# Teutone's Gas-it install



## Teutone (Mar 9, 2012)

*DISCLAIMER:* I am not a certified professionel. The following posting is NOT meant to be an instruction or step by step
guideline and is provided for your entertainment only


Ok here we go. Decided to fit refillable LPG bottles to our Carioca 5
Quick call to Warren at FES Autogas and next morning this turned up







as a full wildcamping member you get the Euro filling adapters for free when ordering over £100, nice one!





I have decided to fit an external fill point in the sideskirt of the MH. Because there wasn't any fitting instructions with the parts I wanted to share my install in detail with the forum just in case anybody else would like to go this route but isn't sure what's involved.

Fitting the Fill point. This is what you need. I have opted for the 90deg filler but there is a straight version also.
Nice to see that the nuts and bolts are Stainless Steel! Saves me running about to find some, like it :heart:


----------



## Teutone (Mar 9, 2012)

First we need to assemlbe the fill point. Insert the filler neck into the shroud





Looks like this from the other side





Hold the two pieces firmly together and fit the metal plate with the threaded holes





Fit the 4 counter sunk bolts





there are also some nuts but I believe they are needed when the filler neck is fitted directly to a bracket (i.e. on a towbar). Because there is enough room I decided to use them even the holes are threaded. Bit belt and braces I guess.





Now we can start to fit the assembly to the motorhome or van

First a hole is required. You will need this, a 70mm hole saw. Believe it or not, I HAD ONE!!! Usually when I start a project I need to buy new tools or worse, make some tools to carry on working. Nice that for a change I just had to open a draw :banana:





fitted to a cordless drill





for better illustration I will carry on with a sheet of plastic I had lying around. So let's just imagine the black plastic is you wall in the van or motorhome. 
Hole drilled





The filler shroud has two little pips to stop it spinning around in the hole. You will need to make to notches
opposite each other.





you can either use a file or what I call one of my favorite christmas presents, meet MR. DREMEL!





NOTE:
make ONE notch only to start with, then insert the shroud and mark the oppsite one. This will help you to place the slots perfect and give a nice tight fit of the shroud
Picture showing second pip for marking up


----------



## Teutone (Mar 9, 2012)

with the notches cut out the shroud sits flush





view from the other side (which would be INSIDE of your motorhome or van)





now the back cover goes on. 
NOTE: there is a rubber ring, do NOT FORGET to include it. That is to stop water running into your pride and joy





cover is fitted to the shroud with x6 self tapping screws. These screws are pulling the shroud and the cover towards each other and "clamp" the assembly in place. (not all screws shown in this picture)





this is a side view of the assembly showing how the black sheet is sandwiched between shroud and rear cover.
This is basically all. Just replace the black plastic sheet with your motorhome/van and bob's your uncle :cool1:


----------



## Teutone (Mar 9, 2012)

now comes the nerve wrecking bit. I need to cut a hole in our motorhome 

measure twice, cut once! Or like me, measure ten times!!!:raofl:





Oh dear, no turning back





Too late.....





First trial fit, looks alright phew





now comes the cutting the notches bit. 
NOTE: if you have an angled fill point like me, make sure you cut the slots in the right orientation.
Not all is lost if you get it wrong, the lip of the shroud will cover any additional slots in case you need to turn it....
Remember, ONE notch first, then insert and mark the other one





Fully inserted, looking good!





View from behind the sideskirt





Because my sideskirt is so thin und wobbly, the normal clamping fitting method didn't seem rigid enough for my liking. So I decided to fabricate a more stable bracket.

Had some suitable 2mm thick sheet metal leftover from another project. First cut to length.
Me and my trusty hacksaw at work. Look at that cut, who says you need CNC :wacko:


----------



## Teutone (Mar 9, 2012)

plate cut to length and holes marked up





handy thing to have, a milling/drilling machine. Don't know how old it really is but still good for some home DIY
Have a look at my very technical method of mounting the plate. Screwd to a pice of timber which is clamped on the machine bed, yes I have been called McGyver before :wave:





a little while later





let's jump a few step, don't want to bore you to much. All bits are cut and I can start to put the bracket together.

