Hi all , apart from our caravan being broken into while away this week , we also had a problem with our gas pressure . We wanted to heat the caravan up early on tuesday morning about 5.30am . When we ran the heater on gas it would light run for 5 to 10 seconds and then go out . Tried the gas hob and it was the same . We have a BP gaslite 10kg bottle with approx 3/4 left in the bottle ( Propane gas in bottle ) , also have a Gaslow stainless steel pig tail hose . It was frosty outside . I assumed that the regulator has packed up , but later in the morning i tried the heater again and it worked perfectly , so did the gas hob .
Has anyone any idea's why the cold should affect the regulator or is it something else .
I wouldn't matter if it was a mix, you would still get propane until it was warm enough for butane to gas off, I really don't know whats happening but don't think stainless pipe is the answer to the old problem.
The only reasonably successful way to prevent problems with blocked regulators is to lift it much higher than the bottle.
The only reasonably successful way to prevent problems with blocked regulators is to lift it much higher than the bottle.
Hi Gary , we've got quite a long pig tail hose so the gas has to climb about 8+ inches before it gets to the regulator , i did think the longer hose would be sufficent . What i don't get is if the regulator is faulty , how would a rise in the outside temperature get it working normally again .
Interesting point Jim but I doubt it, liquid gas should not be able to get out the bottle while it's upright. However in another life I used to think nothing of using a propane bottle on it's side, the reg would become iced up while the bottle was full and in contact with the liquid, this did sometimes slow the gas coming through but it was an adjustable reg so I simply turned it up a bit!!! ... Don't try this at home folks?
Wizard, 8 inch's is a lot for the gas to push the contaminant uphill so it should be enough, the idea of lifting the reg though is to allow a downhill path for it to flow back into the bottle and not get trapped in the hose. Also apart from raising the reg, it's been turned over so gas comes in at the bottom and out the top which is much more sensible.
I've said in the past a deep loop in the hose should stop anything but gas getting into the reg and I've no reason to change that now. Mind you, this advice is in conjunction with leave the bottle to settle for a 10-20 minutes after arrival on site before turning it on slowly, and never travel with the bottle open which of course you don't do anyway?
Anyway as a founder member of the fix it club what you doing with a post 2003 van???
Anyway as a founder member of the fix it club what you doing with a post 2003 van??? LOL , yep better trade-in for something a bit older , starting to get withdraw symptoms.
Also apart from raising the reg, it's been turned over so gas comes in at the bottom and out the top which is much more sensible. This is very interesting , i'll do this mod , it does make good sence .
Do you think i'll need to replace the regulator ? now that it has started working correctly again . The reason i ask is , because liquid has got into it , will it remain there or will it be drawn thro .