if I want to use them farther away than the hose will reach).

I don't see the point of the quick-connect. For me, it's a dud!

[GPS]

Well. It sounds like you carry around a lot more than what others do, so yeah, might not be a good fit for you. For me, one stove, its my outdoor kitchen. I think that's its intended purpose.

[Iowa Dave]

Like several other features of the Escapes the outdoor hookup is a very usable feature if that’s your camping style. We use ours on occasion with our campfire in a can, others use their’s with some high quality stoves and ovens with just a connecting hose.

I do not believe the one pound cans of propane are economical or environmentally friendly and I’m not interested in bleeding propane off of the main tanks to refill them.

Personally I prefer my 11 lb propane tank that is refillable just like the bigger tanks and easily potable for remote use away from the trailer. I keep it in the front box and have for years. One refill per year usually does it for me.
At the end of the season I use it to run my Weber Q at home till it’s empty, get it refilled before spring and put it back in the front box for another season. I have a convenient hardware store where I get iit refilled for less than 1/3 the per pound cost of a disposable cylinder.
To each his own.
Iowa Dave

[Dave Walter]

Have been using the quick connect on my 2013 19' for 10 years with a portable grill and for our fire bowl. Is so much more convenient to use than carrying a separate tank or disconnecting/connecting directly to the tanks on the trailer.

[Randy in Maine]

I power up my Camp Chef Ranger stove and with the 20" griddle attachment on it and my Weber Q-1200 BBQ.

I also have a nice Blackstone 27" griddle that works super with it, but I am now leaving it at home since I picked up the other griddle.

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by Randy in Maine

I power up my Camp Chef Ranger stove and with the 20" griddle attachment on it and my Weber Q-1200 BBQ.

I also have a nice Blackstone 27" griddle that works super with it, but I am now leaving it at home since I picked up the other griddle.

Okay, so that's 3 separate items. Did you remove the regulators from all of them, or are you saying they all work fine despite the gas being regulated twice?

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by GPS

Well. It sounds like you carry around a lot more than what others do, so yeah, might not be a good fit for you. For me, one stove, its my outdoor kitchen. I think that's its intended purpose.

I don't carry them all at once, but I bought them all for camping and want them for that purpose, so any of them might get packed for one trip or another. I agree, if it were only one item to modify and if I never would use a 1 lb bottle on it again for any reason, it would make sense.

[Randy in Maine]

Originally Posted by Mike G

Okay, so that's 3 separate items. Did you remove the regulators from all of them, or are you saying they all work fine despite the gas being regulated twice?

The Blackstone and CampChef are designed to work with low pressure gas and the Weber I just had to remove the regulator that came with it from my local ACE hardware store. I also have two 12' extension hoses and a Y adaptor just to have when needed. Works slick.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Mike G

My new-to-me 2012 19' has the LP quick-connect by the door. At first I was a bit excited about this feature, but now it seems more like a useless appendage (like an extra left foot ) than a benefit.

I have a number of things that can run on a 1 lb disposable LP bottle, that I might want to hook to the trailer's LP system:
Weber Q100 grill
2-burner camp grill, 40 years old, not sure of brand
single burner butane/propane dual fuel burner, GasOne
Portable Buddy heater
Coleman BlackCat catalytic heater

Since all of these are made to run on a disposable tank, obviously each and every one of these must currently possess a built-in regulator. Otherwise the little bottle has waaay to much pressure (same with a 20 lb tank). So I'm thinking to myself, why would I ever want to remove all these regulators when I can simply turn off one of my 20 lb tanks, unscrew its hose, and attach an auxiliary hose between the tank and the appliance? The tanks are not very far away from the quick-connect; if a hose will reach one, there's a pretty good chance it will reach the other. Besides, if I removed all those regulators, none of the appliances would function with a disposable bottle (like if I want to use them farther away than the hose will reach).

I don't see the point of the quick-connect. For me, it's a dud!

