Hurrah for the bubble tester......

[Robih]

With all the discussion on here recently about gas leaks and the need for a bubble tester on board I thought that as soon as I got down to the boat this weekend I would check the bubble tester as, to be honest, I only check spasmodically, probably monthly, when I think of it. Imagine the horror when I saw bubbles galore when I pressed the tester button. The tester has been there for eight years and this was the first time that I'd seen bubbles.

Straight on the phone to our gas man he came down the following morning and initially couldn't find anything wrong and was perplexed. But then he found a cracked test fitting on the back of the cooker. Bizarrely his tester connection was pushed over the crack in the fitting so initially the leak didn't show up; it was only after removing the pressure testing kit and applying a bubble solution to various joints that the leak was apparent. Have a look at this photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cx2p9jbatzqvct8/Gas fitting.jpg you can just see the hairline crack which was causing quite a gas leak in to the boat. There but for the grace of God go I......

Fit a bubble tester - and I now test it every time that we open the gas at the bottle valve!

rob

 

[lustyd]

Looks like you were quite lucky!

 

[Robih]

Looks like you were quite lucky!

Could have been very nasty. Interestingly the gas detectors are in the bilge under the galley sole. There's a turtle mat on the galley floor and this clearly prevented the gas from reaching the detector. Gas man advised moving the detector above sole level to be under the cooker. Seems like a plan, the job list just got longer......

 

[donm]

With all the discussion on here recently about gas leaks and the need for a bubble tester on board I thought that as soon as I got down to the boat this weekend I would check the bubble tester as, to be honest, I only check spasmodically, probably monthly, when I think of it. Imagine the horror when I saw bubbles galore when I pressed the tester button. The tester has been there for eight years and this was the first time that I'd seen bubbles.

Straight on the phone to our gas man he came down the following morning and initially couldn't find anything wrong and was perplexed. But then he found a cracked test fitting on the back of the cooker. Bizarrely his tester connection was pushed over the crack in the fitting so initially the leak didn't show up; it was only after removing the pressure testing kit and applying a bubble solution to various joints that the leak was apparent. Have a look at this photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cx2p9jbatzqvct8/Gas fitting.jpg you can just see the hairline crack which was causing quite a gas leak in to the boat. There but for the grace of God go I......

Fit a bubble tester - and I now test it every time that we open the gas at the bottle valve!

rob

Fitted one last year when I changed the cooker. Brings a lot of re-assurance although I do not test it every time I use the gas!

 

[Giblets]

Looks very much as though that crack was caused by over-tightening of the test point sealing screw. See that quite often on the test points on domestic gas meters!

 

[nigelmercier]

Interestingly the gas detectors are in the bilge under the galley sole...

Gas detectors should never be put in the bilge, unless it is totally dry. It may well have been damaged.

 

[Noahsdad]

Thanks for posting about your leak, it was the nudge I needed to order one.
Will be fitting it on arrival.

 

[jon]

Another vote for bubble testers, but seems to me the best place to fit them is immediately after the gas bottle or regulator so all pipes, fittings and appliances are tested. Also, before testing, open all appliance taps so that their associated flame failure devices are also tested for leaks.
For complete safety use a gas alarm in conjunction with a solenoid valve in the gas locker.

 

[Robih]

.
For complete safety use a gas alarm in conjunction with a solenoid valve in the gas locker.

yes we've got one of those so the gas bottle is always isolated except when in use. The solenoid consumes about 300ma when on so there's always another motivation to turn it off!

 

[winsbury]

We had bubbles on ours this weekend too - swmbo noticed a gas smell in the locker immediately below the stove but the alarm had not triggered - the alarm tested perfectly so the gas obviously hadn't spilled over onto the cabin floor sufficiently to trip the alarm. Isolating the cooker valve showed the leak to be on the flexi-hose spiggot fitting - it must have moved a fraction when the new flexi-hose was fitted this season, just nipped up the nut and the bubbles stopped.

 

[jon]

Latching solenoids are available that use no power once activated and,obviously,do not get hot!

 

[Robih]

Latching solenoids are available that use no power once activated and,obviously,do not get hot!

Does that mean that failover is valve open?

 

[jon]

No, valve closed.