Baileys D4-4 Gas problems.

[Daxrank]

Hi All,

I have a Baileys D4-4 caravan i live in . I have been running the fridge off Gas for the last 7 months.
Last night the gas bottle ran out and the fridge started beeping as normal. I turned it off for the night.
This morning i changed the gas bottle and turned the fridge back on and it stayed on for 10/15 minutes then cut out.

It did this a few time before i decided to check the gas oven and hobs too. They will all turn on but the flame is not as strong as normal. The oven bar will light half way.. slowly getting more but not strong. and the fridge when reset will stay on for 5/10 minutes then turn itself off again.

It is a new gas bottle and i have weighed it so think it is full.. so gas is coming through but not strong enough it seems? Like the pressure has dropped or something?? Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

 

[Mel]

It might be the gas regulator. I am not very technical but the lack of pressure sounds similar to when ours packed up.
Mel

 

[Hutch]

It might be the gas regulator. I am not very technical but the lack of pressure sounds similar to when ours packed up.
Mel

Mel, didn't you have a hose pigtail problem at one time , or was that someone else, something to do with a Non return valve in the pigtail.

 

[IanB1485]

Its either oil in the regulator or in the lines, this oil is known as 'heavy ends' its a byproduct of the refining and compressing process . Things to note with gas bottles
1. if possible never lay them on their side and if you have to, allow 24 hours stood upright before connecting up.
2. The regulator should be higher up than the outlet of the gas bottle(s) to allow the heavy ends to drain back into the bottle.
3. As you live in the caravan, have you or the site owner connected up a large 47kg bottle to your caravan ? if so then you have broken rule 2 , also I bet the bottle is free standing which just an incident waiting to happen - get it chained up.(note if the bottle outlet is above your caravan regulator this problem will keep reoccurring. You need to get an inline filter / oil trap fitted.
A mobile engineer will quickly be able to ascertain the problem by attaching a manometer to a test point and running your appliances .
attached is a photo of a failed regulator which I cut open ( because I'm that way inclined- I hate a mystery!) which shows the oil build up. This regulator was less than 18 months old and was fitted to a camper, which he had refillable bottles and always refilled at the same garage so I presume their filters were compromised

 

[Mel]

Mel, didn't you have a hose pigtail problem at one time , or was that someone else, something to do with a Non return valve in the pigtail.

We had two issues with pigtails. One where the muppets doing the handover and swapping the gas bottle over from old van to new van somehow had cross threaded it so badly that they had completely mullered it and all the gas leaked out. The second was more recently when the pigtail refused to budge when we were trying to swap over gas bottles. Following advice on this forum we applied a spanner and hit it with a hammer. That did the trick 😀.
The regulator issue was separate; had gas coming through but as soon as you increased demand the gas pressure died. New regulator supplied under warranty.
Mel

 

[ProfJohnL]

Are you using Propane or Butane LPG? As we approach mid autumn and winter the ambient air temperature may not be high enough to keep Butane LPG cylinders from boiling off enough gas. Propane should function throughout all UK weather conditions down to -40C.

In the UK it is probably better to run on Propane all year round, and in may be cheaper to purchase from builders merchants.

But I also agree with Ian, if you have low gas pressure one of the first things to check is the regulator.