Gas on the go

[The Grand Wanderer]

Hi all,
Just a quickie as was talking to someone about this over the weekend and was wondering what the general opinion was.
Do you shut off the gas cylinders at the bottles when on the move and if not, does the fact that they are open invalidate your insurance policy?
Wanderer

 

[GARY ENGLISH]

gas off

I turn mine off when on the move,so do my freinds.Think you will find some thing on your insurance.Most new vans have a sticker now, telling you to turn off before you move.

 

[Tbear]

*****,
I allways used to try to remember to turn mine off. Worrying about the chance of lpg in its liquid form reaching a burner but after a bit of research, found the chances of this happening seem to be just about nil. What I have done is to get a valve which switches of the gas in the event of a sudden loss of pressure. Cannot see anything in the insurance about it.
Richard

 

[Tbear]

Tbear, someone did say in the link that those valves cannot be relied upon.
I have no idea if it is fact or fiction, but whatever, I will carry on turning mine off irrespective of insuranceth complications

*****

I would never try to talk anyone out of doing what they believe to be the safest way of doing something. In truth I often turn my gas off but I also sometimes forget. I spend all my working life dealing with gas valves on anaesthetic machines which are serviced regularly and I can assure you they often have problems but in thirty five years I have never known one to fail completely, so I intend to use one but not totally rely on it.

Richard

 

[David & Ann]

I have read the past discusion and also the few today. Question is, Do I have to turn off both ends each time i drive off? That is, at the bottles and at the valves under the sink. Or would turning off at the bottles is enough.

 

[lebesset]

don't forget to turn off at the bottle when crossing the channel ! read the terms and conditions

 

[Deleted member 207]

If you are really worried about forgetting you can buy gas solenoids that turn off the gas after the taps as soon as the engine is running - I've got one on an LPG generator to make sure that gas cant escape if the genset conks out.

Whether isolating the LPG tanks is any safer than having a tank full of petrol is a moot point. LPG has a wider flammable range than petrol so is potentially more dangerous in an uncontrolled release.

A lot of the fuel safety procedures are driven by the fuel companies who have world wide experiences of accidents and incidents and can often influence regulators to introduce controls in one country whilst never having had an accident in that country. Bit like the aftermath of the Spanish LPG tanker/Campsite fire in the 1970s(?) when a whole host of safety designs worldwide were introduced into LPG tanker construction and testing.

 

[Deleted member 32]

I leave mine on, in fact the handbook has that the Truma heating can be used on the move. It has the Truma valve that is supposed to cut the gas off in the event of a large release of gas. My insurance has no mention of gas at all & I can never remember any of my previous insurance mentioning it. Although I never bother with the heating on I do leave the fridge on the gas all the time (except when we are crossing the Tunnel or the ferries as it is in their terms & conditions)

 

[Deleted member 967]

This advice stems from tuggers and gas bottles. I have seen an accident where a caravan overturned and the gas bottle went roling down the road. They were turned off but still attached to the rubber pipes. I always turned the cylinders off on the caravan on the move.

My motorhome had the bottles strapped down inside the gas locker. I didn't turn them off.

I now have a gas tank and that stays on. It has the valve to cut off the flow if anything happens to the regulator or pipework. Some gas applances are designed be run on the move.

 

[Byronic]

I think most would agree that turning off at the bottle is the safest measure.
But if you think you need to have an appliance on whilst on the move, then you have to accept an extra degree of risk. Even if the appliance manufacturer doesn't have a restriction on such usage.
Roger, as you say gas is possibly more dangerous than petrol and with petrol tanks we have a secure filler cap seal for when not filling, but as for the tank take off that has to be open for obvious reasons, that's the risk we all have to take in order to drive.