I have noticed a faint gas smell from the front locker box when I open it, however the gas bottle is turned off tight and the tap supply below the regulator to the caravan.
So there is no gas going into the caravan, I have changed the gas botle thinking it may be a faulty bottle, but I can still get the faint gas smell. I have put soapy water around the connections from the gas bottle to the regulator and no bubbles.
I have put my nose right up to the hose connection where it goes into the bottle and I can get a faint smell smell, although the bottle is turned off tight. The hose is not old, in fact it is a brand new van that I have only had for one month. Does anybody have any ideas?
All i can think of is maybe the regulator is faulty and releasing gas held in the pipe work when the gas is turned off , it's worth getting it checked out by a caravan dealers .
We have had the same problem recently, and we mentioned this when our van went in for its first annual service. The answer apparently is that the "pigtails" from the bottle to the regulator ( the orange flexible pipes) "leak" out small amounts of gas left in the pipes. This leak is through the rubber itself and is not a major cause for concern. It is a well known problem and the dealer will replace the pigtale during the service. It still amazes me that problems like this are 1. Allowed to be fitted to caravans in the first place, and 2. when mentioned to the dealers they airily dismiss your concerns and say oh yeah, we will replace the pigtail.
I to am amazed to here that a dealer pronounces that a especially made high pressure hose should have whats the word osmosis from new and worse it's nothing to worry about...what.
Having said that, it is true that over time LPG can leach though and given the new and stupid idea of bottle pressures being fed though a hose to a regulator instead of the regulator being on the bottle, this time is going to shorten. I have heard of Squirrels being partial to the smell and chew holes in hoses to get at it, it's not the gas they are after it's the smell. What I wonder then is it the smell or stench which is added to LPG that you are smelling...yes I know bear with me!.
What I am trying to say is it's the stench being filtered out by the rubber and left behind in such concentration you can smell it even though any gas doing the pushing is far less than ever could be dangerous. Either way you need to 'smell' gas and you cannot have a hose that smells safely or how would you ever know when you really did have a leak??
It seems you are about spot on, I managed to get enough of the top half of my torso in the caravan front locker and using the good sense of smell I have followed the route from the regulator back along the hose to the union on the gas bottle and the faint whiff seems to be coming from the hose area itself next to the pigtail end. The actual unions and regulator has no smell at all.
Well I thought I would update you from what I have been told by the dealer today.
I spoke with the service department, as soon as I mentioned the smell in the front box on my Pageant, he immediately said dont worry its not a leak, he told me its the smell that comes off the orange hose that has been used and they have had many people complain of the same thing. I told him that I had bought the van new from them about a month ago and he assured me they pressure test the system prior to collection.He told me that the hose that was fitted is whatever type thaey have in at the time and they could swop it over for the black hose.
He also mentioned they had one of the used orange hoses in their office overnight and the smell next morning was so bad they had to throw it out.
I am going to get them to change the hose at its service anyway, has anyone else found this problem with the orange hoses?
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Topic: Faint gas smell in front box
