Insulating a gas bottle

O

Oscarpop

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 Jul 2011
Messages
1,053
Location
Kent
Visit site
My gas locker was all iced up this weekend, hence the gas didn't like it and would only produce small flames.

I put an old blanket around it and out a hot water bottle in there. After ten minutes it was fine.

Is there a better alternative ?
 
Hmm. Gas bottles require heat input to enable the liquid inside to boil off into a gas for use.

Insulation isn't really the answer because it reduces heat input.
The fact is that in low temperatures you'll always struggle to get pressure from a butance cylinder, therefore better to convert to a propane cylinder if you're likely to be consistently using the boat, and gas, in temps below about 2 degC.

However, if you decide to stick with butane, a hot water bottle is a very good way of providing the required heat input - just lose the insulation and put the hot water bottle against the cylinder.
(But you have to have a way of heating the water for the hot water bottle first...)
 
As Trundlebug suggests, don't insulate your gas cylinder. If it's icing up to the point of causing a reduced gas of-take you need a bigger cylinder (with larger surface area) to cope with your needs. Either that or reduce your draw on the cylinder.
 
If you intend to use gas in cooler weather user Propane - end of story! Insulating the cylinders is counter-productive, and localised warming will only have limited effect generally*.

*Unless the cylinder is then used in a heating appliance to heat where the cylinder is operating! It can apply in cold houses but probably shouldn't in boats!
 
If you decide to switch to propane and you're not sure if you have the necessary gear, talk to GasBOAT (http://www.whayward.com/Results.cfm?category=23&secondary=24) - Will is very knowledgeable and helpful and stocks everything you'll ever need. Don't go buying one of the expensive kits unless you go sailing far away - they include the various adaptors that you need to be able to use virtually any cylinder you can buy anywhere in the world.
 
Propane is undoubtedly the best solution but it isn't always convenient to make the change. Temperatures low enough to cause butane not to evaporate are not all that common in UK and there is a far simpler and cheaper method. When preparing your late night cocoa boil up a little more water and fill a vacuum flask with it. In the morning tip this over the regulator and top of the bottle - it will solve the problem instantly.
 
vyv_cox said:
Propane is undoubtedly the best solution but it isn't always convenient to make the change. Temperatures low enough to cause butane not to evaporate are not all that common in UK ...
Click to expand...

That does depend a lot on your style of boat usage - it can easily be cold enough to make butane seriously inconvenient for much of December, January and February!
 
maby said:
That does depend a lot on your style of boat usage - it can easily be cold enough to make butane seriously inconvenient for much of December, January and February!
Click to expand...

We lived in Holland for seven years, where winter temperatures are typically rather lower than they are in UK. We mostly wintered afloat, sailing until Xmas, but we were on board every weekend throughout the winter, almost without exception. On many occasions we arrived on Friday evening to find the boat surrounded in ice (fresh water). Our gas supplies were always butane, for which we used the warming method I have described above.
 
vyv_cox said:
We lived in Holland for seven years, where winter temperatures are typically rather lower than they are in UK. We mostly wintered afloat, sailing until Xmas, but we were on board every weekend throughout the winter, almost without exception. On many occasions we arrived on Friday evening to find the boat surrounded in ice (fresh water). Our gas supplies were always butane, for which we used the warming method I have described above.
Click to expand...

Guess so - I just cannot see any reason to not switch to propane - it was easy and I can just get up in the morning and light the gas to boil the kettle for my first cup of tea back in bed without having to drag on clothes and rummage around in the gas locker to get some heat into my cylinder!

I do know the arguement about easier availability of butane in some continental locations, but GasBOAT supply quick change adaptors - with a Calor propane connector and a campingaz butane connector we can go just about anywhere. When we switched, I got rid of most of our Campingaz cylinders, but kept a part full one, so we have something to swap if we find ourselves in France without a source of a replacement Calor propane tank.
 
maby said:
Guess so - I just cannot see any reason to not switch to propane - it was easy and I can just get up in the morning and light the gas to boil the kettle for my first cup of tea back in bed without having to drag on clothes and rummage around in the gas locker to get some heat into my cylinder!

I do know the arguement about easier availability of butane in some continental locations, but GasBOAT supply quick change adaptors - with a Calor propane connector and a campingaz butane connector we can go just about anywhere. When we switched, I got rid of most of our Campingaz cylinders, but kept a part full one, so we have something to swap if we find ourselves in France without a source of a replacement Calor propane tank.
Click to expand...

Our gas bottle locker will only take two Camping Gaz bottles, although when we had the boat in UK we could just squeeze in a Calor instead of one of them. In Holland it was far easier to just stick with Gaz. In the camper van we had propane bottles that could be refilled in The Hague but we never found another source. That was around an hour away from the boat, so highly inconvenient.
 
Just stick a few tea lights in the gas locker and the problem is solved, possibly for ever.

Note: I can produce six witnesses, including two bishops, who will swear that I did not make this suggestion.
 
vyv_cox said:
Our gas bottle locker will only take two Camping Gaz bottles, although when we had the boat in UK we could just squeeze in a Calor instead of one of them. In Holland it was far easier to just stick with Gaz. In the camper van we had propane bottles that could be refilled in The Hague but we never found another source. That was around an hour away from the boat, so highly inconvenient.
Click to expand...

OK - I'll grant you that. Strangely, our boat was supplied with CampingGaz bottles but they never fitted the cradle properly. When we switched to propane, we discovered that the 3.9kg cylinder fits the cradle perfectly but you can only just squeeze one spare cylinder in - we had room for three or four CampingGaz bottles in there.
 
maby said:
OK - I'll grant you that. Strangely, our boat was supplied with CampingGaz bottles but they never fitted the cradle properly. When we switched to propane, we discovered that the 3.9kg cylinder fits the cradle perfectly but you can only just squeeze one spare cylinder in - we had room for three or four CampingGaz bottles in there.
Click to expand...

Check.
My boat has a dedicated gas locker only just big enough for x2 4.5 Kg butane botttles. After having the gas failing in cold weather last winter I traded in one of the blue butane bottles for a 3.9 red propane and bought a new propane regulator. All I do is swap over the hose tail to the solenoid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top