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Jackets for gas bottles?


ike

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We were away at the weekend and the temperature dropped to -4. As a result the gas pressure dropped and our heating ceased to function. Fridge was ok but cooker hobs were down way low too. We thought our van was winterised but clearly not enough to cope with a Scottish winter. We will need to line the bottle storage to keep some heat in but does anyone know if you can buy jackets for the gas bottles, like you can get for domestic water tanks. I also have old Silver screens which I thought might do the job. any thoughts/advice?

ike

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Assuming you are on Calor Gas, I would take one or both of the blue propane bottles to the nearest Calor agent and swap them for red propane bottles.

 

You will also need either new regulators and maybe low pressure hose (if your hose is more than a year or so old) and if you have a pre 2004 van, or new propane pigtail(s) if your van is post 2004 with the fixed bulkhead regulator.

 

That WILL cure the problem as propane works down to temperatures far lower than you will ever experience here on Earth whereas butane will not 'gas off' properly below about 3 or 4 degrees C above freezing and not at all at freezing and below.

 

If you want to stick with butane a hot water bottle will bring temporary relief to them but you do of course need hot water for that!

 

The only other way is a heated gas locker but that is awkward to engineer, potentially expensive, and very wasteful of heat.

 

Hope that helps.

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You can buy jackets for gas bottles but they defeat the object. The bottle needs to take heat from the surounding air to replace the heat lost in the process of converting the liquid in the bottle to gas. What you need is propane . Cheers,Colin.
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In which case maybe you have a case of gunged up regulator and if so a new one is the probable cure.

 

It is possible that you have pigtails with non return valves or filters in them and these can stick or get blocked with gunge.

 

You can easily tell by taking the pigtails off and blowing through them. If you can't there should be a hex plug in the domed gas bottle attachment end which an allen key will remove so you can clean and de gunge. Be careful as you take them apart as the non return valve ball and spring can fly out (I know this as mine did!)

 

Whilst the system is apart open the gas bottle tap and give a quick blast just to ensure that A] you have gas and B] the bottle is releasing it OK.

 

Do you have two bottles and is the problem the same with both?

 

If all else is clear then I reckon that it points to the regulator being the culprit?

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Thanks Tracker Will get hubby to have a look at your suggestion. Have tried the heating today and it seems to be working ok. The weather is not as cold though which still made me think it was a cold related problem rather than gunge. We had recently connected up a 6k bottle so we definitely had a gas supply.

Colin thanks for your comment. I'm a technical numpty so had no idea that "lagging" the bottle wouldn't help.

ike

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In a similar vein to Colin, neither will insulating the locker help, unless you apply the insulation to the external surfaces only, so the locker picks up heat from within the van. 

However, if you were getting temperatures in your gas locker low enough to prevent propane gassing, you'd be a pair of frozen solid corpses in your van, rather than talking (writing?) to us!  Either you have butane in the bottles and not propane, or some other contaminant, or a partial blockage somewhere as suggested above.

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Hi Ike, If your 'van has blown warm air heating system why not pipe some warm air into your gas locker? and out again of course or it will not do the job. Lining your locker with insulating material would help the hot air maintain it's heat.
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Ranger,

 

Have a look at this:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2803&posts=16

 

Assuming that ike's propane bottle has actually got propane in it (!!), then Tracker's diagnosis is likely to be correct - something (probably the regulator) is restricting the gas-flow between bottle and motorhome living-area appliances.

 

I had a problem like this once. It was during the summer and it was plain that the gas-flow was being inhibited as the hob-burners were down on output and the heater refused to function properly. I swapped the gas-hose from my refillable bottle to my back-up Calor canister and the problem was immediately cured. When I removed the refillable bottle from the vehicle and opened its valve fully only a limited flow of gas emerged. The bottle (an MTH Autogas composite container) was subsequently returned to the supplier and replaced free of charge.

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Yes Derek, that is an old MMM thread, back when I used my own name. Since then between my Holdsworth Ranger ,and my Legend, I owned an Autotrail Cherokee with a gas locker complete with blown hot air and insulated sides. I don't know if it was any good in freezing weather as I did not keep that 'van for long, front wheel drive! I thought it was an awful waste of hot air as it was blown in the top of the locker and out the vent in the floor. May be it was not an Autotrail standard fitment? Could have been fitted by a previous owner? The present owner lives near here, must ask him about it, and tell him gas might go up the air pipe, but it theory it should not go UP. As you have access to vast amounts of information about motorhomes Derek you may know if it was standard Autotrail or added later during it's life? Cheers all, roll on sun shine....David
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David,

 

This may have been the infamous 'afterburner' system fitted experimentally to a few Cherokees. It allowed a driver to ignite both gas-bottles within the locker thus obtaining instant violent acceleration from the thrust of the massive gas flame emerging from the locker's lower vent. It was not popular with the police, the Highways Agency, or insurance companies and Auto-Trail soon dropped the idea.

 

(Almost certainly an add-on - you know what lethal devils DIYers are!)

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