We've just returned from a few days away. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and that evening cooked a good meal on the gas stove/cooker with no problems. In the norning I decided to do a fry up for breakfast. I did somthing I hadn't done before, namely plugging the Cadac directly into the gas BBQ on the side of the van, using the appropriate connections, hoses etc. However the cadac failed to light and there appreared to be no gas getting through. Checked the cooker, same thing, no gas. So i switched over to a new bottle assuming thet the other one had run out. Same result, no gas. If left a very small amount comes through and the burner lights (just) for a few seconds.
My thought was that the cadac caused a loss in pressure enough to trip the safety valve in the van, ie simulating a leak in the system, but it hasn't reset. Am I missing something and is there a way to reset the valve or is it broken?
Quote: Originally posted by michael on 02/11/2009
as said change regulator first.even more so if you have a bulk head fitting as these oil up now and then.
Please tell me more about this Oil Up Business.
I have a problem with my household LPG supply and it has Oil in the pipeline but the Calor people say there can be no oil there.
Please tell me anything that you know regarding Oil in LPG or the Hose Pipes.
seeing as gas is made from oil then your people are telling you lies lobey, this happens when the regulator is to low and the oil from the gas bottle cant return down the pipe and get back into the bottle so it then goes to the lowest piont it can which will be your regulator, this then gets gunked up and stops the flow. or at least that is what we where told when our reg packed in also on some caravans with the fixed to the bulkhead type regulator it was a mod that was meant to get done under warranty to move the whole thing higher up to stop this happening
The set up I have is 4 large LPG Cylinders that feed a regulator through a an automatic change over valve and then to the regulator.
The regulator is at the correct height, IE slightly above 6 inches, but from there the feed pipe rises vertically about 8 foot up an outside wall, passes in through the brickwork and then another 5 foot to the combination boiler.
During a recent service, when we were found to be having gas feed problems, the engineer disconected the gas feed where it enters the boiler and found quite bad traces of a clear, almost machine type, oil around the rim of the feed pipe. There was also oil in the filter of the boiler.
It looked as if oil residue had been pushed up the pipe, possibly in vapour form and had condensed where it enters the boiler unit.
Ofcourse Calor Gas insist that this is impossible etc etc, but it has happened and so I am at a loss as to know how it has happened and what is causing this.
there is also a problem on 2004 regulators,the new fixed pipe ones.this is from PCmag forum.i dont have one,but if yours stops working it may help.click reply to topic.
Graham
3 Oct 2005 11:31 AM
Whilst away with friends over Spring Bank Holiday they had the regulator fail on their 2004 Coachman. Dealer changed it after the holiday. We cooked their food for them. Went away with them again last weekend. This time we had no gas on our 2005 Swift. Our dealer was unable to assist over the weekend and suggested we spoke to a dealer that was local to where we were staying. They sorted it in 15 minutes by fitting a new regulator. This dealer told us that they had had loads of them fail and that it was down to the gas being supplied by Calor being contaminated with oil. They showed us a regulator that they had opened up and the oil that it contained. We were told that caravans running on butane were more prone to the failures. Our friends had been using butane, we had been using propane. If it means that we now have to change the regulator after every 6 months or 2 bottles of gas, caravanning is going to become extremely expensive as these regulators cost £33 each. This adds insult to injury as we had 3 new pigtails during the first 3 days of using the caravan as they all leaked around the crimped joints. Carrying a spare £10 pigtail is one thing but I do object to having to carry a £33 regulator as well.
I don't think much of the new system!!!
Those with the older regulators are not exempt from the problem I was told. The oil passes through those regulators and then settles in the lowest part of the gas system, usually the fixed pipes under the floor.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
I assume you are using propane not butane. I say this because I recently had problems at a rally, one morning I woke up and put the kettle on only to find the gas just about lit and took ages to boil. I found out that the temperature had dropped over night to single figures. When butane is at this temperature it doesnt gas properly - could this be the peroblem
------------- A barman is just a pharmacist
with a limited inventory
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Topic: Loss of gas pressure
(I am useless at DIY)
