Converting a Continental LPG regulator to Calor,can it be done?

[Nicholas123]

Is this thread still going? Nothing useful has been said since page 2.
a) if you're so knowledgeable, why did you ask for (and ignore) advice
b) I hope you're not planning to ask for any more help

I asked for advice about a conversion piece for my specific regulator for both Butane & Propane & got some interesting info but nothing that I can be sure will work with my regulator.(if you had been following this thread closely I think you should have realised that).

 

[Nicholas123]

Quite
And slagging off VIc, who has given a huge amount of good advice on this forum, with a lot of HANDS ON experience, sorts of put you into the clown catagory.
I am still puzzled why you came on here... just to wind up people?

And to clarify. Your tag line has been miss quoted. It referes to an engineer seeing an elegant solution that cost less than the 'bloody fool's solution and is much better.

My understanding is that Vic was a chemist & while his theoretical advice is good his practical advice (at least on this subject) is unnecessarily complicated & expensive.

I came on here to try & get to the bottom of the complicated regulator business because there should be a common regulator for both Butane & Propane available to us all or a simple adapter to fit calor gas bottles.
I have a continental regulator that clearly states it is for both Propane & Butane so why the unnecessary complexity? It's as simple as that & frankly if you lot cannot see it then I reckon you must be dim.

My 'tag line' stands.

 

[Nicholas123]

Still trying to force the horse to drink but now time to leave him to die of thirst.........

I still would have liked to know how to test and inspect my nearly 10 y o regulator to assess its condition and likely future serviceability so I reckon I am going to use my own judgement and simply replace it.

Nicholas seems very unwilling to share his knowledge and expertise ......... but I suppose its difficult to share what you don't have.

& talking of not having something you are still very reluctant I see to actually explain your qualifications & experience that you seem to think makes you such an expert. I think I shall draw my own conclusions from that.

It is you that is obsessed with testing your regulator mate so if you have a problem it is of your own making.

 

[Nicholas123]

I find that very hard to believe.

Then maybe you should get out more.I'm sure Vic is a thoroughly decent character who I would value as a friend but a friend that cannot take criticism is no friend at all.None of us is perfect Nigel not even you!

 

[Nicholas123]

Nicholas de Bodger BSc, MSc, PhD (Bullscheet, More Scheet, Piled high & deep).

I thought you'd flounced off & put me on ignore.Seems even your word can't be relied upon!

I hope your not going to turn into some sort of mad obsessive stalker

 

[Mister E]

Then maybe you should get out more.I'm sure Vic is a thoroughly decent character who I would value as a friend but a friend that cannot take criticism is no friend at all.None of us is perfect Nigel not even you!

Vic is coming out of this thread as a very ice chap indeed. However Nicolas123 does not seem to take criticism at all and comes across as not a very nice person, it says more about him than Vic.

As for not being perfect now that is something to ponder.

 

[VicS]

It is you that is obsessed with testing your regulator mate so if you have a problem it is of your own making.

It was you who said that we should not just accept the recommendation to replace our regulators after 10 years but should make our own judgement.

I would like to do just that!

So discarding my Engineer's boiler suit, hard hat and ear defenders and putting my Scientist's white coat back on I wondered how I should do that. It seemed to me that the way to do it was to test that it still works correctly and inspect the condition of the internals, especially any perishable parts like a diaphragm

As you have been able to declare your regulator of unknown age and origin good for further service you have presumably been able to do these things. I am, therefore, asking for your guidance on how I can do the same.

 

[Nicholas123]

It was you who said that we should not just accept the recommendation to replace our regulators after 10 years but should make our own judgement.

I would like to do just that!

So discarding my Engineer's boiler suit, hard hat and ear defenders and putting my Scientist's white coat back on I wondered how I should do that. It seemed to me that the way to do it was to test that it still works correctly and inspect the condition of the internals, especially any perishable parts like a diaphragm

As you have been able to declare your regulator of unknown age and origin good for further service you have presumably been able to do these things. I am, therefore, asking for your guidance on how I can do the same.

According to one poster the stipulation was six years not ten so maybe you better get yourself a new expert Vic?

I shall carry on using my regulator until it shows signs of dysfunction.......along with all the rest of my gear :encouragement:

By the way,I made the mistake of taking one of those recommendations for the replacement of fire extinguishers seriously the other day but before I threw it away I thought I would test it.It functioned perfectly even though it was fifteen or maybe 17 years out of date!
Next time I have a fire on board (which would be the first time) I might consider using an expert to beat out the flames.

