We found that fitting a £7 regulator on the gas bottle itself "cured" the problem and we never had an issue for a bout 5 years.
We then removed the regulator and within 3 months the Truma regulator blocked up. I believe that they can be cleaned by immersing in boiling water for awhile.
just as a matter of interst BES have an offer on at the moment for butane regulators 21mm clip on £2.95 .
something is definately wrong with the bulkhead regs . i have bottle op regs that are from the 70,s some are earlier using the old butane lh,thread. usually used rubber high pressure hose but have used the old black low pressure hose and never had a problem with the bottle top regs.
. I believe that they can be cleaned by immersing in boiling water for awhile..
can anyone conform if this is true ? may be worth a try before i part with yet more money
Hi, A couple of years ago I was thinking of getting a bulkhead regulator fitted to my van, the switch over kind, caravan salesman advised my to stay with the one I had, that attached to the bottle, he said they had a lot of problems with the bulkhead ones clogging up. So I spoke to one of the engineers, he reckoned that it was a problem because the bulkhead regulator was fitted below the height of the bottle valve, allowing it to oil up, could this be the case.? If so would it be resolved by altering the regulator height above the bottle valve?
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
If in Doubt Check it Out.
Quote: Originally posted by arc systems on 29/11/2011The point to consider is not if it will work, but if it will work safely?!
You recommended that course of action to me a few years ago when we had a regulator problem.
Personally I think that the issue is with the gas and not with the piping or the Truma regulator. As stated we had a regulator on the bottle and also the bulkhead regulator and had no issues for about 4 years. Within 3 months of removing the regulator on the bottle, the problem occurred. We should be looking at Calor gas for compensation.
Makes me wonder if any one that is using BP Gas has had a problem?
We have had 5 vans with bulkhead mounted regulators and have not had a problem, maybe we have been lucky or maybe it has something to do with the Gaslow Auto change over valve that has been fitted to every one which raises the input hose height.
(Makes me wonder if any one that is using BP Gas has had a problem? ) (We have had 5 vans with bulkhead mounted regulators and have not had a problem, maybe we have been lucky or maybe it has something to do with the Gaslow Auto change over valve that has been fitted to every one which raises the input hose height.)
In reply to the above, I have used BP Lite ever since it came on the market and we have the Gaslow Auto Changeover valve fitted. Our bulkhead regulator packed when when the van was 13 month old, but it's been OK ever since. (touch wood)
------------- Regards
Terry Birch
Our tourer days are over and we have moved on to a Hobby Motorhome
I have a feeling that the companies supplying gas in bottle use the gas as it comes from the refineries and it is probably all the same stuff no matter who sells it. Maybe someone could correct me if I have assumed incorrectly.
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One contributing factor that can increase the chance of problems is the sighting of the regulator in comparison to the top of the cylinder.
If you have a tall gas locker the regulator should be fitted as high as possible so that any oil will fall naturally back in to the cylinder. If the regulator is level or even below the top of the cylinder than the chance of problems increases dramatically. Our Adria has a very tall locker and the regulator is high up which results in a good fall back to the bottle. If your locker is vertically challenged then there is very little that can be done.
Regulator height has to be a contributing factor and the higher it is the better, however, it is a long way away from a cure, just lessens the chances.
Regards 'short' gas lockers, you could always buy a longer hose, this can then be looped down to the floor and then back up to the reg, ideally tying the loop together to keep it tidy and away from harm.
(It must though be noted, on the Continent, exactly the same regulator is mounted directly on the bottle, there is little evidence of the same problem there, albeit it is not unknown)
As I said then, it you clear the neck and valve of any oil that may have gathered, then there's none to cause a problem!
Regards supplies coming from the same source, I'd fully expect this to be true.
IMO this means the problem is nothing to do with the gas itself, just individual suppliers quality control...or indeed lack of!
And while I'm perfectly happy to continue referring to it as 'oil', a simple one word understandable description, it is not. Rather, it's a thin oily type substance which evaporates quite rapidly when open to air
Quote: Originally posted by arc systems on 30/11/2011
(It must though be noted, on the Continent, exactly the same regulator is mounted directly on the bottle, there is little evidence of the same problem there, albeit it is not unknown)
This seems to support that in general that the regulator should be higher than the bottle.The continental regulators are mounted on top of the bottle and therefore any substance is likely to drain back into the bottle rather than clog up the regulator.
I don't buy into the theory that it's related to regulator height,if it's a gravity issue the muck wouldn't get out of the bottle in the first place. I think it's just a simple design fault with the truma regulator that causes an above average amount of them to fail.
Quote: Originally posted by wizzo on 01/12/201
This seems to support that in general that the regulator should be higher than the bottle.The continental regulators are mounted on top of the bottle and therefore any substance is likely to drain back into the bottle rather than clog up the regulator.
No it supports the fact there is nothing wrong with the regulator design, it being perfectly capable of regulating gas, wherever it is positioned!
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Topic: Truma regulator failures
