Finally I've bought an adapter to fill propane bottles

the pumps are meant to have a pressure cut out.
i have deliberately waited till the pumps stop and had no problems . but in the ideal world you dont go that far. friends and i have experimented with all sorts of things and all i can say is only once have i had a problem that was a 907 gas bottle bought in maroc . took the burner off and let a bit of gas out (liquid came out),put the burner back on all ok. no regulater used as it ran on bottle pressure. must have been over filled . only takes a small gap at the top to allow vapour then off you go all ok.
 
Bernard Jones said:
At 10 bar, any gas vapour in the bottle would turn to liquid. So whats to stop you filling it 100% with liquid?
Click to expand...

10 bar is not enough to liquify the gas ; that's why they have to refrigerate the propane to turn it into liquid at the production site

actually there was a very interesting TV programme about the construction of the tankers that transport the gas , if you had insulation like that in your house you would have to keep the windows open in the depth of winter and not need any heating
 
vwalan said:
the pumps are meant to have a pressure cut out.
i have deliberately waited till the pumps stop and had no problems . but in the ideal world you dont go that far. friends and i have experimented with all sorts of things and all i can say is only once have i had a problem that was a 907 gas bottle bought in maroc . took the burner off and let a bit of gas out (liquid came out),put the burner back on all ok. no regulater used as it ran on bottle pressure. must have been over filled . only takes a small gap at the top to allow vapour then off you go all ok.
Click to expand...

I know there are regulators which are to permit you use gas appliances while the vehicle is in motion , and have always presumed this contains a device which prevents liquid from slopping up the tube

however , that does suggest that normal regulators do not contain such a device , does it not ?
 
hi, i dont know if thats answerable by me. the bottle that i had trouble with was a 907 with direct screw on burner. there may or not be regs for use whle driving . i cant answer that one . i do know i have druiven all over the place only swithching off when changing gas bottles and had the fridge running almost continuse. there was a time i could say i never turned the gas off apart from changing bottles. after a discusion on here i do now turn it off on ferries . if i remember.
not recommended but have seen bottles used on their sides but i think thats pushing luck. i certainly dont like that idea.
but realise some tanks are bottles but with a vapour take off inserted on the highest side. not really to be confused with bottles lied down.
 
Zero Safety.....

Not a very safe practice, not recommended at all....:scared::scared::scared:
 
Point made

Yes I have! It is against all the advice from any of the clubs on road safety reasons and common sense....:sad:
I am not arguing with you or anybody about this as I have made my point and will say no more on the subject....
Except if you have a 3 way fridge, then could you not run off the engine battery while driving....
If not well I can understand, but that will not alter the fact that it still is not safe in the event of a road accident.....
I must say, I am reading what are considered some very unsafe practices on here and I am quite alarmed to hear what some experienced members are publishing....:sad:


I just hope that the inexperienced members do not follow blindly....
 
Basil said:
Yes I have! It is against all the advice from any of the clubs on road safety reasons and common sense....:sad:
I am not arguing with you or anybody about this as I have made my point and will say no more on the subject....
Except if you have a 3 way fridge, then could you not run off the engine battery while driving....
If not well I can understand, but that will not alter the fact that it still is not safe in the event of a road accident.....
I must say, I am reading what are considered some very unsafe practices on here and I am quite alarmed to hear what some experienced members are publishing....:sad:


I just hope that the inexperienced members do not follow blindly....
Click to expand...

I'm not one for following advice of clubs generally, but in this case, I guess they would make the argument that there may be a gas leak if piping is ruptured in an accident, and there's more chance of an explosion if an appliance with a flame is running.

I actually follow the half way house on this. I don't turn the gas off at the bottle, but I wouldn't run the fridge off gas while driving. I simply plug it into the inverter and put the battery on alternator charge. I find the fridge runs a little better off 240v than it does off 12v. My gas bottles are extremely well protected from collision, inboard of the main chassis and paneling and in front of the rear wheel. It would take an accident that cut my van in two before the gas installation was disrupted. However I have seen many gas bottles in fragile fibre glass lockers mounted directly on the outside of the van which could take a direct hit in a crash.

In the light of this I believe that club advice has to cater for all van types, and doesn't take account of my installation which is far safer than many vans with their gas turned off. So generally, I would say it is more relevant to carry out your own risk assessment, which pertains to your own conditions rather than automatically follow instructions which, of necessity, have had to be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.
 
I'm BLUE

So it's no good for my 7Kg blue calor gas bottle then?

I don't seem to have a screw thread, more of a clip-on and twist the tap. 90 degrees to fix, 180 degrees to turn on.
 
Aren't blue Calor gas bottles the butane ones?

Propane is what they sell as LPG. You have a different regulator and bottle for butane, they don't mix as the regulator pressures are different.

If you want to fill up at the pumps change your butane bottle and regulator for propane ones. You'll also enjoy the benefits of year round use as butane doesn't gas below 0 degrees whereas propane is good till -40 :) Check your appliances will run on propane. They should do if you have the correct regulator for propane.
 
hi, i have a calor adaptor thats clip on to old lh butane thread , then use a butane thread to pol propane thread . buy it fron fes gas, i can then fill those bottles . either use a propane reg on the adaptor or just use the butane reg . it seems in practice doesnt make any noticible differance in use. .abroad they just use one reg and one bottle fitting for both propane and butane . i change lots of bottles to the old butane lh thread saves changing regulators when in other countries .
 
