Gas Problems....

[suziemitch1]

We went away over Easter for a nice quiet weekend... lovely I hear you say...it was cold!! and to top it all the fire decided not to work.. we got a small flame but it didnt warm up at all .. the flames on the hob were also very weak unless I sent him out to shake the gas bottle when everything worked great for a short time... My question is do I need to change from butane gas to propane gas and if so is it quite easy to do? Im a bit confused at the best of times but this has completely stumped me!

Thanks all

Suz

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Sue,

Considering how cold it was over the Easter period, and the fact that when your husband shook the bottle it worked for a short time, you need to change to Propane(red bottle).

Butane only works above 0 to 2 degress c. Propane works down to -20C or even lower.

Depending on the age of your caravan you may have to change the regulator.Check your handbook to see if your regulator is one which will work both butane and propane. If in doubt give your dealer a ring.

I am sure by changing to propane your problems will be solved.

I find it better to use propane all year round.

Hamer

 

[suziemitch1]

Sue,

Considering how cold it was over the Easter period, and the fact that when your husband shook the bottle it worked for a short time, you need to change to Propane(red bottle).

Butane only works above 0 to 2 degress c. Propane works down to -20C or even lower.

Depending on the age of your caravan you may have to change the regulator.Check your handbook to see if your regulator is one which will work both butane and propane. If in doubt give your dealer a ring.

I am sure by changing to propane your problems will be solved.

I find it better to use propane all year round.

Hamer

thanks I guess that was the answer I was hoping for ...i was really worried someone would come and say... get out stay out and get the fire brigade out :0)

 

[stevecritchlow]

Since the problems a occur in a number of appliances we can safely say your problem is low gas supply pressure, rather than blocked injectors etc. This can be caused by a number of things. Firstly, the gas bottle getting low, sounds obvious but as we know its not that easy to tell. Pick the bottle up and feel the weight, or swop to a spare. Second, could be the cold affecting the pressure in the bottle. At lower tmperatures gas contracts and the internal pressure reduces, and so the bottle behaves as if its empty. At zero degree centigrade the pressure of commercial propane is 4.5bar,and butane is only 0.9 bar so propane would be much better, I would suspect the use of butane is your problem given the weather. Shaking the bottle will agitate the LPG and therefore temperarily increase the internal pressure (like shaking a can of coke!)

Other things to consider could be a blocked or faulty regulator, just try it in better eather to diagnose this,and maybe small gas leaks from split flexible hoses or loose connections. corgi recommens replaceing flxible supply hoss every coupleof years or so.

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Sue,

Considering how cold it was over the Easter period, and the fact that when your husband shook the bottle it worked for a short time, you need to change to Propane(red bottle).

Butane only works above 0 to 2 degress c. Propane works down to -20C or even lower.

Depending on the age of your caravan you may have to change the regulator.Check your handbook to see if your regulator is one which will work both butane and propane. If in doubt give your dealer a ring.

I am sure by changing to propane your problems will be solved.

I find it better to use propane all year round.

Hamer

Sue,

Sorry forgot to say in changing to propane you will need new connecting pipes from the bottle to the regulator. These are sold at any caravan centre. The cost to change from butane to propane is not expensive.

Just a thought, if you have to change the regulator you could consider an automatic change over system regulator, we use a Gaslow one, so that if one bottle runs out in the night or in rain you do not have to ghange the bottle immediatly. You can also ghange the empty bottle without interupting the gas supply.

Hope this helps.

Hamer

 

[RogerL]

Since the problems a occur in a number of appliances we can safely say your problem is low gas supply pressure, rather than blocked injectors etc. This can be caused by a number of things. Firstly, the gas bottle getting low, sounds obvious but as we know its not that easy to tell. Pick the bottle up and feel the weight, or swop to a spare. Second, could be the cold affecting the pressure in the bottle. At lower tmperatures gas contracts and the internal pressure reduces, and so the bottle behaves as if its empty. At zero degree centigrade the pressure of commercial propane is 4.5bar,and butane is only 0.9 bar so propane would be much better, I would suspect the use of butane is your problem given the weather. Shaking the bottle will agitate the LPG and therefore temperarily increase the internal pressure (like shaking a can of coke!)

Other things to consider could be a blocked or faulty regulator, just try it in better eather to diagnose this,and maybe small gas leaks from split flexible hoses or loose connections. corgi recommens replaceing flxible supply hoss every coupleof years or so.

Butane at sub-zero temperatures will give the same symptoms, as Hamer has posted.

 

[Rubix]

Steve said :

"Firstly, the gas bottle getting low, sounds obvious but as we know its not that easy to tell. Pick the bottle up and feel the weight, or swop to a spare"

You should be able to tell if the cylinder still has gas in it as it's in liquid form when inside the cylinder (it only "gasses" when not held under pressure) and so if you give it a shake (no.... the cylinder !! ) you should be able to feel the movement of the "liquid" or hear it.