Fianally I found a use for that magnetic clamp I bought ages ago at a car show. I knew it would come in handy one day darling....





Some gussets





tack welded for trial fit.





Heureka, it works :rockroll:






Needs some welding and hamerite and job done. Next step will be final fitment, cutting a hole to get the filler pipe into
the gas locker and conecting the bottle. But that's for another day. Time for a Guiness


----------



## Bigpeetee (Mar 9, 2012)

Teutone said:


> plate cut to length and holes marked up
> 
> 
> 
> ...



An excellent job so far!!!


----------



## Teutone (Mar 10, 2012)

Thanks Bigpeete. And thanks for arranging that discount with Gas-it.

The rest of the install isn't really that complicated. Lift bottle in locker, connect two hoses. Done.
(there is another additional job, make a SECURE bottle holder, the plastic thingie held by two wood screws is a joke really)

The whole install isn't really a big job, it's just my side skirt which add a little bit of extra work.

I have also ordered the remote LED gauge. Lot of money for what it is but I can't be bothered to stick my head in the gas locker every time I want to check gas levels. would be a bit difficult anyway to see the on top of the bottle gauge.


----------



## Deleted member 4053 (Mar 10, 2012)

*gas fitting*

Excellent presentation Teutone

is that a Professional workshop you have?

or do you like browsing machine tool shops?

Thanks again

Tony


----------



## snowbirds (Mar 10, 2012)

Hi  Looks good very tidy work thanks for the pictures

Regards Snowbirds.:cool1::cool1: 







Teutone said:


> Thanks Bigpeete. And thanks for arranging that discount with Gas-it.
> 
> The rest of the install isn't really that complicated. Lift bottle in locker, connect two hoses. Done.
> (there is another additional job, make a SECURE bottle holder, the plastic thingie held by two wood screws is a joke really)
> ...


----------



## Teutone (Mar 10, 2012)

Wee-z said:


> Excellent presentation Teutone
> 
> is that a Professional workshop you have?
> 
> ...



Tony,
that's in my garage. Many moons ago I had an apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker. But these days I work 
in Design and Development using 3D CAD.
Most of the tools I buy at shows, one very good for this is Race Retro in Stomeleigh Park.


----------



## Neckender (Mar 10, 2012)

Very good informative post.

John.


----------



## Teutone (Mar 10, 2012)

I am not an LPG expert but from what I can see from the pictures you linked is that the filler shown there has NO adapter fitted. Meaning you need to fit an UK adapter first before you can fill even in the UK

On the round box I have used the UK filler is part of the brass filler neck and the adapters required to fill up abroad are screwd into the UK type filler neck.

I will take some pictures tomorrow to show what I mean.


----------



## Teutone (Mar 10, 2012)

some more progress today. Getting the pipe from the fill point into the gaslocker.

Gaslocker which would take two 13kg bottles, have decided to try with one first. Time will tell, I can always add another one.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




there are some vents at the right hand side and I thought it would be more easy to use one to get the filler pipe through.
Of course one could just drill another hole through the floor, it's just to layers of plywood with some styrofoam sandwiched between them. 
I tried not to reduce the opening of the vents too much to allow any escaping gas to escape in case of an emergency

The picture doesn't really show it but I have cut the hole larger to move the pipe as close as possible to the cabinet wall to make shure I can clamp it down and avoid it moving around and get damaged. As additional protection I have inserted a larger piece of thicke rubber pipe and shaped the inserts a little. All is held in place with some exterior frame sealant.





Filler pipe to be fed through the rubber protection sleeve





Filler pipe fed through





I will secure the filler pipe with some "P-clips" to make sure it doesn't get chafed and damaged. Long time ago I bought a caravan where some numpty had fitted a fridge and just cut a large hole through the cabinet side to let the gas supply pipe dangle around and the edge damaged the pipe. Luckily I had a fire extinguisher at hand when I first used the fridge on gas......





Picture showing how the filler pipe connects to the fill point


----------



## Teutone (Mar 11, 2012)

***** said:


> Yes, the link I have shown is a female thread and you just screw in which ever adaptor you require for which ever country. Easy as that!