I always thought they were similar, but not sure if one would work with the other. Propane is 37 Mbar, Butane 28 Mbar so within 30%. It may work for most practical purposes, but could be some incomplete combustion if pressure is too high for the gas. Watch out for yellow in the burner flame (more CO generation)
 
you can also get variable pressure regulators with an adjuster on the top. ideal for fine tuning .
autogas can be and very often is a mix of gasses . it did bother me years ago when propane got put in my butane bottle at a foreign gas station . on questioning them they assured me it was ok. it did work and since then i gave up worrying too much about it. that was back in the 70,s . i had one of the first of the calor clip ons . they couldnt put gas into the bottle . i showed them the calor clip on to butane lh thread adaptor and away they went . it as been used by others and me many times since . keep your eyes open when on carboots etc . makes a usefull adaptor. many french german and maroc bottles use our old butane lh thread as their fitting. i asked why they didnt put butane in but it was because they could get their propane filler on the adaptor but the butane filler didnt fit . lost me but have had propane or autogas in many times. with no probs.the lh thread to propane adaptor is about 7 quid . i had one made years ago but now fes gas sell them.
 
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Firefox said:
I actually follow the half way house on this. I don't turn the gas off at the bottle, but I wouldn't run the fridge off gas while driving.
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So what do you gain by doing this? 30 seconds to turn the gas on or off at the bottle, thereby containing it in a very robust receptacle?

Sorry - but I don't see the point of taking ANY risk whilst driving just for the sake of a few seconds ...
 
because it is more expensive and less convenient to refill in spain I just change my bottles there

I once picked out a nice fresh looking one when I changed before coming north , only to realise that it was actually an old one that had been repainted !

and anyone who thinks that the gas companies inspect the bottles before they refill has never been and watched the process !

anyone who doubts the fantastic strength of these bottles should have been in spain a few years back , an english driver in a motorhome made an illegal left turn and was T boned by a van which hit directly on the bottle ; I looked at the bottle after , slightly dented , but didn't leak ; regrettably both passengers in the van were killed , so you can guess the impact
 
Canalsman said:
So what do you gain by doing this? 30 seconds to turn the gas on or off at the bottle, thereby containing it in a very robust receptacle?

Sorry - but I don't see the point of taking ANY risk whilst driving just for the sake of a few seconds ...
Click to expand...

It takes me longer than that, as my bottles are relatively inaccessible, due to their location safety feature, I would say probably 2 minutes and since I drive every day and cook every day it mounts up. Although I could change my door catches from screw based to quick release which would help. They are screw based to ensure a tight door seal. Almost everything we do is based on cost benefit. One could say if we really want to cut down on risk then why drive at all, or even get out of bed, as has already been alluded to ;)
 
lebesset said:
anyone who doubts the fantastic strength of these bottles should have been in spain a few years back , an english driver in a motorhome made an illegal left turn and was T boned by a van which hit directly on the bottle ; I looked at the bottle after , slightly dented , but didn't leak ; regrettably both passengers in the van were killed , so you can guess the impact
Click to expand...


From the story, it sounds like the bottles were turned off, otherwise there might not have been much left over....
Sorry to hear about the outcome....
 
Firefox said:
Aren't blue Calor gas bottles the butane ones?

Propane is what they sell as LPG. You have a different regulator and bottle for butane, they don't mix as the regulator pressures are different.
Click to expand...
With the new bulkhead fitted regulator for normal exchange bottle use, the pressure is exactly the same and you just change the pig tail....:idea-007:
 
My van was built for and uses a 50mbar regulator. The appliances also run just as well on a 28mbar on or a 37mbar regulator.

In the UK we have traditionally used different presure regulators for butane and propane. We also used different fittings. Other countries used the same fittings for both.

As a former Calor dealer I have seen full and empty cylinders dropped from the side of a delivery truck onto concrete with no ill effects. The bottles are very resiliant. The cage around the neck is designed to protect the valve from damage.

I now run a bulk tank (85 litre /42kg) under my motorhome that is never turned off unless I am on a ferry. The valves on these tanks have a device built into the tank that prevents gas flow if a surge occures such as a broken pipe or damaged valve.

On the continent Autogas is a mixture of propane and butane with the latter increasing the further south you go. So I run on propane or butane or a mixture depending on where the tank is filled with no problems at all.
 
hi, you can get a gadget that screws on the bottle before the regulator that cuts off the exit of gas if there is a surge. try autogas or bes or possibly a good camping shop. they sometimes have a gauge on good for checking for leaks not very good for contents gauge.
 
wints said:
The 'big' lorry stop / garage just outside Carnforth on the A6.

Allen
Click to expand...

Hi Allen,

I paid Truckhaven a visit tonight and between all the diesel and petrol pumps I found a forecourt attendant, who has never even heard of LPG :lol-053:
 
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