Refillable gas bottles (1 Viewer)

[irnbru]

It has not been cold enough to stop butane working, butane stops gassing at 0 deg, but in practice not much use below 6/7 deg, although down to 3/4 deg would still get a small flame on the hob. Not had any temps as low as that lately.

Was freezing in Pitlochry a few days ago. Not sure how cold it got but was definitely a minus.

 

[irnbru]

My thoughts too Lenny.
Is this your first winter in that van Sandra?

Well just sorta, we got it 1st Feb but its the first winter with refillable as we got them fitted in summer.

 

[Techno]

refillable should make no difference.

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[greygit]

"If you filled up in the UK it will be propane should be OK down to -40."

BUT if you last filled in Spain it could be 30% propane / 70% Butane and will stop working with temp down to 4 deg C ( or so). Happens quicker if using heating as gas demand higher than say just fridge. It happened to me.

This also happened to us last year here in Spain so this year we are using the site Propane bottles and keeping one full Gaslow bottle for return in March.

 

[dave newell]

A quick science lesson for those who don't know this stuff.

LPG (propane and butane) is stored under pressure in a cylinder as a liquid. To use it it needs to change state to vapour, the act of doing this is simply the liquid boiling. A full cylinder should have a minimum 20% of its volume free of liquid to allow for increases of pressure due to temperature change and to allow some volume for vapour.
As the liquid boils it draws energy from its surroundings in the form of heat. The amount of energy that can be absorbed into the liquid is dependent on the outside ambient temperature and the ability of the cylinder to transfer heat. The amount of vapour that can be created is dependent on the energy available and the surface area of the liquid.
A 6KG cylinder is capable of vapourising less LPG per unit of time than a bigger diameter cylinder.

My thoughts on your lack of vapour is that as it was quite cold outside (where you were) and you were drawing almost maximum flow there is insufficient energy available in the surrounding atmosphere to vapourise sufficient lpg. This causes the liquid to cool very rapidly (causing the frosting on the cylinder) and when it gets down to -20 or so its vapouristaion rate will rapidly drop off.

My conclusion is that you were simply drawing more vapour off the cylinder than it was capable of vapourising. Perhaps when you are cooking you could turn off the heater to minimise the vapourisatino requirement?

D.

 

[Techno]

Perhaps turn the heating off while you are cooking?

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[Badknee]

Heat the gas locker ?

 

[dave newell]

Heat the gas locker ?

Not always the easiest of solutions.

D.

 

[Badknee]

Not always the easiest of solutions.

D.

I did post it tongue in cheek Dave

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[Zigisla]

In my folding camper days my gas cylinder stayed outside the unit. I bought a cover for it which has slight insulating properties, so this could be an option. Cover it inside the locker maybe??

 

[dave newell]

"I did post it tongue in cheek Dave " I did realise that but not everyone might, hence my reply.

"In my folding camper days my gas cylinder stayed outside the unit. I bought a cover for it which has slight insulating properties, so this could be an option. Cover it inside the locker maybe??"

If you read nd understand my previous reply you will see that insulating the cylinder will make the situation worse not improve it. The cylinder needs to be able to absorb energy in the form of heat from the surrounding atmosphere, a layer of insulation will reduce its ability to do this.

D.

 

[gus-lopez]

I get it regularly here at the house. Even though the temp may be 7-8º, on the North side of the house when using the boiler for showering it cannot keep up with the demand for vapour & so the water becomes cooler. As Dave has said ,it cannot absorb enough heat from the ambient temperature to vaporise enough gas for the demand. Less demand = more gas vapour available. It will also become worse as the bottles empty.
I had to change a 12,5kg bottle recently that still had 4kgs in it. Simply because although it would light it would just not vaporise enough to heat the water. I finished it off on a portable fire.

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[Zigisla]

If you read nd understand my previous reply you will see that insulating the cylinder will make the situation worse not improve it. The cylinder needs to be able to absorb energy in the form of heat from the surrounding atmosphere, a layer of insulation will reduce its ability to do this.

D.

I do understand the heat exchange requirements and that is why I used this cover. I am not talking insulation like a water jacket but this cover gave the surrounding area of the cylinder enough protection that it was warmer around the cylinder allowing for better heat exchange. I only ever used butane and when I used to get the enevatable gas splutter at low temps this cover worked well for my situation and kept me on gas. Admittedly I didn't have heating or any where near the demand of a MH though or the "Northern" cold