Here are some pictures of the supplied adapters

Filler with no adapter (UK filler is NOT removable)





Adapter to be screwd in





Adapter screwed in


----------



## Techno100 (Mar 11, 2012)

A pleasure to see other members producing guides in pictures and quality work too . Excellent keep it coming


----------



## Teutone (Mar 12, 2012)

Next point on the agenda was fitting the external gas level gauge. It's a lot of money for what it is and Warren from FES warned me that it isn't very accurate but I just didn't want to stick my head in the gas locker every time I want to know if the gas is running low.

The bottle has a gauge sitting on top (don't know how the 11kg and 6kg bottles are in this regard, I have a 13kg bottle)





The gauge is just held by two cross head screws and can be lifted out easily once the screws are removed.
Don't worry you are NOT opening the bottle, the gauge works magnetic and sits outside in the brass fitting.





This is what you get for your £40.90





This picture shows the sender gauge we need to drive the LED gauge. Right hand is the gauge taken off the bottle, Left hand the wired one 
we are going to fit





The sender gauge has a little pip to make sure you can only insert right way round





But before fitting I got a bit nosy and wanted to see how the sender and LED gauge work together. So I rigged it up on my work bench with a small 12Volt battery

Full






Little less full





Getting empty





Time to fill up!





Now fitting to the Motorhome. My gas locker forms the bottom of the wardrobe which is right next to the habitation door.
The main control panel is fitted above the door and that seemd to be a good place to locate the gas level gauge as well.

Off the control panel came and revealed some beautiful wiring. Nice to admire some other "craftsmans" work......
I don't know how these motorhome manufacturers can justify to charge 50-60k for a motorhome with wiring done by 
Stevie Wonder when he had a bad day.  (sorry Stevie, not meant to be personal)





Next step was to cut a hole. A SQUARE hole :scared:
I just don't like cutting square holes. Always a lot of extra work. Going to get Mr. Dremel.....
....and after a short while, job done





quick trial fit. The green round dot under the LED gauge is a ON/OFF switch. I didn't wanted to gauge to be on all the time.





Control panel fitted and all wired up





To get the wire from the gas locker to the panel I drilled a small hole from inside the wardrobe into the cavity behind the control panel





Another hole in the bottom corner of the wardrobe into the gas locker.* BEWARE*, you need to seal this hole with a blob of mastic
afterwards, otherwise gas from a leaking bottle can enter the wardrobe.

A few p-clips for good measure to hold the cabling save in place





p-clip close up





I have used some protective tubing you can by from car electric places (or ebay....) to make my sender "harness"

empty tubing





then you tape the wires together you want to feed through the protective tubing. (HINT: some Silicone spray does help a lot when doing this)





Another picture I wanted to share with you. Took the ceiling light off (LED lighting to be fitted later) and instead of using some insulated
spade connector, they just used some insulation tape. Fair enough if you do this yourself because you haven't got an arsenal of different
crimp connectors, but for a manufacturer to it this way is just not acceptable in my opinion. Maybe I am just to critical....





That's it for now and almost all done. Just the bottle to go into the locker and filling it up!


----------



## Sjoberg (Mar 12, 2012)

Nice work!  
I just love these kind of threads!!

Regards//Jocke


----------



## Hawkmoon (Mar 13, 2012)

Enjoyed the thread - very clear & informative, well done !


----------



## Teutone (Mar 14, 2012)

Teutone said:


> Another picture I wanted to share with you. Took the ceiling light off (LED lighting to be fitted later) and instead of using some insulated
> spade connector, they just used some insulation tape. Fair enough if you do this yourself because you haven't got an arsenal of different
> crimp connectors, but for a manufacturer to it this way is just not acceptable in my opinion. Maybe I am just to critical....



Looks like I have to apologise to CI Motorhomes. The ceiling lights must have been fitted by somebody else. When taking other lights off, I could see different connectors alltogether with proper insulation. Sorry :bow:


----------



## vindiboy (Mar 20, 2012)

does one have to have fixed bulkhead regulators  with re fillable bottles or are there  bottle regulators available ?


