Leaking Gas. Am I Getting Weaker?
About 17 days into our last holiday one of our 3.9kg gas bottles ran out. For some reason I was initially surprised and then realised that we had used it for at least 80 days plus had run the fridge on gas for 7 or 8 days.
I changed the bottles over and got a replacement. About 4 days later on the next site I went to use the cooker and the gas was empty. So either we had a gas leak in the system or a bad connection to bottle. I replaced the bottle but decided that I would switch gas on for any cooking and off afterwards. It was salad day weather anyway for the remaining 8 days of the holiday and on the majority of days gas was not needed.
I tightened up the replacement bottle connection as hard as I reasonably could with the simple flat gas spanner of a type that had served me for over 35 years with no problem.
Later, after being at home for a while I bought a can of leak spray detector and sprayed all joints in the locker including pig tail. Yep! A very slow leak from the connection to the bottle. I used a heavier adjustable spanner. No really discernible movement but the leak had stopped. Left bottle open for a couple of weeks and gas OK. So am I getting weaker?
Comments
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I've stopped using the pigtails where you need a spanner. I now use the ones with a wheel and you tighten it with your fingers. I find there is a better seal on these, but I can see that the rubber seal would need replacing from time to time.
David
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I have had the same problem. The Calor metal to metal connection is susceptible in my opinion. Frankly, they are rubbish cylinders in several respects - weight, connection and visibility. Compare them with BP Gas (Gas Light) and some French bottles and you will see that the UK consumer is hard done by.
My minimum requirement for a gas bottle would be - lightweight (lighter than Calorlite), transparent so that you can see the level and snap-on connector. Why on earth Calor can’t achive this I do not know, other than maybe they haven’t got the resources for R&D that the oil companies have.
I imagine that the only thing that keeps Calor going is their distribution network and supply of large cylinders for domestic and industrial use where there is no grid supply. I hate to say it but the quicker they go out of business the better, even though we would probably end up with a French company replacement.
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Alan
Perhaps you need to invest in one of these. Not only do they have the wheel mentioned by DSB but they will also detect a leak. All you do is turn off the cylinder valve and depending on how long the gauge takes to drop back to red indicates a leak.
David
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Thanks to all those who have suggested hand wheel and rubber faced connectors. Something I might look into. No rush however as the present bottle should last our next 2 trips (11 weeks) before our Christmas stay at Southport. As I have a leak detector spray and a heavier spanner in front locker I shall see how it goes in future. If there are problems getting a seal I will probably go for the hand wheel and rubber faced option. The ones that I have googled are all a short length hose whereas I need a longer length one but I am sure that they are available.
An interesting aside: I usually pay for the gas and the last one that I bought at Ayr CC was £16.50 approx for the 3.9kg (rrp is £16.55). When we discovered that had leaked its contents Fliss said she would pay for the replacement for a change and gave me a £20 note. We were on the C&CC site at Moffat and their price was about £20! No idea if this mark up is common on C&CC sites.
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Wasn't it mentioned on here sometime ago that if sites have to pay a delivery charge they add that to the cost of the exchange cylinder. Perhaps the C&CC do the same?
David
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Fortunately we don't need to change our gas bottles that frequently and I'm still managing to source calorlite bottles, so I always plan to go to a larger supplier that often deal with caravans. I got the last cylinders from Highbridge Caravans in Somerset. When I knew they had calorlite I swapped my completely empty bottle and my almost empty bottle straight away. 🙂
David
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