Freezing in the Pyrenees

[Kontiki]

Had a good drive down heading to the Somport tunnel, got to Orolon Ste. Marie & had problems with the gas supply. Heating woudn't work, then not even the cooker would get enough gas to be able to boil a kettle. Only thing that was working was the fridge so as it dropped to -10ºC outside the warmest part of the van was inside the fridge. Had a small camping stove so managed to boil a kettle, big mistake not filling the flask as in the morning with the temp.inside the van around zero the small butane gas stove obviously wouldn't work. So set off at around 6am for the drive up to the tunnel, little bit of scary drive up with the wagons coming down faster than I would like. Good that we couldn't see how much of a drop at the side of us. Decided to head straight for Cullera especially as it started to snow about 100kms north of Teurel, also having to overtake the snow ploughs that were already out gritting before it started to stick. After about 9 hours driving, taking it in turns we got to a very wet Cullera. Made phone calls to Swift & Truma about gas problem, they wanted us to go to a Truma agent but were no help in helping us locate one.The ones I rang didn't speak English, found Euro Caravan Services - Scotland, France & Spain with google left a message & they got back to me. As it happened they were at Camping Marjal near Torrevieja & could do it the next afternoon. So next day another 125miles. Clive from Euro Caravans checked it out & came to the same conclusion as me the regulator was dud. Problem then was he doesn't fit Truma regulators because they are unreliable. More phone calls to Swift & Truma to get them to agree to replace faulty regulator with a non Truma regulator. Once fitted the gas worked better than it ever has, didn't mind that my pizza was a bit burnt at least we now have heating & cooking. Now trying to get Swift to re-imburse me for the cost £85 (£40 labour + £45 for the regulator) as against a new Truma regulator which would have cost in the region of £150. Van is less than 12 months old.

 

[pamjon]

Gas

When you went up through the Somport Tunnel did you have snow chains on board , just in case? I thought from late October till end of March you had to carry them by Law.
Just a query or a bit of advice as we have been told that the Police may stop you.
PJ

 

[jagmanx]

Keeping spares ?

We all keep some spares
1 Spare light bulbs
What else ?

2 As Chainsaw Charlie observes a gas regulator is almost as essential as the Spare wheel/tyre

3 Fanbelt probably

I suggest these items as they are relatively cheap and maybe difficult to replace quickly in some areas and also you would have to pay postage/courier

So what other such items do people carry (Some say a spare clutch !)

 

[Kontiki]

I don't have snow chains & as far as I'm aware they weren't required, didn't notice any signs saying we had to have them. I had checked the weather found some good webcams/websites for the ski areas around the tunnel & checked the snow forecast. The week before they hadn't had hardly any snow on the slopes & the weather down was cold but clear blue skies with no snow. As we were freezing in the van we set off around 6am & all the way up we only had a few cars behind us but on the twisty bits of the road just before the tunnel met quite a few big wagons coming down. The up road has priority but in the dark if I could see lights coming down I would try to find a wider bit of road or a bit of a pull in. To be fair the wagons did slow a bit but some places it seemed a bit of a tight squeeze & in the dark it was sometimes difficult to judge how much space you had at the side.
I have never had a regulator problem with any of my other vans & I think they all had Truma regulators, it was always possible to use them safely supposedly while driving, this new type does seem to be overly complicated. Not sure of the regulator he fitted but it has a Gaslow sticker on it. If I was at home I know I could have got it cheaper, also I'm quite competent at being able to fit it safely, although retired now when I did work I spent 8 years working as a maintenance fitter at a chemical plant dealing with all kinds of gasses/chemicals/molten sodium & lead etc. some at extreme pressures. Makes me laugh when they make so much fuss about gas safe. I appreciate there has to be regulation & not making light of gas safe engineers & know that its not just a case of being able to connect a regulator safely.

 

[witzend]

I had a Truma reg fail some time ago fortunately not in harsh conditions and had no problem getting a replacement. As for carrying a spare I wondered if carrying such an expensive reg for spare was a good idea or not as would it deteriorate in storage so just carry a direct to bottle reg to use in an emergency was about £7

 

[TeamRienza]

Interesting word that, malagerated.

I thought I would expand my knowledge and google it.

It has two entries. Both in threads from chainsaw Charlie. Doesn’t really need an explanation. Great word.

Davy

 

[QFour]

You will probably waste your time with Swift. The people to contact are the Dealer you got it from. If it's a faulty part and it's been replaced then they should pay. They will then try and get it back from Swift. It's all to do with the way they Agents and not Dealerships.

 

[Kontiki]

Think the dealer would say bring it back there, I've had arguments over trying to get other bits done they aren't interested. One girl I spoke to before I had the guy replace the regulator say it shouldn't be a problem covering it as a 'goodwill' gesture. I might push for they should also give me a new Truma regulator which I can then flog on Ebay.

BTW I did have an old gas regulator that you screw straight into the bottle, I had thought about cutting the end off the rubber hose for the BBQ & connecting to the system via the BBQ point. The bottle reg. was 35 mbar where the Truma is 30 mbar, not sure if this might cause a problem. Mainly though it was so cold I doubt it was quicker to start driving at least we could get warm.

 

[witzend]

Think the dealer would say bring it back there, I've had arguments over trying to get other bits done they aren't interested..

When mine went I was in France and I got a replacement myself although it was under warranty when I came home I phoned Highbridge my dealer who sent a cheque by return to cover the Regulator which I had fitted myself

 

[QFour]

Thre is a difference, though. The Truma one you took off was presumably one of the sort that are double stage and will automatically turn the gas off in the event of unusually high gas flow, such as after a traffic accident that broke a gas pipe. The single stage one in your photo does not do that. Fine if you always turn the gas off at the cylinder before driving, but otherwise, not as safe as it might be.

Generally the regulators fail because of oily gunge running into them after condensing out of the gas. Some people suggest that it is leaching out of rubber hoses, but I think it is the "smell" additive condensing.

If you can fit the regulator so that the pipe into it runs uphill, it shouldn't happen. But few gas lockers have enough height to do that (designed in an era when gas regulators were fitted onto bottles, not screwed to the wall), so the replacements soon fail as well.
Replacing the regulator is only fixing the symptom, not the cause of the problem. A single stage regulator is going to take longer to fail, but I'm not confident that it is a good idea.

The pigtails should have these on them



Then you can use a standard pressure regulator. In the event of an accident it cuts the flow off at the bottle not the regulator. If you do have the miss fortune to have an accident and the pipe to the regulator gets damaged then you can have a major gas leak. We have one on each cylinder and they feed to a T Piece and then into the regulator which is mounted above the cylinders.