Gas Safety

Gas Safety

We found the following information on a USA RV board and feel it is well worth reading.

"Propane is a potential safety concern. Don't travel with the bottles open. If you are in an accident it's possible the gas lines will rupture and it'd be better to have the bottles closed to keep propane from escaping and catching fire. If you ever smell propane you should close the bottles and investigate for the cause of a leak. On a hot day the tanks can vent extra pressure which will make you smell propane, but ordinarily the system is completely closed and you should not smell anything".

Back in Australia Neil Louer has done a lot of research on Gas Regulations and has kindly sent us the following article. Thank you Neil.

The Fire Department in Victoria has put out a book called Victorian Fire Prevention Handbook. In this it states, as well as a smoke detector and a fire extinguisher, all vans MUST have a fire blanket, and if you have gas bottles and stoves etc. fitted then you MUST have a gas cut off valve at the bottle. I assume by this they mean a thing called a gas fuse at a cost about 40 dollars available at B B Q's Galore in both P.O.L. and 5/8 inch fittings so could be fitted on all A'vans. First fit them on the bottle, so in the event a regulator or line or appliance blows out it will shut it off instantly. It has the added advantage of showing the quantity of the contents of the gas bottle 0-1/4-1/2-3/4-full. I noticed several people were asking if there was anything out there that could do this on your forum section. Well this is it ''gas fuse''

UPDATE: Gas Fuse

With the gas fuse I mentioned before, apart from giving you the contents of the gas in the cylinder and shutting off, if you have a blow out or leak, it does do one further thing, and that is you can use it as a gas leak detector. Even very slow leaks in your system. It is recommended that when you are finished with the gas, you should turn it off at the bottle, while the stove is still alight, so it will burn out the gas in the lines. Otherwise if you turn the stove off first, then the bottle off, you still have pressurised gas in the lines and the regulators. Because that is trapped pressure, then in the midday sun, the pressure in the line will increase further, which can in time split the rubber diaphragm in the regulator.

Neil Louer