Manual changeover for Camping Gaz cylinders

[Miker]

I have two Camping Gaz cylinders held in a metal box and want to fit a manual changeover system to avoid the difficulty of having to swap cylinders mid way through a fry up. I was thinking of a simple Fulham nozzle T connection between the hose to the cooker and a hose to each of the Gaz cylinders. When the Gaz cylinder ran out I would just have to turn off one regulator and turn on the other. Does this sound acceptable and would there be any problem with the Gaz flowing back to the empty cylinder which would be turned off?

 

[nigelhudson]

No problem as long as you do it in the order specified - empty off and then full on. However you must turn both off before unscrewing either regulator from its bottle.

 

[VicS]

Sounds reasonable but you will have difficulty changing the MT bottle if it has the regulator screwed onto it. You would have to unscrew the bottle off the regulator or pull the hose off the regulator first.

Alternatively fit each bottle with a Camping gas to calor adaptor/valve then two HP connections to a Tee piece and then to just one regulator just like a two bottle Calor system. You would have to shut off the "in service" bottle though to change the MT one but at least you could then disconnect the hose and then swap the valve onto the new bottle. This has the disadvantage of many more HP connections though.

Look at http://www.calormarineshop.co.uk/ and the gas section (section 7) of The Guide on http://www.boatsafetyscheme.com/site/Home_1.asp to see how it should be done.

Buy what you need from www.bes.co.uk

 

[Anonymous]

You can feed the low pressure pipes from both cylinders into a T piece and leave both bottles permanently on. In practice, one tends to empty before the other, shake them every so often, and change the empty one when you get round to it. This is a common arrangement and works well. Works best when the bottles are well out of phase - i.e. one is half full the other full but that situation arises by itself in the fullness of time!

Note:- Contrary to popular misconception, the full one does not refill the empty one - filling is only possible when the liquid is decanted and for that you need to turn the feed cylinder upside down.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have used this change over valve from gaslow it saves the two seperate valves and tee. It also prevents both bottles being connected at the same time.

Available from calor and most caravan shops

 

[Miker]

Thanks everyone. I think that I will use a simple T connection. The Gaslow sounds good but I could not easily fit it into my box as the best place is already taken by a bubble leak detector.

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
Note:- Contrary to popular misconception, the full one does not refill the empty one

[/ QUOTE ] It certainly won't if each bottle has its own regulator and its is the low pressure sides that are connected.
I suspect that if two bottles are connected before a common regualtor there will be a tendency for gas to be drawn from the fullest as it will cool less quickly with the result that eventually both bottles wiil end up at about the same level. Still not the full one filling the MT one though.

 

[VicS]

I am surprised that no one has noted that the downside of using separate regulators for each bottle rather than a system with a common HP connection and just one rugulator is that every 5? years you will have to buy 2 new regulators rather than just one!

 

[Anonymous]

I've never experienced the HP lines fed to a manifold, only the LP so I can't say from experience. Probably you are right but I prefer to have the regulator right on the bottle if possible. My Spanish Repsol cylinder (12kg or so) has the reg. right on the top, as do the bigger Calor Gas ones so you wouldn't have a choice with those.

 

[VicS]

Some sources say that the regulator should be mounted on the boat structure rather than the bottle to avoid the possibility of liquefied gas reaching the regulator (and the LP sytem). I'm not convinced. The sort of two bottle set up would then be as in this drawing from a copy of PBO a few years back.

Correction the previous post: Regulators should be replaced every 10 years, it's the hoses that should be renewed every 5 years