Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Martin

I must encourage you to ignore the aspect of Mikeys post where he admits to carrying gas bottles inside his car. The practice is exceedingly dangerous, regardless of the legalities.

Vapour take off bottles (as used for caravans) Must be secured with proper restraints stored and carried upright, in properly ventilated space. They should not be stored or carried on their sides in enclosed unventilated containers (like cars).

LPG being heavier than air and will collect in low lying areas like footwalls of cars,

Even a small leak path from a damaged or incompletely tightened valve can vent a substantial amount of gas over time, and with all the electrical switches and motors in cars there are plenty of ignition sources. It does not take much gas to provide enough energy to blow out all the windows of the car, or even rip the roof open, not to mention the burns and injuries it will cause to any occupants.
 
Nov 4, 2004
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I never carry the bottle on its side,its upright and strapped down.

It is actually against the law to carry gas in the car? If it is you wouldnt be able to collect it would you?

I always check the valve is tight and the plastic bung is in place.

I have never had any luck with getting cylinders refilled.
 
Aug 4, 2004
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We also used to carry our gaas bottle in the car as a 13 or 19 kg bottle was a lot cheaper to refill than a 6kg bottle. It was carried upright and secured. Being an old truck with leaky doors didn't even need air con.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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I chose my words very carefully; I did not say it was illegal for private caravanners. But it is a contravention of the regulations for LPG used for work.

However it is ridiculous that a practice that is banned for professional people at work who are given training is deemed safe and acceptable for private individuals who have received no training or assessment of competency where because of poor knowledge the dangers are greater.

The fact is, it is not deemed as safe, its just that H&S can only be enforced on people on work related activities. This also applies to any organised work even if it is voluntary.

I prefer to offer the safer and more logical advice, even for private individuals where strictly the regulations do not apply.

I point you to a useful document published by Calor Gas.

http://www.calor.co.uk/documents/15/original/carriage-of-lpg-cylinders-by-road.pdf
Page 8 relates to the carriage of LPG in closed vans. - note the requirement for ventilation, and the overall point is that is not recommended as the preferred method of transport.

The carriage of LPG inside cars is clearly a serious risk and it should be avoided at all costs.

The argument that goes,"I've done it many times and nothing has ever happened" is only fooling the sayer.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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I suppose it depends on how much you use each year but for me its no more than 2 full cylinders a year and last year we spent 120 nights in the van. So an increase of a couple of quid here or there is not something I really think about. Having said that gas goes up with oil so if oil prices have risen recently so will gas.

David
 
Oct 22, 2008
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Mikey i would ignore Johnl and do as you and most other members of the public do, pick them up in their cars and transfer to van asap.

how many times have you picked up a newspaper or saw on the news bulletins, that another gas bottle has exploded whilst being transported in a car.......... mmmmmmmm still thinking ? so am i, cast your mind back to the bombers who tried to blow up Glasgow airport, the car had gas bottles inside and petrol, the heat in the car would surely have melted the plastic bung, did it explode? no it did not.

the reason for employers being restricted in use and transport is quite simply the 'blame culture' everyone has to cover their back nowadays, so carry on i would and so will most others.
 
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I never carry the bottle on its side,its upright and strapped down.

It is actually against the law to carry gas in the car? If it is you wouldnt be able to collect it would you?

I always check the valve is tight and the plastic bung is in place.

I have never had any luck with getting cylinders refilled.
hi.

hahaha yeah,it would be quite difficult to pick the gas bottle up without some means of transport,unless you are either jeff capes on a mission,have a wheelbarrow(quite exhausting if your pick up point is a few miles away)or strap it to the wife and tell her she needs the excersise.

maybe john L will enlighten us how he transports his gas bottles.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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hi.

hahaha yeah,it would be quite difficult to pick the gas bottle up without some means of transport,unless you are either jeff capes on a mission,have a wheelbarrow(quite exhausting if your pick up point is a few miles away)or strap it to the wife and tell her she needs the excersise.

maybe john L will enlighten us how he transports his gas bottles.
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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I think that a bit of common sense is called for here (I know John L prefers the term good sense but I'm not about to argue semantics)

Often it is possible to buy lpg at caravan parks which means that there is no need to transport calor gas bottles in vehicles.

When it is not possible to obtain lpg on site many of us use our vehicles to replace empty cylinders regardless of the inherent dangers.

I'm not saying that this is right but it's what actually happens despite what is written on internet forums.

There are obvious risks involved in almost every human endeavour or task but I can't help wondering what actual statistical risk factor applies when assessing the chances of a gas explosion when Joe Soap decides to *** to his local garage in the car to buy a replacement calor gas bottle based on previous real life incidents.

How do the statistics compare with being struck by lightning for example?

We'll never know for sure but the burgeoning mass of rules and regulations which try to limit any remote possibility of risk however rare as opposed to statistical chances of critical incidents are in danger of being completely ignored by the general public because of the sheer scale and pettiness of many of these regulations which overwhelm our daily lives.

