lpg gas tanks

[Kontiki]

there is only 26 bar in the tank when full witch is not a lot really when you work on 500 bar hydraulic systems i agree its id dangarous if you dont know what you are doing

26bar = 377.0981psi this is still a fair pressure if something did burst.

I consider myself reasonably competent to do most jobs having been in engineering all my working life (8 years in a chemical plant where we had some really dangerous stuff) if anything I am over cautious, I always make sure I have full knowledge of what I am dealing with & the correct procedures required & would never attempt any job if I thought it was beyond my capabilities. Fitting a refillable gas cylinder is pretty easy & the only potential danger I could see is the fitting of the external filling hose as any leak from this while filling is under high pressure. The rest is only the same as changing a normal bottle so no less dangerous.
Fitting external tanks does mean a bit more competence, the tank needs to be secured & there is a minimum ground clearance of 10" recommended. More pipework means more possible problems with leaks & the need to make sure that the pipes aren't rubbing against anything that could wear through them.

If you get a habitation check done this should include a gas check, I got a certificate showing my system is ok.
I think that eventually we will fall in line with other EU countries & make the gas check compulsory on motorhomes & caravans. Hopefully it is not brought about by a increased number of accidents involving LPG

 

[biggirafe]

26bar = 377.0981psi this is still a fair pressure if something did burst.

I consider myself reasonably competent to do most jobs having been in engineering all my working life (8 years in a chemical plant where we had some really dangerous stuff) if anything I am over cautious, I always make sure I have full knowledge of what I am dealing with & the correct procedures required & would never attempt any job if I thought it was beyond my capabilities. Fitting a refillable gas cylinder is pretty easy & the only potential danger I could see is the fitting of the external filling hose as any leak from this while filling is under high pressure. The rest is only the same as changing a normal bottle so no less dangerous.
Fitting external tanks does mean a bit more competence, the tank needs to be secured & there is a minimum ground clearance of 10" recommended. More pipework means more possible problems with leaks & the need to make sure that the pipes aren't rubbing against anything that could wear through them.

If you get a habitation check done this should include a gas check, I got a certificate showing my system is ok.
I think that eventually we will fall in line with other EU countries & make the gas check compulsory on motorhomes & caravans. Hopefully it is not brought about by a increased number of accidents involving LPG

For me the choice of a refillable bottle and not a tank was to do with the resale. When I sell I don't expect I will get any premium because I have a refillable bottle so I intend to take it with me. When fitting I do not need any checks to be made on the system. When its removed the van is as it was before I fitted it.

If I had an external tank fitted again I'm not sure I would be able to get the cost back. Unless it was profesionally fitted it may cause issues selling it, I know myself if I was looking at a van and the seller told me it had an externally fitted LPG tank I would want to know who fitted it and does it have any paperwork.

Don't get me wrong I have nothing against exteranlly fitted tanks either self fit or professional this is just the things that made me stick with the refillable bottle

 

[Kontiki]

My reasons were similar although I did intend to fit a tank & went to FES to see what size I could fit. If I could have got about a 50 litre one I probably would have gone for it. The price between the sizes isn't much & I found that I couldn't get anything bigger than a 20 litre one anywhere under the van. It was then a no brainer as the fixed tank was more expensive than the cylinder & the size was the same. Like you I intend to take this one with me when we change the van. As we tour around Europe a bit the cost side is possibly less important than the convenience of being able to fill up rather than switching bottles.
Up to now I have used 132.5 litres (+ a full 20 litres in the cylinder at the moment) in a year, in my last van I used 182 litres in 18 months. So that must work out at about 60 kgs so about 5-6 refills. Not sure of the total cost but looking at my spreadsheet the most I paid was 54 pence or 64 cents around Europe.

 

[davejen]

Hi, everyone, I had a fitted lpg tank on my last m/home, which was 9 yrs of age- meaning that it would need to be tested next year. I was a bit concerned about the condition of the tank dure to rust/ corrosion so I rang a supplier of tanks to see where I could get it tested- result -NOWHERE- and the last place that did tests charged MORE than the price of a NEW TANK!, Since then swapped the m/home for another, with cylinders. I am thinking of having a tank fitted at a later date as I think they are safer than cylinders.
Cheers, Dave