----------



## Teutone (Mar 21, 2012)

vindiboy said:


> does one have to have fixed bulkhead regulators  with re fillable bottles or are there  bottle regulators available ?



as far as I can see on the Gas-it website, you get all sorts of adapters/regulators but they also sell a very cheap changeover/regulator. Whish I would have seen this before I bought a TRUMA bulkhead regulator and hose.

but I wanted the "drive safe" type regulator and hose to keep the gas running whislt on the move.

The gas-it regulator at £36.29! Gas It by FES Autogas Ltd - NEW Micro 30mb Regulator with built in Automatic Change over Valve - 8mm Gas outlet fitted (Powered by CubeCart)


----------



## Bigpeetee (Mar 21, 2012)

vindiboy said:


> does one have to have fixed bulkhead regulators  with re fillable bottles or are there  bottle regulators available ?



If you look at my original thread on Gas-it, you will see my set up.

I have the filler fixed to the bottle and an adapter to enable the use of your existing propane regulator.

It also means you can quickly remove the bottle for either refilling (not had any issues yet, only complements) or to use on your BBQ be it at home or whatever.

This is the cheapest option I have found and Gas-it do a good deal for members of this forum

PM me for details.

I'm in Holyhead with snail speed broadband!!


----------



## sean rua (Mar 21, 2012)

Excellent thread!
Thank you.


sean rua.


----------



## Teutone (Mar 22, 2012)

brief update.
fitted bulk head regulator and a shut off tap today and finally plummed the bottle in.
After one clumsy failed attempt at the petrol station I managed to fill it all up with LPG! 20.7 liter in the 27 liter bottle. Tomorrow a final leak check and job done!

Because I have a few propane filled bottles left and the Truma regulator seems not to be the most reliable piece of kit, I fitted a T-junction and a second shut off tap in the system 
which allows me to run with the "old" system (regulator on bottle) by turning one tap off and the other one on.

Will post some piccies later.


----------



## Teutone (Mar 27, 2012)

final pictures, the bottle install.
I removed the top handle/shround thing to have better access to the connections.
The remaining tabs will be used for bracing the bottle in the gas locker. That strap around the bottle thing is a joke in my opinion.

I have mounted the regulator as high as possiblle. Note the two shut off taps. The second horizontal tap  is used to connect a bottle with a bottle mounted regulator.
As soon as I have used up my stash of half empty hire bottles, I will either blank it off or use it to power the BBQ or a Generator.







I was keen to fit the Truma pipe with the auto shut off because I am planning to use the gas while driving and want to play as safe as possible.


----------



## wints (Mar 28, 2012)

_I removed the top handle/shround thing to have better access to the connections.
The remaining tabs will be used......._ 

Have you ground off most of the protective shroud / collar, leaving the shaped 'tabs' to be used for fixing the bottle ?  Or does the collar un-bolt from the tabs ?

I'm thinking of grinding off the very large collar from my gaslow 11kg bottle.  It does get in the way a bit.

Great post by the way.

regards
Allen


----------



## Teutone (Mar 28, 2012)

wints said:


> _I removed the top handle/shround thing to have better access to the connections.
> The remaining tabs will be used......._
> 
> Have you ground off most of the protective shroud / collar, leaving the shaped 'tabs' to be used for fixing the bottle ?  Or does the collar un-bolt from the tabs ?
> ...




the collar just unbolts on the Gas-it bottle. Not sure if I would want to put the angle grinder at it.


----------



## groyne (Mar 31, 2012)

Thank's for all the useful info in this thread.
Got the Gas-it discount code off Bigpetee on Wednesday (another thankyou).
Ordered the bottle and fittings on Thursday.
They arrived on Friday.
Fitted it today, actual fitting took minutes, hole drilling took a bit longer. Plucking up the courage to fill up at the Petrol station took the most time. :raofl:

Now got a full bottle for less than half the price of Calor.  :banana:


----------



## Techno100 (Mar 31, 2012)

discount??


----------

