Frozen gas

[CaptainBob]

So, what were you cooking with, if the can wouldn't work initially?

IMO, I'd not be happy letting any gas bottle near a naked flame.
I've seen a bottle 'go off', with a jet of flame like a Polaris missile exhaust - not the thing to be near in a confined space.

They tend to work OK at first, or when fuller. It's when the liquid gas evaporates that the temperature of the can really starts to drop, so the longer you run it, the colder it gets.

If SO cold it won't work at all from scratch then up the jumper, down the sleeping bag, whatever, to get the ball rolling.

 

[nigelmercier]

There are new regulators which are EU ones at ??? 30mbar, not the old 27...

That's good news, perhaps I could get a better flame on my cooker at home.

 

[David2452]

*cough* not quite....

Possibly simplisticly put, but quite correct. If one insulates a regulator it can not take the heat from the air to boil as the insulation prevents it.

 

[sarabande]

sorry, wrong second digit. 37mbar.

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/Low_Pressure_LPG_Propane_Gas_Regulators.html

 

[Iliade]

Hang on in there!

...

My dislike for gas continues. ...propane, and it's working a treat....I really don't like this gas business. I'm going back to Origo as soon as I can afford it.

Stick with your now sorted system for a little while and you will wonder how you ever lived with liquid fuels.

Gas: clean, simple. Will explode if handled very badly. Appliances cheap(ish!)

Meths: smells, cannot see flame, expensive in UK. Fuss & bother. Good for cleaning up spilt paraffin. (Actually I don't know if that true, but it's humorous)

Paraffin: smells worse, messy, slippery, can flare up. Soot and particulate carbon. Not that easy to get nowadays. Easy to get in third world so good for ocean cruiser credibility points. Traditional, alongside baggywrinkles and stockholm tarred rigging.

 

[Bobobolinsky]

no, it is not "freezing". Butane and propane are liquids which change to a gas when used. What happens at low temps, is that the liquid is very reluctant to change to a gas. So (about) -1C is really the point at which butane refuses to boil off into gas. For propane it's around -42C, and I don't think anyone would be boating at that stage !

The cylinder acts as a vapouriser. As the LPG changes state, it cools the cylinder.
As the cylinder empties,(the vapourising effect relies on the wetted surface area), the bottom of the cylinder freezes and even propane can stop vapourising.
You can get electric warming jackets for the cylinders, but a cheap solution is to put a box over the cylinder to keep the wind off. Gotta be propane though