240v Fault Leading to a gas shortage
The 3 way Electrolux fridge freezer fitted to our Motorhome is causing the 240v to trip on the van RCB, I assumed some kind of fault in the 240v circuitry and disconnected the 240v supply, it now seems to be working OK on gas.
Our problem is that we are currently down in the SW of France near Dax/Bayonne/Biarritz and are running on Calor Propane, which is not available in France, we are going to to run out before we return home unless we can get the fridge fixed but it seems that
French caravan repairers are very reluctant to work on English electrics.
How about a suitable French alternative gas that fits the same regulator?
Or maybe someone out there does know of a local expert who could help?
Regards
Nick Benny
Comments
-
just buy a French Butagaz bottle (avalable in propane or butane) and a hose from the dealer (to replace your existing hose) that fits the bottle top..
this will be a hose with a female 21.8 LH threaded nut, the other end screws straight onto the bulkhead regulator.
fix your fridge at your leisure.
0 -
It could be something else on the mains electricity circuit that is causing the problem, but by removing the base load of the fridge the trip can cope with it. Or is this a result of the "reverse polarity" situation that gets such a lot of comment?
0 -
I would suspect that it is the fridge heater element that has failed causing a short circuit. If you can get to the wiring this is fairly eay to check with a multimeter if it has failed it will give a very low resitance as opposed to the approximately 500
ohm resistance of a "good" heater element. With regards to the Gas the Calor (POL) fitting is fairly unique to the UK. different bottles in france have different fittings some I think have the same fitting as a small calor butane and I think that the Gaslow
website has a list of adaptors which migh help to identify which bottle to buy.A final suggestion and I expect to be flamed for this, But if you have a outside BBQ point you could buy a French bottle which often come with a bottle regulator and feed the gas via the BBQ point.
0 -
I would suspect that it is the fridge heater element that has failed causing a short circuit. If you can get to the wiring this is fairly eay to check with a multimeter if it has failed it will give a very low resitance as opposed to the approximately 500
ohm resistance of a "good" heater element. With regards to the Gas the Calor (POL) fitting is fairly unique to the UK. different bottles in france have different fittings some I think have the same fitting as a small calor butane and I think that the Gaslow
website has a list of adaptors which migh help to identify which bottle to buy.A final suggestion and I expect to be flamed for this, But if you have a outside BBQ point you could buy a French bottle which often come with a bottle regulator and feed the gas via the BBQ point.
Write your comments here...
Your BBQ point is fed from the low pressure side of your regulator, so if you decide to back feed through it you'll need to fit your French bottle with a regulator before you do so. why not buy a camping Gaz bottle and a pigtail to connect it to your regulator.
We've owned a couple of Gaz bottles for years, for occasional use on picnics and as an emergency backup on the Continent. It'll be money well spent, even though their gas is overpriced in the UK.0 -
You don't get much Gas in a camping Gaz cylinder so it isn't going to last that long. The OP was in France so he will need to buy a camping Gaz cylinder as well as the gas. He will then assuming he has a Bulkhead regulator need to source a butane pigtail
and a screw in adaptor. From memory it was possible to get a 10kg gas bottle including the deposit and a regulator thrown in for arround €35.And yes the BBQ point is low pressure so if in an emergency you feed gas in it definitely needs to be via a regulator.
0
