gaslow refillables

[carolh]

We had them fitted at York.

As I was turning the gas off earlier on prior to travelling home from Dunston, lo and behold one was empty!

Not a problem you might think, but I had not done it before and I was on my own and had no moral support at the garage in Grantham when I tried to fill up.

Ok it looked easy, the man who fitted the said bottles gave us instructions and that was it. And of course there are full instructions on the pump.

I nearly bottled it as the fitting seemed loose and wobbly!

But luckily enough the forecourt was empty except for moi and my mh so the kind young lad came out and showed me what to do, I had done it right and yes until you clamp the handle it is wobbly, so filled up.

Came to release and wow - does the gas always hiss out like that when you release the handle???

I did not like it - and will not like it next time I fill up! But we are lucky in having an autogas garage less than a mile away, so will always fill up here.

Are there any hints and tips - if so let me have them, the only one I can think of at the moment is to send Charles to fill it up!

:-S

Carol

 

[Basil]

Hi Carol,

 

Had ours for three years now, yes as you found the refilling pistol is a bit of a fiddle the first time, and of course different on the continent hence the need for adaptors, but you do get used to it. Remember the gas is filled at very high pressure and when you disconect the pistol this high pressure is released into the atmosphere with the associated high pressure hiss that you hear, but it is only a tiny amount in fact and sounds far worse than it is (next time you pump your tyres up press the trigger on the air filler and see the noise that makes and that is a minute pressure compared to the LPG filling pressure). Don't panic about it and don't worry it is normal. Its a small price to pay for the convenience and cheaper cost.

One tip (or point) make sure your outlet taps are turned off before you refill.

 

Bas

[tp002c784tp002c784tp]

Hi Carol / Basil

I have just ordered my second Gaslow system as the previous instalation went with my old vehicle and I still think it's one of the best buys on a Motorhome, it is a bit daunting when you here that final hiss but it is safe, Basil made a good point about turning off the bottles as the lady rep at the peterboro show in April wrongly informed me that you leave the bottles turned on.

 

Terry :D

[Guest Tracker]

That's a good point about turning off the bottles at the tap as I suppose the inward liquid gas pressure would need to be lot higher than the pressure in the bottle in order for it to flow inwardly?

 

That and the theoretical risk of liquid getting into the regulator would make turning the bottle taps off seem like very good advice?

[carolh]

thanks for that and yes the gas bottles were turned off.

So now when I fill them up again I will know what to expect and it won't come as such a shock 8-)

Carol

[Tomo3090]

Sorry, I may seem a bit thick here, but do you mean you close the tap on the bottle before you fill? We have this system and I thought I was told by the installer to keep the gas bottle taps open, which I have done everytime.

[carolh]

Yes we were told the gas bottles must be turned off at the bottle before refilling.

 

Carol

 

[Tomo3090]

Now I am confused, because how does the gas then get into the bottle? Does the filling pipe have a separate "entry point" into the bottle? It's just that it sounded more logical when the bottles are left open. As I said, they have been re-filled like that several times and everything works OK.

[Basil]

Hi Tomo,

 

I can only speak for Gaslow refilables, which do indeed have two connections one the inlet with no tap (but does have an internal automatic 80% fill stop valve and non return valve fitted) and one outlet fitted with a control tap which it is essential that you turn off at the outlet gas tap on the top of the bottle as you could be putting undue pressure on the outlet pigtails and regulator possibly placing the reg outside its normal inlet operating pressure and thereby possible damaging it.

If you have a twin system the inlet hose is tee'd off before the cylinder so that both cylinders fill to the 80% shut off point.

In the case of Gaslows, I would also think any other cylinder though, the lady was misinformed I believe.

 

Bas

[crinklystarfish]

The pipes that are used to fill the bottle(s) are not controlled by a tap, LPG just whooshes straight in from the filler.

It is the tap between the cylinder and the regulator(s) (where the gas comes out) that are being described as being closed before a fill. The idea is that the regulator(s) aren't suddenly faced by the swirl of LPG that whooshes into the tank, they can be sensitive little fellows, and LPG in its liquid state is probably not the best thing to stress them with.

Better to close the tap(s) than risk stressing the regulator(s).

Edit:

Above post made while this in preparation.

[Barbara]

I am also a newcomer to gaslow refillables, having had them fitted to our new camper this summer. We found problems filling up in Europe: we'd bought both the 'Euro adapter' and the 'French/Italian adapter', & naively assumed that we'd be able to fill anywhere. In fact we only saw one filling station selling LPG in a northwest to south east crossing of Switzerland, and none of our three fittings (the UK one and the two adapters) would fit the pump. In northern Italy LPG was similarly hard to find or closed on Sundays/holidays. Thank goodness we'd taken a gampingaz back up! Hooray for eastern Europe: as soon as we crossed into Slovakia, LPG was available everywhere, but it turned out that the 'French/Italian adapter was the one which fitted their pumps! That's also the one to use in Poland apparently, where LPG is widely available, but we didn't fill up so I can't confirm that. I'll have to do more homework before the next trip abroad, but as Gaslow don't seem to offer any other adapters, the campingaz back up will be coming again. On the positive side, filling the gaslow cylinder is so cheap, after years on campingaz, and it's great to be able to top it up (where possible).

Barbara

[carolh]

another question!

