Maximum Length for Flexible Gas Hose

upthesolent

upthesolent

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I want to use about 3 metres of Gas Hose to go from my calor propane cylinder situated outside, and run it outside, the last 50cm going into the gas locker. This will be used during winter - no movement will be occurred as it is for land use rather than on the water.

I know there will be a certain loss of pressure, but does anyone know if there is any dangerous reason why this length of hose should not be used.

tia
 
Will it be a high or low pressure hose i.e. is it between cylinder and regulator, or between cylinder-mounted regulator and fixed pipework?
 
The maximum recommended length is 1m. The link is for the recommendations from the boat safety scheme.

http://www.boatsafetyscheme.com/downloads/W%20Guide%20Pt%207.pdf

The recommendations are pretty good, I would have thought a flexible hose run externally would be fairly likely to degrade quickly and have a possible leak. You definitely shouldn't run it though a bulkhead as this will be a high chaff point, use a bulkhead connector. While permanent copper piping is a little more expensive and more fiddly to fit, it's much better than blowing your boat up. Flexi hoses should only really be used where you need flex, ie to the bottle, and to gimballed gear.

Ross
 
I'm guessing that you're planning to run a heater whilst working through the winter. The risks are probably that you might trip over it, stab it or pull it off. Would it not be possible to use the existing gas supply and fit a slightly longer hose in place of the cooker one - it would be more convenient. By the way, during winter you may have to use propane, as butane won't crawl out of the bottle below 5 deg.

Rob.
 
I shall be using high pressure hose conforming to BS3212 and which is date stamped as well. As this is only for winter usage (I will be onshore and thus static) the whole length will be available for inspection and can be replaced each winter.

From Ross D's link, it would appear that the max length of 1 m is from the accessibility point of view rather than anything else. My main concern was if the gas were to liquify in the tube but so far, despite fairly extensive Google searches, I can find no specific reason relating to it being dangerous, to the hose being longer than 1 (or 2 metres).

I have 13kg bottles in my gas locker and last winter spent an absolute fortune on heating costs which I hope to reduce by at least half if I can use the rubber hose connected to a 47 kg bottle.

For the record, it is not on the boat itself, but our camper van.
 
So if all you are doing is running a longer hose out of the gas locker of the camper van to a 47Kg bottle stood next to the van, I can't see an issue. Travellers who live in caravans all year do this all the time.

The main thing about the gas regs is only use flexible hose where it needs to be flexible, and in your situation you do need that much flexi. The limit on length is to stop people plumbing the whole installation in flexi hose.

Just don't forget to turn off the gas and uncouple it if you want to drive the van somewhere :)

A tip for getting even cheaper gas, try and get a spare cylinder, and if you can arrange to get 2 bottles exchanged at the same time, you can get the gas at the even cheaper "home heat" rate, assuming it's Calor, but most gas suppliers do a similar discounted rate.

I only use LPG at home for the gas cooker, but use 47Kg (which lasts well over a year) and get 2 refilled together to get the cheap rate (I have 3 cylinders in total at home)
 
Local caravan shop refused to sell me more than a metre of flexible gas hose. They said it was 'against regulations' to use anything longer and they were not allowed to sell it. New one to them and me, as they have sold me longer bits in the past
 
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