Gas regulator (1 Viewer)

pappajohn

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On my caravan so not strictly motorhome related.....but exactly the same principle.

I have the usual front locker for gas and assorted rubbish.
In the locker is a bulkhead regulator and on the propane bottle there is a bottle top regulator...both in use.
The bottle reg is connected to the bulkhead reg.

Now obviously one of these is broken and allows gas through unregulated....but which one ?

I havent tried either one yet but i cant see either allowing gas out fast enough to tell which is faulty.

Any suggestions for testing.
 

Doctor Dave

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I don't understand why you have two regulators. Probably the best advice is to go to a caravan dealer who has the expertise to sort it out for you.

If gas is coming out unregulated then it seems BOTH are faulty.

Get it checked professionally.

Dave
 

Lenny HB

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Gas would still flow through both if both are working normally. Only way of checking without a pressure meter would be to connect each one to the system individually.
German made regulators always have a pressure relief valve required by German regs), if they fail with the risk of high pressure the valve vents off the excess pressure.

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vwalan

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have seen a system like that .
the bottle with no reg will empty first as the pressure it produces cancels the regulated pressure of the bottle with the reg . when the un regbottle is empty the second bottle comes in and works .
it was on a refillable bottle system i saw in about 2004 .
i admit it baffled us for awhile but it worked fine .
 

icantremember

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If one is faulty I would assume it is the bulkhead regulator which would have been original equipment and the second one introduced when the first one failed.
I don't understand why they would not have bypassed and removed the faulty one.
 

andy63

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Stating the obvious John. ,by connecting individually and checking with a gauge/manometer.
Or could it be they are both ok but set at different pressures ie first one is the higher pressure second one still works but flow may be reduced...not sure.would need to look at how they actually work..
I'm taking it I've read correctly that one regulator connects to the other.
Ta Andy.

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They'll work perfectly connected as you say they are. They work by balancing a diaphragm between spring pressure & the pressure of the gas. If the gas arrives at too high a pressure the diaphragm moves a valve to reduce the size of the incoming nozzle. If it arrives at low pressure the spring holds the valve fully open. Both regulators could be perfectly OK.
 

Ethle the wondervan

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If it was done by a previous owner they may have been confused over pigtail thread sizes and availability. I nearly resorted to doubling up on regulators with my set up until I had a word with myself and found a way to do it properly.
So, both regulators may be OK.

Good luck! :nod:
 
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pappajohn

pappajohn

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I don't understand why you have two regulators. Probably the best advice is to go to a caravan dealer who has the expertise to sort it out for you.

If gas is coming out unregulated then it seems BOTH are faulty.

Get it checked professionally.

Dave
You misunderstand Dave, the gas system works exactly as it should so one reg is working...probably the bottle top reg as that would be the cheapest to replace rather than the bulkhead one.

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pappajohn

pappajohn

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The bulkhead reg is OE so why fit a POL reg if it isnt faulty....unless again, the previous owner took the cheaper option, a new POL reg and a meter of low pressure hose is cheaper that a new high pressure pigtail.
Or....they had a mix of gasses so maybe simply swapped the reg for respective bottles.
It came with a flogas propane and an empty calor patio gas.

Think i'll dump the lot and start from fresh with a new bulkhead reg and pigtail.
 

vwalan

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both regs might work it might have been just a cheap change over system as i told about .did they use low pressure hose or was it high pressure you didnt comment on it in the first post.
 
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pappajohn

pappajohn

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both regs might work it might have been just a cheap change over system as i told about .did they use low pressure hose or was it high pressure you didnt comment on it in the first post.
Havent looked Al, but i suspect high pressure.
Chances are they cut off the POL head to fit a variety of regulators to suit whatever bottle they had at the time.

Never seen a patio gas bottle used for motorhome/caravan before.

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vwalan

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Sep 23, 2008
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it is a common one really . i believe its the same connection as some french bottles .
but as i said a mate turned up in malaga years ago with a 5er and it had refillable gaslow bottles and it had this system . you could fill both but using the inacurate guages guess how low the first bottle was untill the vsecond one started emptying . it worked . he changed to spanish bottles . i think the refillables are still in the loft of a another mates garage . at the time there wasnt many autogas stations , they had just closed the big one in malaga . but as spanish bottles are cheaper and he was staying in spain it didnt matter but i remember the reg system .
 

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