Would someone please confirm how gas much in litres does a 6kg bottle hold.

 

When I filled up the first time one of the bottles was empty - I put in 12.something litres and stopped before the cut off operated because I was under the impression that the capacity was 10lts (and was expecting it to cut off - and it didn't) - and being as I had not done it before was unsure! that weekend the weather had been good, I had been out most of the time and had hardly used any gas and when I turned on the bottles the changeover said there was gas in both of them. I always check by turning the switch.

When we had them fitted at York the fitter said the bottles were full and held 10lts of gas each.

 

We filled up last week on the way home and neither bottle was empty and filled till the 80% cut off operated and put in 12.67ltrs (got the receipt in front of me)

 

Can I assume that perhaps the new bottles weren't as full as the fitter said?

 

Glad we had them fitted though it was always a struggle for me (being a weak and feeble woman now! ;-) - never used to be, must be my age) and the gas always ran out before the morning cup of tea! And now I have sussed out the filling too so it's good.

 

Carol

 

[Mel E]

Carol,

 

Sounds like confusion between litres and Kgs. My guess is that you had 10 Kg bottles installed - they can hold 10 Kgs of gas which equates, in round figures to 25 litres of gas.

 

Mel E

====

[carolh]

now you have confused me mel, they are 6kg bottles and he (the fitter) wrote in marker on the bottles 10ltrs!

Carol

[Mel E]

A general point or two on pressures if I may.

 

1. The pressure of gas entering the bottle is the same as that of the gas stored in it. If it were not so, then the pressure in the cylinder would finish up higher than standard.

 

2. For Butane that pressure is 2 Bar and for Propane 7 Bar (7 times standard atmospheric pressure). For comparison, my 'van tyres are at 3.8 to 4.4 Bar.

 

3. LPG is a mix of Butane and Propane. In southerly latitudes, there's a lot more Butane, while Propane is the biggest constituent in the northerly latitudes, especially in winter when it is often increased. This is because Butane goes solid at around 0degrees C or the freezing point of water.

 

4. So the pressure of gas entering your cylinder should never exceed about 7 Bar.

 

5. You will need to be careful if you are visiting freezing climes and last filled your bottles in sunny southern Europe - you should fill up before setting off to get the maximum of propane into the mix.

 

6. A FUNNY: Did you know that the rest of the world adopted, some time ago, the French proposal to replace the terms 'Bar' and 'Millibar' with 'Pascal' and 'HectoPascal', after the famous French mathematician Blaise Pascal, the father of Probability Theory. The UK has special dispensation to retain the term 'Bar'. The USofA naturally ignores all such conventions and sticks to 'Inches of Mercury'.

 

Mel E

====

[Clive]

Now we can go back to Christian units. In round figures 1 BAR is about 15 Pounds per square inch! Propper units!

 

 

[tp002c784tp002c784tp]

Hi Carol

I was informed in the past one of the beuties of refillable bottles is that sometimes the 80% cut of allows a bit more gas in the bottles than you would get in hire bottles.

 

Terry

[Mick H.]

crinklystarfish - 2007-10-15 11:45 AM

The pipes that are used to fill the bottle(s) are not controlled by a tap, LPG just whooshes straight in from the filler.

It is the tap between the cylinder and the regulator(s) (where the gas comes out) that are being described as being closed before a fill. The idea is that the regulator(s) aren't suddenly faced by the swirl of LPG that whooshes into the tank, they can be sensitive little fellows, and LPG in its liquid state is probably not the best thing to stress them with.

Better to close the tap(s) than risk stressing the regulator(s).

Edit:

Above post made while this in preparation.

Also there is a chance that the gas could go through the regs and into the working bits in the van,fridge, cooker etc.this could cause all sorts of problems I have been told and be quite expensive on repairs. Mick H.

[Derek Uzzell]

carolh:

 

According to my Gaslow advertising leaflet the refillable bottles come in 2 sizes:

 

6kg - that will hold 11.5 litres of LPG at 80% fill.

 

11kg - that will hold 21 litres of LPG at 80% fill.

 

Past forum comments suggest that Gaslow 80% cut-off valves may vary as to the exact point they stop LPG entering the cylinder during refilling. So, if you've managed to get a bit more than 12 litres of LPG into a completely empty 6kg Gaslow bottle, I wouldn't be too surprised nor would I be particularly concerned.

 

As your pair of bottles is linked by a changeover device I assume that, when you carry out refilling, both bottles get topped-up simultaneously. If this is so, then the amount of gas that goes in before both 80% cut-off valves operate will be something of an unknown quantity.

 

Gaslow bottles lack a level-gauge, so not knowing exactly how much LPG is in the bottles is a limitation of the Gaslow 'concept'. Frankly, as long as you've got 2 bottles, a changeover device and keep an eye out for when one bottle becomes empty, this limitation shouldn't much matter.

[carolh]

Thanks for that everyone, it seems to make more sense now.

 

Carol

 

[Basil]

Hi Carol,

 

This may have a bearing on your first fill amount, the manufacturers information (and I believe your installer should have advised you of this incidently) actually states that on the first fill only it is possible that the 80% cut off may not work correctly and you should ensure that as you fill you put no more LPG in than its 80% capacity in litres i.e. 6Kg should be stopped at 11.5 litres per cylinder, therefore for two this would be 23 litres.

 

 

Bas