sakofox Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Fairly basic question. Our van holds two gas bottles in the storage cupboard. To save the hassle of getting one out when I want to use the Cadac, I have got a small 3.5kg bottle just for the BBQ Where would you keep this in the van when travelling and on site. Should it go in a locker or be in the van when travelling, and where would you keep it once on site if an awning is not up for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daviddwight Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 As you have an Excel do you not have an external gas point for BBQ. Our Excel had one by the fresh water filler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 7, 2015 Author Share Posted December 7, 2015 daviddwight - 2015-12-07 8:50 PM As you have an Excel do you not have an external gas point for BBQ. Our Excel had one by the fresh water filler. David No there is no external gas point on ours, hence the spare bottle.I can run a hose from the gas bottle in the locker but then it is not very flexible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeco Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Hi Duncan, like David we have an Autotrail, a Tracker FB in our case.it has an external gas outlet that we use for our Webber. Not conversant with the rules in Uk re carrying gas bottles in a MH. However from a safety aspect I would not carry a loose bottle that was not secured in an external locker. Suggest you seriously consider having an external outlet fitted as it will solve all your problems. cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeco Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Hi Duncan, like David we have an Autotrail, a Tracker FB in our case.it has an external gas outlet that we use for our Webber. Not conversant with the rules in Uk re carrying gas bottles in a MH. However from a safety aspect I would not carry a loose bottle that was not secured in an external locker. Suggest you seriously consider having an external outlet fitted as it will solve all your problems. cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 External gas points are about £40. A straightforward fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 7, 2015 Author Share Posted December 7, 2015 Geeco - 2015-12-07 9:27 PM Hi Duncan, like David we have an Autotrail, a Tracker FB in our case.it has an external gas outlet that we use for our Webber. Not conversant with the rules in Uk re carrying gas bottles in a MH. However from a safety aspect I would not carry a loose bottle that was not secured in an external locker. Suggest you seriously consider having an external outlet fitted as it will solve all your problems. cheers, If I carried the spare bottle it would be strapped down. An external gas point would need to be at the back and the gas bottles are at the front, hence the decision for a portable bottle, so we can use the BBQ either side of the MH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 For many years we carried a spare Calor lite 6kg gas bottle, tap firmly closed, plastic cap tightly screwed on, and firmly secured into a padded section of an under bed locker close to a gas vent (aka hole in the floor) and whilst some of the paranoid Elfan Safety geeks might throw up their hands in horror why would that be any more of a 'risk' than a gas bottle stored anywhere else in the world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Should be stored in a compartment sealed from the living area with a gas drop vent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 And must be carried upright. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 Thanks for the feedback. So the outcome is this. We transport the spare cyclinder secured in an upright position with ventilation, just like a plumber would in his tranny van. When we get to a site the best place to store the cylinder is outside the MH. I don't want an external gas point because the BBQ needs to be flexible. This is basically the same way managed a gas bottle when we went camping in the car. Thank you, if there are specific laws re transport please add them to this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 GOOGLE-searching will retrieve official guidance and plenty of less official comments on carrying LPG cylinders in a vehicle while travelling. As far as I can see there are no UK regulations prohibiting a private motorist from carrying an LPG canister (small or large, butane or propane) inside a car or motorhome. Received wisdom/general advice (Call it what you will) is that LPG bottles should be carried upright, but if, say, a 15kg Calor bottle were carried ‘loose’ on its side in a car’s boot, there does not seem to be any legal bar forbidding this. There are on-line suggestions that carrying a bottle on its side can cause liquid gas to enter the outlet-valve and, when the bottle is subsequently used, to find its way into the gas system, or that horizontal bottle-carriage is potentially more leak-prone, or that the on-its-side method will override a cylinder’s anti-fire ‘safety valve’, but I don’t know if any of those caveats are valid. There also seems to be no compulsion demanding that a private motorist carry ‘loose’ LPG bottles in a ventilated compartment sealed from the vehicle’s interior. Common sense should prevail however. If Duncan (sakofox) could avoid carrying his small Calor bottle inside his motorhome (eg. by shoehorning it into the vehicle’s gas-locker or by fitting an external BBQ gas-point) it would be sensible to do this. If that approach is impracticable (or unattractive) then carrying the bottle upright would seem preferable to carrying it horizontal (simply because bottles are carried upright in the gas-locker) and (for reasons that should be bleeding obvious) the bottle should definitely be strongly tethered when travelling. I think the dinky little gas drop-vents that are (apparently) mandatory in a UK-built leisure-vehicles' living area are a joke, but if the ‘loose’ bottle can be secured near such a vent there’s some potential merit in carrying the bottle there rather than elsewhere. If carrying an LPG canister within a motorhome when travelling is legal and considered ‘safe’ then leaving it within the motorhome when the vehicle is parked on a campsite should not change this. Realistically, if you will be using the LPG bottle to fuel a BBQ during a campsite stay, you might as well remove the bottle when you arrive at the campsite and keep it outside during the whole of the stay. But if the campsite stay is to be quite short (or the weather is awful) and you think you won’t be BBQing, you might as well leave the bottle inside the motorhome. If the bottle starts to leak, it’s certainly much better that it does this in the open air, but if leakage is a real concern you shouldn’t be carrying the bottle inside the motorhome in the first place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 :-) tx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 And remember if you keep the cylinder outside the MH then either remove the regulator or cover it over to prevent water getting into the regulator. They normally have a little vent hole on the top side and do not like being filled with water. And a cheap bike lock through the cylinder handle and a part of the MH will help make sure the cylinder does not 'walk'! Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 If this is going to be your default way of carrying the bottle, I suppose you could be a bit belt'n'braces and look at sealing/lining out the section of the on-board locker that it'll be transported in? (including a secondary, sealed lid ?)....or maybe sit it in a sturdy, lidded plastic bucket, with large holes in the bottom?(holes which sit over the drop vent(s) in the locker?). ...at least that would contain, and direct out, any possible leakage.. ? (we lug our 3.9kg bottle just strapped down in the back of our little camping-van..but that always gets removed/deployed when set-up). Sorry Keith, I crossed your post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 9, 2015 Author Share Posted December 9, 2015 pepe63 - 2015-12-08 9:17 AM If this is going to be your default way of carrying the bottle, I suppose you could be a bit belt'n'braces and look at sealing/lining out the section of the on-board locker that it'll be transported in? (including a secondary, sealed lid ?)....or maybe sit it in a sturdy, lidded plastic bucket, with large holes in the bottom?(holes which sit over the drop vent(s) in the locker?). ...at least that would contain, and direct out, any possible leakage.. ? (we lug our 3.9kg bottle just strapped down in the back of our little camping-van..but that always gets removed/deployed when set-up). Sorry Keith, I crossed your post. Yes I think this is the approach I will be taking, strap the bottle in the van when on the move, it will go on the internal door step that has vents ant then outside when pitched. Just as we did when camping with our pony and horse box. Tx Duncan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 The arguments have all been made and at the risk of going against what all the 'experts' seem to say, I really can't see any risk of any gas escaping from a gas bottle firmly closed at the tap and with the plastic end cap firmly screwed in place. Even Houdini couldn't escape from that! In over 50 years of using Calor, and other, gas bottles I have never known one with a leaky tap or any other failure and for that I guess that we have to thank the likes of Calor for their safety policy, the cost of which may go some way to explaining their high prices. On balance I can still no logical reason not to store a gas bottle on it's side as long as it is secure, and if there is a theoretical risk of liquid gas getting into the outlet surely that very small volume would quickly vapourise once the bottle is upright, connected and the tap is opened, assuming that gravity has not already taken any such liquid back down to the level of the rest of the gas in the bottle as soon as it is standing and before the tap is opened. If in doubt, a very quick partial opening of the tap outdoors well away from naked flames like fridge pilot lights just to clear the pipes before the bottle is connected would entirely remove the risk of any liquid egress. It goes without saying NEVER to open a gas bottle tap with the bottle other than standing upright - but I'll say it anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 9, 2015 Author Share Posted December 9, 2015 :-) Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 sakofox - 2015-12-09 1:07 AM pepe63 - 2015-12-08 9:17 AM If this is going to be your default way of carrying the bottle, I suppose you could be a bit belt'n'braces and look at sealing/lining out the section of the on-board locker that it'll be transported in? (including a secondary, sealed lid ?)....or maybe sit it in a sturdy, lidded plastic bucket, with large holes in the bottom?(holes which sit over the drop vent(s) in the locker?). ...at least that would contain, and direct out, any possible leakage.. ? (we lug our 3.9kg bottle just strapped down in the back of our little camping-van..but that always gets removed/deployed when set-up). Sorry Keith, I crossed your post. Yes I think this is the approach I will be taking, strap the bottle in the van when on the move, it will go on the internal door step that has vents ant then outside when pitched. Just as we did when camping with our pony and horse box. Tx Duncan Ah!, I see..I was envisaging the bottle was going to be squirreled away in some under bed/seat locker :-D (where it may've run the risk of remaining, if the BBQ wasn't going to be used). ...as it is, you're hardly going to forget about it if it's in the step-well... (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 pepe63 - 2015-12-09 10:07 AM Ah!, I see..I was envisaging the bottle was going to be squirreled away in some under bed/seat locker :-D (where it may've run the risk of remaining, if the BBQ wasn't going to be used). ...as it is, you're hardly going to forget about it if it's in the step-well... (lol) It might pay to put a label or a reminder on the steering wheel so that you don't drive off and go with the gas bottle left behind standing outside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Yes, good point.. I know the OP(Duncan?),said that he doesn't really what to be restricted by an external bbq point, but, although it'd obviously still "tether" the appliance to the van, I wonder if just trying a bbg outlet, fitted within the gas locker, may be a useful halfway house? (that's if the gas locker is the same side as the hab' door?) I fitted one to our previous van...and just used a decent length of hose. (3mtr+?.. longer than some "recommend" but it worked okay) and I can only recall one or two occasion where I actually needed(or chose!) to lift out the spare cylinder and connect to that.. edit: It wouldn't load the photo, for some reason(and it is of the correct size), so this is similar to the tap I used: http://www.gasit.co.uk/leisure-gas-refillable-products/7-gas-pipes-pigtails-and-vapour-tank-accessories/1-way-8mm-tap-manifold-with-quick-connection.html ..it may be worth a "trial"?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiseller Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 Having just skimmed through this thread I'm maybe missing something. Surely an outside bbq outlet with a suitable length of hose would give all the flexibility you would need? How far away from the van do you want to cook? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 audiseller - 2015-12-10 7:52 PM Having just skimmed through this thread I'm maybe missing something. Surely an outside bbq outlet with a suitable length of hose would give all the flexibility you would need? How far away from the van do you want to cook? In the garden, with my son fishing. So tied to the Motorhome is not an option , hence the question in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakofox Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 audiseller - 2015-12-10 7:52 PM Having just skimmed through this thread I'm maybe missing something. Surely an outside bbq outlet with a suitable length of hose would give all the flexibility you would need? How far away from the van do you want to cook? In the garden, with my son fishing. So tied to the Motorhome is not an option , hence the question in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiseller Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 Missed that but as never take my motorhome into the garden I hadn't thought of that scenario. Personally I use my Weber in the garden with a gas bottle sitting inside the unit, works well for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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