Gas problem

[sixpack]

Not that type of gas, butane gaz.

Was down at the boat at the weekend, SHMO goes to bake some bread (eat your heart out Paul) when she tells me to change the gas as the cylinder must be empty. Picks up the cylinder and gives it a shake and lo and behold something is slurping around in the cylinder (liquid gas?). Tries the cooker (including the grill and oven, Paul) and no gas or just a trickle. Solution? remove the gas cylinder and put it in front of one of the Eberspacher outlets and warm it up - very warm, wrap in a blanket and reconnect it. Gas at last.

Now I am not saying it was cold in Troon over the weekend but the perishing gas was so cold it could not even run one burner on the cooker. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[VicS]

Low temperatures were almost certainly the cause of your problem. Butane boils at around 2C so the ambient temperature must be substantially above that. The trouble is that heat is required to vaporise the gas so in use the bottle temperature falls below ambient, which is why you can sometimes see condensation on the outside. The situation is made worse by having the bottle in an enclosed locker.

If you want to use gas at low ambient temperatures you will have to convert to propane, which boils at -40C

 

[Bodach na mara]

Not cold at Troon? It was bloody freezing at Lochwinnoch!

Vic's answer is correct, I had the same problem years ago at Ardmeleish on boat belonging to a certain surveyor. Two physics undergraduates got the system working by putting the bottle on top of the stove! Funnily enough they are both still alive, proving that there is a god that looks after fools, drunk men and little children and who works overtime for science students.

 

[Thistle]

Quite right ... but it's not a simple matter of changing the cylinder as you have to change the regulator as well. Ask at your local gas supplier.

 

[Talbot]

Not necessarily true - I have a gaslow regulator and that enables me to accept either butane or propane (or a mix thereof)

 

[sailorman]

Propane this time of year, gasses-off @ lower temps than Butane