 

[VicS]

According to one poster the stipulation was six years not ten so maybe you better get yourself a new expert Vic?

I shall carry on using my regulator until it shows signs of dysfunction.......along with all the rest of my gear :encouragement:

By the way,I made the mistake of taking one of those recommendations for the replacement of fire extinguishers seriously the other day but before I threw it away I thought I would test it.It functioned perfectly even though it was fifteen or maybe 17 years out of date!
Next time I have a fire on board (which would be the first time) I might consider using an expert to beat out the flames.

So what you are saying is that despite encouraging the rest of us to asses the condition of our regulators to determine their fitness for continued use you have not in fact done this yourself. What you have said previously is nothing but clap-trap and "bovine excrement". You are going to continue using it until it fails.
When it fails it will do so while in use and I am surprised that as a "qualified engineer" you do not realise that a likely mode of failure will subject your low pressure gas system to the full gas cylinder pressure, which is many times greater that the pressure for which the system is designed. Even if no failures occur in the system the ball of flame which engulfs your galley area will be heart stoppingly spectacular.

You are a danger to yourself .... although I am sure no one who has followed this topic will now care a toss about that.

You are a danger to your crew, be they friends, wives, girl friends. family members or other "loved ones". We should care a little about them but hopefully they are aware of the dangers to which they expose themselves.

You are a danger to others who may be unfortunate enough to find themselves nearby in the same harbour, marina, moorings, anchorage or even boat yard.

Your attitudes are just what will likely bring compulsory regulation, inspection and licensing to our pastime. I am sure we will all thank you for that.

 

[Nicholas123]

So what you are saying is that despite encouraging the rest of us to asses the condition of our regulators to determine their fitness for continued use you have not in fact done this yourself. What you have said previously is nothing but clap-trap and "bovine excrement". You are going to continue using it until it fails.
When it fails it will do so while in use and I am surprised that as a "qualified engineer" you do not realise that a likely mode of failure will subject your low pressure gas system to the full gas cylinder pressure, which is many times greater that the pressure for which the system is designed. Even if no failures occur in the system the ball of flame which engulfs your galley area will be heart stoppingly spectacular.

You are a danger to yourself .... although I am sure no one who has followed this topic will now care a toss about that.

You are a danger to your crew, be they friends, wives, girl friends. family members or other "loved ones". We should care a little about them but hopefully they are aware of the dangers to which they expose themselves.

You are a danger to others who may be unfortunate enough to find themselves nearby in the same harbour, marina, moorings, anchorage or even boat yard.

Your attitudes are just what will likely bring compulsory regulation, inspection and licensing to our pastime. I am sure we will all thank you for that.

What a load of hysterical nonsense.I hav'nt told anyone to do anything,far less asses the condition of their regulators.All I have done is tell you what I have done which seems to scare the pants off you.Clearly you are scared of anyone who thinks for theirself.

I suggest you man up.There have been no explosions no accidents & failures from gas installations are about the least thing people who go out in boats around our coasts need to worry about.Get a grip man or take up golf,oh hang on those high flying golf balls

 

[davidej]

This forum is to help boaters - not swap insults. The clue is in the title.

Either give it up or transfer to the Lounge which is custom-made for personal attacks

 

[Nicholas123]

This forum is to help boaters - not swap insults. The clue is in the title.

Either give it up or transfer to the Lounge which is custom-made for personal attacks

I agree.When you start insulting people they are bound to retaliate.

 

[richardabeattie]

What a load of hysterical nonsense.I hav'nt told anyone to do anything,far less asses the condition of their regulators.All I have done is tell you what I have done which seems to scare the pants off you.Clearly you are scared of anyone who thinks for theirself.

There have been no explosions, no accidents, & failures from gas installations are about the least thing people who go out in boats around our coasts need to worry about.

Don't you just love it? I name this ship Fireball.

 

[vyv_cox]

Astonishing to understand how a question about using an antique, inappropriate safety-related piece of kit that costs less than £10 to replace has attracted almost 200 posts.

 

[lpdsn]

I thought you'd flounced off & put me on ignore.Seems even your word can't be relied upon!

I haven't been ars'd to do it yet. And there's still that bit of curiosity to see whether you'll ever make a reasonable attempt to justify your position.

