The trouble with dial type gauges is that they work on pressure and whilst there is still just enough gas in the cylinder ther always show as green and its only until you are on the dregs that it starts to change colour. Dometic have a new gadget that tells you the gas level in a cylinder but at £30 its quite expensive.
Quote: Originally posted by Andy Higham on 24/10/2013
The magnetic type gauge relies on the temperature difference between the gas and the liquid. They will only work when the gas is being used,as the liquid vapourises into gas its temperature drops. (latent heat of evaporation).
If you use the gas really hard ice will form on the bottle where the liquid is.
With the pressure gauges reading full until the last brew, that is because the pressure in the bottle is dependent on temperature NOT bottle contents. Boiling the last kettle when the gauge plummets to empty is using the remaining pressure after all the liquid has evaporated. If you take a butane cylinder with one of these gauges on outside in the middle of winter it will show empty with a full cylinder.
Get a spring balance similar to the ones fishermen use or use bathroom scales
Never had ice form on our bottle, cooking for four people when we go away in the summer holidays. Never camped between the months of Oct to Mar too cold for us.
If you take a Butane cylinder outside in the middle of winter you wouldn't get much gas out of it.
This gas has a boiling point right around freezing — 32°F (0°C) — so it does not work well at very low temperatures. Below its boiling point, butane stays a liquid, and there is no pressure change to force it out of its container. Butane is rarely used to heat homes or buildings in places where it gets very cold because it cannot be stored outside and still work effectively.
If the gas needs to be stored for a long time or in variable weather conditions, propane is usually a better choice than butane. It is relatively easy to liquify and compress, and has a boiling point of -44°F (-42°C), which means that it turns into a gas as soon as it comes out of the tank at any temperature above this. Propane can easily be stored outside in almost all environments, since temperatures below freezing don't affect how it is stored or used.
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Topic: Gas level indicators
