This is a great thread- thanks for starting it and for all the contributions.

A "custom" professionally made hose can be designed and obtained in nearly every locality

Would love to have a professionally made custom hose but I struck out in my searches locally (hardware, plumbing and welding supply places). I don't know what search terms to use I guess- suggestions?

These guys will make you anything you could imagine, and their prices are essentially the same as what you could find off the shelf. I'm happy with mine.

http://www.tejassmokers.com/

And just for clarification, it's not the one in the photo in the first post. That was a temporary setup to test the bubble-leak thing for the thread. It was only $10 worth of parts, some I already had, but I agree, hose clamps wont last forever, but the main reason I wouldn't use it is it doesn't have a swivel, it was a PITA to rotate the whole line to put it on, then attach to my tank.

I'll still be leak testing the proper lines, so the arguement that the hose clamp version is unsafe or prone to leaking is relatively invalid. I wouldn't use it without checking each time. If I roasted daily or even twice a week, I wouldn't have bothered with that setup in the first place.

Great- thanks for the link. Ordering now

What is the safe method of purging gas after the roasting session? If the gas line runs from the basement to the tank outside the house that line will hold some gas after the valve is shut off at the roaster. Any reason not to close the valve at the tank and then light the burner or roaster until that residual gas burns off?

That is exactly what I do at the end of a roasting session: turn off the gas at the tank and let the roaster burn off what remains in the lines.

I find this thread quite useful. It taught me to check every time. As I was outdoors, I did perform my roasting experiment with no problem, but I would not want this fitting inside my house!

Here's an addition.

Use the proper Teflon tape for LP/Gas. It is double density and is colored yellow. I'm going to change my gas lines from the single density I ignorantly used ( ), despite the fact that no connections I made with single density have leaked. Apparently the single density can dissolve over time exposed to gas.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but we just started sending tape and leak check with the "roaster kits" In the course of finding a wholesale vendor for 500 small rolls of yellow teflon tape, I was told by the guy that makes the stuff that yellow and white are identical. He claimed that gas tape is yellow to help alert plumbers to the difference between gas pipes (yellow) and water pipes (white). The thickness is highly optional too. He had several different thickness to chose from so I ended up measuring the tape from Home Depot and going with that.

Personally, I prefer pipe dope.

According to this site, white tape comes in both single and double thicknesses, and yellow is all double thickness.
That would explain that some white tape is identical to yellow tape, but....not all...

http://allthumbsdiy.com/references/when ... -pipe-dope

Not to further confuse this issue, but my understanding is that white tape and yellow tape for gas are the same material: Teflon. Teflon is essentially chemically inert and so neither will react with gas or pose any issue in that regard.

Aside from the color the yellow tape is thicker which makes it less likely to shred. The problem with the thin white tape is that it shreds very easily and these pieces can clog small gas orifices if it gets in the pipe. If you can find a thick tape (color doesn't matter) it should be fine for gas.