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Seat Belts or no seatbelts


Vennwood

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Hi All,

 

Does anyone out there know the laws on seatbelts for motorhomes? Safety concerns are paramount of course but where does the law stand. If you have 6 seats but only 4 seat belts are you allowed to carry 6 people as in say a minibus.

 

Also does anyone know the relationship between LPG litres and weight. For example I have just installed the Gaslow LPG cylinders and in the old propane bottles we exchanged 6KG bottles whereas now we have just filled up with 48 ltrs. As the bottles are different sizes its difficult to work out the relationship and value

 

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If you Search the forum (see top right of screen) using Keywords = seatbelts and Date limits = All posts you'll find a thread entitled "Carrying 'passangers' / seatbelts law?" and dated 8/1/2007. This should answer your first question.

 

Apparently, to convert litres of of propane to kilos you multiply by 0.504, so your 48 litres would weigh 24.192kg. I normally just divide the litres figure by 2.

 

(I'm slightly surprised you can get 48 litres into a system that, I assume, is based on two 21 litres Gaslow bottles.)

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I agree with Derek, I hope this was not your first fill and you did not ignore the instruction to ensure you do not exceed the 21 litres per 11kg cylinder on your first fill! If you have there is a good chance that your pressure relief valves will be operating over the next few hot days giving you LPG in your gas bottle locker and general LPG smells around and about.

 

Bas

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for delay in responding but we have been away trying out our MH for the first time. Isn't it great....

 

Aggggg

It was my first fill and nobody at Brownhills mentioned anything about watching out on the first fill. The bottles were the larger (£90) ones - I just filled up until it started slowing down. well its a little late now.

 

I have to say though that we haven't had any problems yet and have used the gas over the past 6 days. So you reckon I should put in no more than 42 litres (if they are known to be empty)

Thanks for the info on seat belts

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Hi Bas,

 

I've been thinking and worrying about your comments regarding overfilling the gas bottles. How can that happen - isn't there a safety device to prevent this sort of thing happening. How can I remedy this if I have overfilled the system? Does this only happen on the first fill? What do I need to do the next time I fill up?

 

many thanks

 

Pete

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Vennwood - 2007-04-23 8:43 AM Hi Bas, I've been thinking and worrying about your comments regarding overfilling the gas bottles. How can that happen - isn't there a safety device to prevent this sort of thing happening. How can I remedy this if I have overfilled the system? Does this only happen on the first fill? What do I need to do the next time I fill up? many thanks Pete

Peter

Since there is a potential safety issue here, I'd suggest you contact the bottle manufacturer or supplier promptly for their advice. 

It may be that you subsequently have an issue with Brownhills, over their failure to give you the correct information on handover.  However, is there no manual/handbook for this autogas installation?

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This is one of my issues with Brownhills - On handover day I waited around for approx 2 hours then finally the salesman handed me over to the guy that was to show me around. He was very helpful but didn't know much about the Dethleff and couldn't explain even the basic things. In the meantime the salesman went home (along with the rest of the company) and I was left to fend for myself. While there were plenty of manuals and instructions for the MH there was nothing about the Gaslow installation.

 

I have used the MH for approx 5 days when I used gas for heating and BBQ - I will follow Brian's advice and call Gaslow in the morning for some help and/or clarification

 

Many thanks guys

 

Pete

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Just had a good chat with Gaslow

 

They say that the reason for a reduced first fill is that the cylinders are vacuum filled initially and that for the first fill 42 litrs is the recommended maximum. The absolute maximum is 52 litres. They say that I should ensure the MH is in a open space and clear from all flamable substances, dissconnect the rubber pipe on each cylinder and open the valve to make sure that the gas that escapes is clear and not a white vapour. This should take no more than approx 45 seconds.

 

Thanks again guys - a potential catastrophe avoided

 

Pete

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Hi Chas,

 

It was certainly a "non event" - and your comments are very true - a complete farse - especially as I had travelled around 200 miles round trip for the handover then kept waiting over 3 hours before we even started the handover. However this issue is probably the least of my worries with regards to Brownhills service.. Perhaps more on this at some other time......

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Pete,

 

I really admire your sang froid. Had it been me, I'd have taken the following course of action:

 

1. A fairly gentle word with Reception before I'd been kept waiting an hour.

 

2. At the hour point, a louder word with Reception.

 

3. Not very much later, an extremely loud word with Reception along the lines of: "Sorry to take it out on you but I've just spent £40,000 with this company and (VERY LOUD NOW) your people won't even show me round the vehicle." (Making sure as many potential customers as possible heard me!)

 

4. Not very much later, I'd be in the Managing Director's Office asking, very gently at first, why no hand-over.

 

I once had major problems with a new car (before it became possible to reject new vehicles for unfixed major faults). Step 3 cleared the Showroom and had the senior salesman complaining to me about my behaviour - I said: 'Then fix the car!'. They did.

 

I know it's not very elegant, but there are times . . .

 

 

 

 

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Hi Mel,

 

I didn't want (and still don't) to predudice my position by going through chapter and verse in this forum however rest assured I'm already at your stage 4. All I can say is that what appeared to have been a reasonable experience is turning out to be a nightmare More to come once I've sorted things out....

 

watch this space

 

Pete

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