Can a Black Cat heater be used with a large (20 lb.) propane tank (cheating)?

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Have been making the rounds to hardware and sporting goods stores, and no luck with a converter/adaptor and tubing.

Plus, and probably most importantly, the owner's manual says "don't do it".

Would cheating in this case be life-threatening?

-- Mabel (mabel_louise@yahoo.com), December 30, 1999

Answers

Mabel, please describe a "black cat heater". If it is supposed to run on natural gas, then you would need different sized openings in the burner. Also, you would need the appropriate regulator on the LP tank or you would have a blowtorch. (probably why they say "don't do it"). Just an educated guess based on your question

-- DaveW (dwood@southwind.net), December 30, 1999.

A "black cat" heater is a Coleman catalytic propane heater. They are designed to use the 1 lb propane bottles. The catalytic part of the heater means it produces no carbon monoxide and can be used indoors. They may be able to use the same hose/adapter used with a Coleman propane camp stove, but I have not tried this yet.

-- Al Lanning (ralanning@aol.com), December 30, 1999.

I suspect the warning to not use these heaters with the 20# tanks is because they'll be at the wrong angle. With the small bottles, the heater is rigidly attached to the tank and sits at an angle. But with a hose connection, the angle is wrong -- and the heater could burn the hose if aimed at it (which would cause a rather large fire).

In addition, you'd probably need a pressure controller on the 20# tank when it's hooked to the Black Cat.

-- Dean--from (almost) DuhMoyn (dtmiller@midiowa.net), December 31, 1999.


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