I connected a high pressure port (same threads as a disposable bottle) to an Acme fitting, then a regulator and finally a low pressure QD fitting. If I want to use any of my appliances, all modified to run on low pressure, I connect this assembly to a 20-lbs cylinder and can run them anywhere. Like (Iowa) Dave, I do not find the disposables environmentally friendly, and they are far more expensive for the amount of propane you get than when you refill a 20-lbs cylinder. I also have a “Y-fitting” if I want to run two things at once. I also find the trailer’s QD fitting an easy place to attach my manometer should I want to test the trailer’s regulator.

And in regards to the previous post, nothing will work correctly if regulated twice.

[IanC]

I ordered the propane connection and never found a use for it. Instead, I picked up a 5lb. refillable tank which allows me to cook wherever I want. I also got a "Y"adapter so I can run my Weber Q Grill and CampChef stove at the same time. The tank mounts on the rear bumper and is super convenient. I keep a small luggage scale on hand to monitor how much propane I have left. The propane connection is a waste of money in my opinion, given nothing works with it unless modified.

[Mark B1]

Originally Posted by WillyB

Thanks so much!

I bought a Napoleon TravelQ 285 grill and it has a regulator to reduce bottle pressure to 11" WC. Based on your info it looks like this should work without issue.

Do I need to remove the TravelQ regulator or would this still be okay?

I know 2 others who have converted the Napoleon TravelQ 285 for use with the trailer low pressure quick connect. You need to remove the regulator and and put the appropriate hose/connector to connect to your trailer. It is actually quite easy.

[Mike G]

Too bad ETI doesn't leave those quick-connect lines unregulated. Then just about everything would work on it, without mods.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike G

Too bad ETI doesn't leave those quick-connect lines unregulated. Then just about everything would work on it, without mods.

Everything with it's own regulator, that is... and nothing designed for low pressure.

It would be unsafe to deliver unregulated propane to an outlet normally used for a regulated supply of low-pressure propane. The RV standard for convenient tank-pressure propane connections is the "needle valve" or "appliance" fitting with 1"-20 thread, as found on a one-pound single-use propane cylinder.

One difficulty in supplying unregulated propane is that the changeover valve is in the regulator, so if the supply is tapped before the regulator, it will be from only one tank. It's common to do that with a simple tee fitting, but it will also draw from whatever tank it is attached to.

[Centex]

Originally Posted by Mike G

Too bad ETI doesn't leave those quick-connect lines unregulated. Then just about everything would work on it, without mods.

Doesn't 'just about everything' designed to work with un-regulated tank pressure have a hose with a Type-1 male fitting?

Or even 'worse', fitting for a disposable tank on the appliance, either which would require some sort of mod / adaptor for mating with a high-pressure (tank-pressure) quick-disconnect (QD) fitting if that were provided on the trailer?

Personally, I'm happy to not have any lines or fittings at tank-pressure running under my trailer (tank pressure being ~145psi or greater depending on temperature; regulated ~11"WC pressure being <0.5psi).

It's easy enough to convert most appliances with a regulator to 'already regulated' supply / extension hose, and if desired one can use low-pressure QD fittings at the appliance to facilitate quick-swap between the appliance OE regulator hose (allowing direct connection to a tank) OR an 'already regulated supply' extension hose (allowing connection to the RV industry standard QD fitting).

YMMV.

[Centex]

Originally Posted by dosby

This is what I bought on Amazon last year
Cuisinart CGG-306 Chef's Style Portable Propane Tabletop, Professional Gas Grill, Two-Burner, Stainless Steel

Hmmm, thanks for that mention. I've had a two-burner Napoleon TQ-285 sitting in my Amazon cart for a while but at half the price I pulled the trigger on the two-burner Cuisinart due to arrive today.

Pros-and-cons to each but I'm gonna at least check out the Cuisinart, the overall package size and shape, latching lid for carrying, and a few other details make it attractive to me (YMMV) .... we'll see ....

[Iowa Dave]

It’s fairly common in the west to camp in Forest Service campgrounds where the site is a little tight and sometimes the picnic table is up on a graded deck or down below from where the trailer is parked. I don’t mind carrying my Weber Q, the 11 lb cylinder and the hose to the picnic table. Then I get whatever I’m.cooking, two beers and my trusty camp chair and set down, off from the camper a little ways. and contemplate the day and it’s remains. Helps me to unwind. And since I never lifted barbells, keeps my guns in shape.
Iowa Dave