We bought our brand new caravan last year and on our last trip we lost all gas pressure. Must be out of gas so changed bottle........no change just very low gas pressure. As the van is being serviced this week told the dealer about the problem who tells us it is probably the regulator oiled up from the gas and it is NOT covered under warranty as it is a gas problem not a regulator problem. New regulator cost about £40. According to the dealer we are not the only ones to have suffered with this problem...it is quite common since the EU changed the rules for regulators.Has anybody else suffered with this problem and is there anything you can do to prevent it happening again, as a new regulator every year will be expensive !! We us Calor Propane and will change to Lite when the gas runs out.
This is a common problem and it has happened to me with my home central heating system (bottled gas).
Calor Gas insist that there is no way that oil can accumulate from their gas, but as many people have experienced, it does happen.
Until the gas companies accept the fact that oil is gathering in the pipes and clogging the regulators, we will all have to put up with the fact that every so often we will need to renew these regulators and clean out the gas pipes.
However I am surprised that your regulator and pipe work became clogged so quickly. I got about 4 years out of mine before I had to renew it.
Your dealer is half right - it is a major problem but others have had it changed under warranty because the problem is usually caused by the regulator being positioned too low to allow any oil to drain back to the bottle rather than the regulator
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There is a constituent of LPG that can condense out in the pipes and fittings, we get it in the gas valves on our Disco V8 which runs on LPG.
There are a number of options, one thing you can do is to fit a filter in the low-pressure line, these are about £5 to £10 each and will trap a fair bit of cr*p. Look for LPG filters on ebay, but don't pay silly money!
If you can get a new one out of your dealer make sure it is fitted in the highest position & has the right angle fitted to the outlet.If you end up having to pay for a new regulator I suggest you go for the Gas low kit guaranteed for 5 years
see here http://www.gaslow.co.uk/
its been going on for years now and the problem is not going away it seams.as a rule the regulator people have been paying for a replacement.only started from what i can remember when they changed to a bulkhead fixing about 2003/2004.
I had this argument last week with our Challenger and Discover Leisure, I hit the roof when told it was not covered but, after complaining on the Swifttalk forum I was told by a Swift representative that my regulator was covered by Swift and to tell them so. just shows some dealers haven't a clue what's going on.
Luckily my regulator was not at fault, I had a dodgy gas bottle of all things, the pigtail connector was difficult to fit onto the neck, even tried a brand new one but only a small amount of gas was being released, I changed the cylinder for a new Calorlite.
Quote: Originally posted by jeff juke on 19/7/2011
Ive been inside an actual gas holding tank and i can tell you it is oily and thick with a grease substance.
i had the same problem with my last caravan. some 2-3 years ago, im sure gary from arc will soon come into this convo and explain better. but every so often there seems to be a certain amount of gas cyllinders with oil residue in them,
my regulator was fine but i needed to replace the gas burner for water heater as it had filled up and clogged stopping it from igniting. he spent around 30-40 mins blowwing it out burning away but there was so much it was a waste of time so just swapped with a rebuilt one for me
Just an update. Had a call from the Manufacturer who has agreed to replace the regulator under warranty. Pleased about that and grateful for all your input. However this appears to be quite a problem and NOBODY is doing anything to solve it.
Thanks again .....this is a great site for both help and information
Hi Jim C you said you replaced gas bottle with a calor lite. Did you have pay extra for tha lite bottle or did they exchange and you just paid for the gas.
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As mentioned the problem is a lot older than 2004 when the problem stopped at blocking the regulator, before that it could pass through the old style regulator and cause worse problems further along.
I've just fixed yet another of dozens of Cascade burner modules, this one was 'dripping' oil out of the gas jet, loads of it inside the gas valve.
So fitting a 30mb 'old style' Clesse or Gas-low single stage regulator is NOT a cure, it simply moves the problem down the line.
Gas-Lows warranty only covers the regulator and frankly it could be warranted for life as it will never block due to oil. However and having fitted it, the warranty won't cover more expensive problems caused by the oil once it passes through to wreck havoc elsewhere in the system.
And please, no one mention the rubber hose is at fault, it has nothing what-so-ever to do with it!
I do know Truma are trying hard to develop a solution and have been for years, as I understand the latest regulator is at least less susceptible to blockage but obviously not yet immune...even if that's a good thing?!
They have not yet designed a 'trap' to work 100%
I would suggest one or two rules to follow when fitting a new bottle;
1, Try and get the bottle from the pen yourself and treat it gently, never carry it on it's side and allow it to stand and settle before connection.
2, Before connection, always 'crack' the gas valve open for a second, do this two or three times, you can hold a paper towel over the outlet and check this for any oily deposit.
If this proves clear then your probably unlikely to suffer.
3, NEVER travel with bottle open and open bottle very very slowly when turning back on, preferably leaving to settle for as long as possible after arrival on site before turning on.
Basically, this should hopefully make sure anything in the bottom of the bottle stays there, and anything perhaps trapped in the take off pipe is blasted clear before connection.
I had this issue with the bulkhead regulator in our old Ranger - it was swapped under warranty no problem. I had fitted the easy screw hoses (black rubber with large red cover to the coupling that can be done up by hand rather than spanner) and was told by the dealer that the black hoses were more susceptible to this problem and that people that had fitted the stainless steel hoses rarely if ever had the issue.
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Topic: WARNING..Oil in the gas !!
Pleased about that and grateful for all your input. However this appears to be quite a problem and NOBODY is doing anything to solve it.