You know you could conclude this debate quite quickly. Simply use your engineering expertise to justify your approach. Perhaps an informed post with data on the probability of failure of a twenty or thirty year old regulator compared to that of a ten year old one, combined with a fault tree analysis showing the overall risk from the old regulator is pretty near negligible. Or you could even answer VicS's questions about testing techniques.

It's a shame you can't back up your case. I really am open to a well-presented engineering justification of what you propose. These very simplistic rules that could be recited by the sheep in Animal Farm irritate me. I'd far rather see a proper calculation taking into account the probability of failure of each component and an analysis of the failure modes.

But you don't do that. Your responses so far have been along the lines of

1) You're all a bunch af scaredy cats.
2) My qualifications are better than yours so there.
3) Ah sure, the next pipe along is guaranteed to go so the gas will go overboard.

No calculations to show how probable that outcome is. (And I still don't understand how losing gas overboard that cost more than a replacement regulator is a successful outcome. )

Not surprising then that your claim to engineering expertise appears very hollow.

If anyone does follow your advice and it goes wrong, they should realise that you are likely to be the best expert witness they can call upon, and you don't look too convincing.

 

[Nicholas123]

Astonishing to understand how a question about using an antique, inappropriate safety-related piece of kit that costs less than £10 to replace has attracted almost 200 posts.

There is no question about using an "antique, inappropriate safety-related piece of kit" here.That is a storm that you people have generated.My regulator could well be less than ten years old & dos'nt concern me at all.

If there is a question here it is how come you can buy a regulator on the Continent to fit both Propane & Butane & presumably easily change between the bottles while here in this Country you have to buy individual regulators to fit the different bottles & chop & change perfectly good pieces of pipe when making that change? It seems to me that we are being ripped off.

 

[Nicholas123]

I haven't been ars'd to do it yet. And there's still that bit of curiosity to see whether you'll ever make a reasonable attempt to justify your position.

You know you could conclude this debate quite quickly. Simply use your engineering expertise to justify your approach. Perhaps an informed post with data on the probability of failure of a twenty or thirty year old regulator compared to that of a ten year old one, combined with a fault tree analysis showing the overall risk from the old regulator is pretty near negligible. Or you could even answer VicS's questions about testing techniques.

It's a shame you can't back up your case. I really am open to a well-presented engineering justification of what you propose. These very simplistic rules that could be recited by the sheep in Animal Farm irritate me. I'd far rather see a proper calculation taking into account the probability of failure of each component and an analysis of the failure modes.

But you don't do that. Your responses so far have been along the lines of

1) You're all a bunch af scaredy cats.
2) My qualifications are better than yours so there.
3) Ah sure, the next pipe along is guaranteed to go so the gas will go overboard.

No calculations to show how probable that outcome is. (And I still don't understand how losing gas overboard that cost more than a replacement regulator is a successful outcome. )

Not surprising then that your claim to engineering expertise appears very hollow.

If anyone does follow your advice and it goes wrong, they should realise that you are likely to be the best expert witness they can call upon, and you don't look too convincing.

You said you had put me on ignore yet here you are still ranting away.Go away & do what it says on the tin or in other words have some Integrity!

 

[VicS]

There is no question about using an "antique, inappropriate safety-related piece of kit" here.That is a storm that you people have generated.My regulator could well be less than ten years old & dos'nt concern me at all.

If there is a question here it is how come you can buy a regulator on the Continent to fit both Propane & Butane & presumably easily change between the bottles while here in this Country you have to buy individual regulators to fit the different bottles & chop & change perfectly good pieces of pipe when making that change? It seems to me that we are being ripped off.

No you dont you can buy a 30mB dual fuel regulator which with the appropriate pigtail or direct connector can be used with propane, butane, or Camping Gaz .

 

[GHA]

There is no question about using an "antique, inappropriate safety-related piece of kit" here.That is a storm that you people have generated.My regulator could well be less than ten years old & dos'nt concern me at all.

What about the last one which was corroded and maybe 30 years old?

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...to-Calor-can-it-be-done&p=5881204#post5881204

 

[vyv_cox]

No you dont you can buy a 30mB dual fuel regulator which with the appropriate pigtail or direct connector can be used with propane, butane, or Camping Gaz .

All caravans and motorhomes built/sold in the past 10 years have been like this. I bought a secondhand German motorhome in 2000 that had a bulkhead regulator - continental Europe seems to be well ahead of UK in this respect. Since then I have owned two more motorhomes, both with the same arrangement.