The important ones are treated with the same contempt as the pettifogging rules unfortunately.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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I think that a bit of common sense is called for here (I know John L prefers the term good sense but I'm not about to argue semantics)

Often it is possible to buy lpg at caravan parks which means that there is no need to transport calor gas bottles in vehicles.

When it is not possible to obtain lpg on site many of us use our vehicles to replace empty cylinders regardless of the inherent dangers.

I'm not saying that this is right but it's what actually happens despite what is written on internet forums.

There are obvious risks involved in almost every human endeavour or task but I can't help wondering what actual statistical risk factor applies when assessing the chances of a gas explosion when Joe Soap decides to *** to his local garage in the car to buy a replacement calor gas bottle based on previous real life incidents.

How do the statistics compare with being struck by lightning for example?

We'll never know for sure but the burgeoning mass of rules and regulations which try to limit any remote possibility of risk however rare as opposed to statistical chances of critical incidents are in danger of being completely ignored by the general public because of the sheer scale and pettiness of many of these regulations which overwhelm our daily lives.

The important ones are treated with the same contempt as the pettifogging rules unfortunately.
LOL. AGREE
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hi,

I would follow the advice of John L rather than Mikey's. Only a couple of years ago a van driver was unfortunately killed not far from us.He was carrying a gas bottle in his van when it exploded and he was not even involved in a accident.

Regards

Nidge
 
Aug 20, 2009
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If you are planning on keeping the van for a number of years then consider taking it to an LPG fitter and having a vapour take off tank permanently fitted in the front locker.

This will enable you to fill up on LPG equipped forecourts at 60p/litre. 2 litres = approx 1KG so a 6kg propane holds about 12 litres. That's about
 
Aug 20, 2009
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I think that a bit of common sense is called for here (I know John L prefers the term good sense but I'm not about to argue semantics)

Often it is possible to buy lpg at caravan parks which means that there is no need to transport calor gas bottles in vehicles.

When it is not possible to obtain lpg on site many of us use our vehicles to replace empty cylinders regardless of the inherent dangers.

I'm not saying that this is right but it's what actually happens despite what is written on internet forums.

There are obvious risks involved in almost every human endeavour or task but I can't help wondering what actual statistical risk factor applies when assessing the chances of a gas explosion when Joe Soap decides to *** to his local garage in the car to buy a replacement calor gas bottle based on previous real life incidents.

How do the statistics compare with being struck by lightning for example?

We'll never know for sure but the burgeoning mass of rules and regulations which try to limit any remote possibility of risk however rare as opposed to statistical chances of critical incidents are in danger of being completely ignored by the general public because of the sheer scale and pettiness of many of these regulations which overwhelm our daily lives.

The important ones are treated with the same contempt as the pettifogging rules unfortunately.
Agreed. How many of us (honestly) use a ratchet strap to secure the bottle when "nipping to the local garage". We all know we should.....

Personally I always secure all loads having had a crash back in the 1980's with a boot full of electronics stuff. Not my fault but I was almost killed when a large mains inverter (complete with batteries) came flying through the car and embedded itself in the dash. Missed my bonce by a few inches and trashed the front of the car. I hate to think what a full 13KG cylinder could do, especially as we don't caravan alone - always have passengers.

The rules might seem petty but looking a little deeper it's easy to see the logic in some of them.
 
Nov 4, 2004
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Just anothr thought,i have a friend who has a LR discovery V8 coverted to LPG its a 90lts gas tank made out of steel strapped down on its side in the back of the car,i know its thicker steel but still carrying gas in the car.

Could still leak?
 
Nov 6, 2005
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My brothers van in storage which is a round trip of 62 miles,he is not allowed to leave any gas in his van (storage site rules) so has to transport it back and forth.

120 vans on sites thats alot of gas being transported in cars.

Always rules about this and that, I didnt know you werent allowed to store more than 2 x 5 lts of petrol at home?

One BH weekend on a rally and a guy took 4 cans of petrol out of his boot for his jenny,must have had this at home.

I know what would i prefer in the back of my car a steel gas bottle or a plastic can full of petrol?
 
Aug 20, 2009
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Just anothr thought,i have a friend who has a LR discovery V8 coverted to LPG its a 90lts gas tank made out of steel strapped down on its side in the back of the car,i know its thicker steel but still carrying gas in the car.

Could still leak?
LPG conversions have a sealed box around the valves which is piped to the outside of the car. This is usually what the fill pipe and the feed pipe to the engine are run through. It is a requirement that no gas could leak into the inside of the car if something should let go inadvertently.
 
Aug 20, 2009
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My brothers van in storage which is a round trip of 62 miles,he is not allowed to leave any gas in his van (storage site rules) so has to transport it back and forth.

120 vans on sites thats alot of gas being transported in cars.

Always rules about this and that, I didnt know you werent allowed to store more than 2 x 5 lts of petrol at home?

One BH weekend on a rally and a guy took 4 cans of petrol out of his boot for his jenny,must have had this at home.

I know what would i prefer in the back of my car a steel gas bottle or a plastic can full of petrol?
You'll find that either is capable of mashing your bonce in the event of a crash. The sheer weight of 5 litres of petrol would give you a more than serious headache if it were to make contact :)
 

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