Barbeque outlet being used for gas input point

[Montrose]

Hi All,
Hope someone can please point me to the right information about this.
Presently on a commercial site in Dorset and the next door van is using his
Barbeque outlet point as an inlet from a 13kg gas bottle.( NB it is NOT a Safefill bottle !)
I am sure there has been a reference to the danger of this practice on here.
Thanks in advance

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi All,
Hope someone can please point me to the right information about this.
Presently on a commercial site in Dorset and the next door van is using his
Barbeque outlet point as an inlet from a 13kg gas bottle.( NB it is NOT a Safefill bottle !)
I am sure there has been a reference to the danger of this practice on here.
Thanks in advance

Hello Montrose,
The practice is potentially highly dangerous for a number of possible reasons.

The first is the inlet does not have a pressure regulator built in, so if the gas bottle being used does not have a regulator fitted it will over pressurise the caravans internal pipework. It could also damage the regulator fitted inside the gas bottle locker by reverse pressurising it with bottle pressure on the wrong side of its diaphragm.

The same internal regulator may also leak gas especially if no gas bottle is connected.

Depending on the types of gas in the bottles if one is propane and the other is butane, the gasses may mix in the butane bottle rendering the butane bottle over pressurised . Whilst the bottle will almost certainly withstand the pressure increase, the Butane bottles over pressure safety features maybe compromised either it may release gas or it mail fail to function if there is a fire.

All in all - a highly unsafe practice.

However if the gas locker regulator has been disconnected and the pipe work sealed, and the external bottle is being used with the appropriate regulator, then there is unlikely to be a problem, but the the problem is how do you know its been done properly and safely.

If you are on a site and you are concerned, you should speak to the warden and point out your concern and ask for another pitch further away from the danger area.The warden (if they are familiar with good gas safety protocols) may take the matter up with caravanner concerned.

 

[Montrose]

Hello Prof
I am very grateful for your response.
I knew it was wrong but not the technical bit that you have supplied.
Site owners have confirmed all you have said (I shew them your mail !)
but have learned they are packing up tomorrow ! - Saturday & leaving
relief !
(Just proves the usefulness of this forum)
Thanks again

 

[VicMallows]

I have often wondered why caravaners adopt this approach (connecting a cylinder to the BBQ outlet). It is particularly prevalent with Brits abroad.

There seem to be two reasons:
* The existing pigtail from the bulkhead regulator is of course too short for an external bottle. You can either replace the pigtail with a longer one; or if you have a 21.8LH butane nut on the end then you can use one of these to add an extension pigtail. (Sadly these are rarely available at the average caravan shop).

* When abroad and using local bottles, it is very easy to obtain a suitable regulator locally ......but near impossible to obtain a straight ADAPTER to allow you to connect the local bottle to your existing bulkhead fitting.

The lesson is of course to do your research before you go away and obtain any necessary bits you might need!

IF you MUST feed into the BBQ inlet (with a REGULATOR on the external bottle), then make sure that you close the valve on the caravan side of your bulkhead regulator.

 

[Dustydog]

Speechless
These things are designed by intelligent people who strive to make our caravanning safe.
Then some Moron comes along and uses the BBQ point as an inlet
Hope I am no where near to such a p***t.
Give me strength B)

 

[ProfJohnL]

IF you MUST feed into the BBQ inlet (with a REGULATOR on the external bottle), then make sure that you close the valve on the caravan side of your bulkhead regulator.

If you caravan has an isolator valve down stream of the regulator. Not all do have.

These is also the possible problem of foreign regulators may not be set to the UK standard pressure 30mBar for modern caravans, but our older dual system of 28 Butane and 37 for propane was not mimicked across Europe. Some were as high as 50mBar, and of course some camping gaz systems did not use a regulator - though these were mainly small cartridge lights or single burner systems.

 

[MichaelE]

I have back fed using the bbq point. My reason was the bulkhead regulator failed when away for the weekend.
I isolated at the regulator and used the correct regulator on the gas bottle. If as pointed out by Prof then i can see not reason why it isnt safe? As the pipework to the outside point is teed off from the pipework in the bulkhead all you are doing is getting the gas into the system via a different point of entry? The only issue i see is the connectors would be restrict the flow of due to size .You would notice a drop in pressure if all appliances were on.

 

[RayS]

I understood that on recent vans the bbq point includes a non return valve specifically to stop this practice.
The practice is somtimes used in Spain as the large 12 kg bottles will not fit into some front lockers. But with the regulator fitted to the bottle at least thr flexible connection contains gas at the reduced pressure not at full bottle pressure as all uk caravans now do.