Frozen gas

Do you have shore power? I have used a small fan heater to heat the bottle in its locker in order to make that essential brew. Now keep a small electric kettle on board to for such emergencies.
 
We used to have camping gaz on the boat but found it very expensive, so in Spain whilst stopped for the winter we have 16kg propane bottle sitting on the sugar scoop. Found it better all round, no reluctant starts on cold mornings (yes we do get them here) and we're still only a fraction of the way into the bottle, so we've decided to convert to propane and larger bottles for year round use.

So as sailorman says, propane dear boy, propane.
 
sarabande said:
If you are going to use lots of propane all year round, it is quite easy to buy a POL to POL connector and refill a small bottle from a (much cheaper) big one. A refill for a 3.9kg propane is just over £15, and for the 13kg refill it's about £25; thus making a DIY refill about half-price and even less from the 47kg one.
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Haven't heard about these- I use 47kg gas bottles for my cooker at home, sounds interesting.
 
Assuming the OP now has a hot cuppa to hand and is tolerant of ' told you so' advice..
Carry a gas torch for soldering, fit diesel hearing, carry emergency camping gas throw away cylinder type stove. ( camping gas is a mix of propane and butane)..

Mate of mine used to jam two forks into the front of his drip feed heater and balance a kettle full of water on there overnight... It would get to just simmering below boiling point after an hour..thus in the morning a quick brew up on the cooker..

Moi. Slightly smug having gone to 13kg propane from the only slightly less expensive but 1/4 weight camping gas 907s.. And should have done this years ago except for reasons of nautical vanity:eek:
Btw you can swap between propane and butane exchanges according to Calor so are not necessarily 'stuck' using butane if those are the bottles. You have inherited with a new boat.. But the regulators are of course different..time for a brew:)
 
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IMO Propane is the way forward so much easier (I think it burns hotter to)...

Now for a little known fact, calor gas dealers will exchange gas bottles for different types when you refill them at no extra cost.

SoCal here in Southampton certainly do.

Has anyone had a gas supplier complain that gas bottles are to rusty on return for refill?

As for cost of gas we have found that the costs of gas to be hoist are such that unless you are operating VERY small bottles its not a significant cost...
 
CaptainBob said:
Years ago, mountaineering in winter, we used to put the canister on top of the pan we were cooking/boiling, inside the tent. Worked a treat!

Also had frozen fuel on boat a few times, mostly when the canister was low, but sometimes during really cold temps also. I used to shake it and allow it to suck the heat out of my hands at the same time. Worked OK but hurt hands!
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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.
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions folks.

My dislike for gas continues. I swapped out the gaz cylinder for a propane regulator and bottle (£25 in all). I now have 6kg of propane, and it's working a treat.

However, during the swap over the gaz bottle decided it wanted to vent itself after I disconnected the regulator, so after some swearing, some strong smelling gas, and some fear of imminent combustion, I managed to remove the regulator from the pipe and refit it to the bottle to stop it venting. It's now on the pontoon as I refuse to have it on my boat.

I tested the fit of the new regulator with some soapy water, and it's fine.

I really don't like this gas business. I'm going back to Origo as soon as I can afford it.
 
some gaz bottles have left hand threads. If it had a valve, by chance was the valve in the open position when it was meant to be closed ?
 
nathanlee said:
Thanks for all the suggestions folks.

My dislike for gas continues. I swapped out the gaz cylinder for a propane regulator and bottle (£25 in all). I now have 6kg of propane, and it's working a treat.

However, during the swap over the gaz bottle decided it wanted to vent itself after I disconnected the regulator, so after some swearing, some strong smelling gas, and some fear of imminent combustion, I managed to remove the regulator from the pipe and refit it to the bottle to stop it venting. It's now on the pontoon as I refuse to have it on my boat.

I tested the fit of the new regulator with some soapy water, and it's fine.

I really don't like this gas business. I'm going back to Origo as soon as I can afford it.
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there is a forumite who has this for sale :o

IMG_0187.jpg
 
sarabande said:
some gaz bottles have left hand threads. If it had a valve, by chance was the valve in the open position when it was meant to be closed ?
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There was no valve on it. Just a screw thread on the top and some ball bearing auto seal, which was blatantly not up for sealing properly.
 
sailorman said:
there is a forumite who has this for sale :o
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Haha. It that paraffin fuelled? I absolutely need an oven. I've just acquired an oven with the new boat, and I didn't realise quite how much I missed ovening things. If I go gasless, it'll be with the Origo 6000.
 
"ball valve". Ah, I now know the exact type, so more sympathy and understanding. They are very easy to mess up, with small debris collecting in the valve area if the cover plug is not screwed in when the bottle is not in use.

A narrow escape.
 
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