I will know soon if I am right: I received today a set of Wahl Temp-Plate (the world's smallest temperature recorder) that I will stick on my regulator in a series of tests. My current guess is that this regulator has a component quality problem that may be aggravated by high temperature. As a case, I submit this picture from BigJohn:
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=BigJohn&project=639&category=0&log=198056&row=2
It shows damage that are way beyond overheating, this is sign of a short circuit.
The new location is not the solution because:
- Convection cooling is less effective than forced air cooling
- Convection cooling "upside down" is even worse because in the new location the hot air has nowhere to go but down.
This make me believe (and I hope I am wrong) that VANs "engineered" this solution by the seat of their pants rather than with tests and trials which is what I intend to do.
For those that may be interested, this is the web site that sells the Wahl Temp Plates:
www.palmerwahl.com
The strips I got (10 for $31) are marked 71, 82, 93, 104 deg centigrade which is a good spread around the max temp indicated by the regulator manufacturer.