Swapping Gas Regulator - can it be done?
Third question! My caravan apparently has a propane gas regulator thingy. It didn't come with any gas bottle. A friend has given me 2 empty blue butane bottles and I wonder if it is feasible for a newbie to change over the caravan fitted regulator from a propane one to a butane one.
I don't particularly want to spend money for a new propane bottle!
Hopefully that makes sense!
Comments
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yes, you can change the pigtail from the reg, but if you want to save money, get a safefill bottle, their are not cheap but the price of gas at the pump is £1.00 per kilo, on a 7 k.g. butane the price from Calor is £23.00, that is £3.28 per kilo £2.28 difference it will soon pay for itself
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My take on that would be to swap the bottle to a propane ones. They should do a straight swap to propane if you ask. Plus it will save you the hassle and expense of a new regulator.
If you are going to caravan anytime there is likely to be a frost you need the red. My first bad experience was early November some years ago and the Butane "froze". - 5 outside. That is of course if you don't go for the expenditure of a Safefill which will save you money in the long run if you do lots of caravan nine off EHU.
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Exactly the right answer, Pippah.
Just change the cylinders to propane cylinders and pay for the gas only - that will suit your regulator and will give you gas that you can use year round.
If you really want to drain off whatever is left in the butane bottles, then you could buy and fit a butane regulator. Can't see the point, myself.
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Unforunately in the U.K. the caravan industry decided unilaterally to change to a fixed bulkhead regulator with HP pigtail thus making it more difficult and more expensive to switch to a different gas bottle. This is particularly difficult if you are overseas and want to buy a local gas bottle; they will give you a regulator but that's not what you need, you need another pigtail or adaptor. Thats progress apparently and I have never had a logical explanation of why the change was made.
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To answer your question- if the regulator is fixed to the back wall of the locker you don't need to change it. What you do is change the connecting hose. This is easy but check you have a spanner that will undo the nut at the top of the regulator. Then buy the necessary hose and fix it. Keep the old one but in a sealed bag as it will smell.
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Rosie - I think you need to clarify whether your gas regulator is of the type fixed to the back locker wall or whether the regulator fits directly onto the gas cylinder.
Looking at the responses, you might find them a bit confusing. If you could clarify this, then a single answer could be given.
Or, of course, just swap the cylinders to propane.
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assuming you have a bulkhead fitted regulator....
with an adaptor as below (google POL propane to butane) you can convert your propane hose (with the bullet shaped POL end) to the std butane 21.8 lh threaded nut which will fit directly onto a butane bottle, incidently also butane bottle in france...the adaptor is under a fiver and cheaper than a replacement hose.
with this adaptor it gives you the base to allow other connectors to fit bottles from other markets (spain etc) should you consider travelling further from home.
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Thanks everybody. I'll post a pic of the connector tomorrow - so you can see what type it is.
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As promised here are pics of what is fitted
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That looks like a regulator that fits onto the cylinder.
In which case, it should be easy to change, or buy the adapter that BB described above.
Better yet, just change the cylinders to propane and you don't have to change anything on your caravan and have the more usable (all times of year) type of gas.
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You don't need to change the caravan just swap the cylinders to propane END OF! If someone starts to waffle about butane being better forget it! Propane is more user friendly especially in cold weather. Who would want to switch cylinders/regulators and use one in summer and t'other in winter? Your caravan is well set up just swap the cylinders!
Rosie if you haven't noticed already there are people on here who go off topic! Stick to taking advice from those who stick to the original post!
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