300mm Gas locker door! (1 Viewer)

[moggyg]

Hi,

Just bought MH (Ace Firenze 2007) and looking at refillable gas. My Gas locker opening is 300mm max. This is with the door seal removed.

I see that the 11kg bottles are 304mm. Why do MH manufacturers make the door too small for a bottle.

Does anyone know if any 11kg kit would fit? and if not is a 6kg kit pointless?

Cheers
Marco

 

[mushy]

Is there any flexibility in the door opening, if so ram it in and be sure it won't fall out again.

 

[moggyg]

Is there any flexibility in the door opening, if so ram it in and be sure it won't fall out again.

300mm is the MAX....

Door off...seal off....metal to metal!

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[Terry]

Hi it simply does not fit so it's a case of two 6 kg one's.... I just had to bite the bullet and get 2 x 6s ..my 11s are sat in the garage at home
Terry

 

[glenn2926]

Have you considered an under slung tank? We have one and would have one every time over refillable canisters. They are more expensive initially but we have gained a locker and these of filling up is worth it as is the amount of gas we carry.

 

[moggyg]

Hi it simply does not fit so it's a case of two 6 kg one's.... I just had to bite the bullet and get 2 x 6s ..my 11s are sat in the garage at home
Terry

That was my worry. I ordered the 11kg kit then measured the door! wrong way round. Straight onto the phone to GAS-IT, who have been great by the way, and changed to a 6kg bottle.

I have been doing a wee google on kits and see the Alugas bottle is 300mm. Would this work with the GAS-IT connections?

Thanks for all the advice, getting up to speed with all this info.

regards
Marco

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[moggyg]

Glen, what was the outlay for the underslung tank?

 

[Terry]

Not sure on Alu gas but a quick call to Autogas and they will tell you
http://www.autogasleisure.co.uk/

 

[Lenny HB]

That was my worry. I ordered the 11kg kit then measured the door! wrong way round. Straight onto the phone to GAS-IT, who have been great by the way, and changed to a 6kg bottle.

I have been doing a wee google on kits and see the Alugas bottle is 300mm. Would this work with the GAS-IT connections?

Thanks for all the advice, getting up to speed with all this info.

regards
Marco

Fairly certain they all use the same fittings.

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[sedge]

We managed perfectly easily with two 6kg Gaslow bottles all the while we owned our Bessacar - for exactly the same reason. So 3 years - and we managed perfectly fine. Yes you have to go and fill up more often, but lets have a think ........

I reckon about once a month, ish, in the summer but shorter in cold weather when you have the heating on. However - I have to say we do not shower and do hair washing in the van every day so don't have the boiler on daily let alone constantly - we still boil kettles for washing up (and washing us LOL) when we need hot water - though of course the fridge/freezer is in constant use (and doesn't need or WANT!! to be on any more than 2 mostly or 3 when it's in the high 30's outside) and we also use a full gas cooker every day so the hob and either the grill or the oven. This is assuming no EHU - if we're somewhere where the price is EHU inclusive then the fridge is on elec, we use the one elec ring on the hob and we run the boiler on it - but we don't actually do any of this as a deliberate aforethought to save money.

It's done as a deliberate aforethought to save us the inconvenience of finding and driving to a garage with LPG.

It all depends where you intend to go in your van - if abroad - refillable, whether an underslung tank or bottles is just easier cos so many garages also have LPG tanks these days so same as you clock Gazole prices on your way from A to B, you get into the habit of also checking the GPL ones. Both are always dearer on motorways abroad.

At home, you can still find more Calor outlets than LPG ones. Abroad, Camping Gaz bottles are sold at large supermarkets but €25 is over twice the price of the equivalent amount of GPL !

 

[Emmit]

You really have to wonder about the mentality of UK manufacturers, (even those with french parent Co.s) who insist on fitting these Not For Purpose Gas lockers. There WILL BE a small but significant number of purchasers who will be put off by not being able to get the larger bottles in those lockers.

 

[Minxy]

Search 'lump hammer' under my username ... yes I'm serious!

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[goneoff]

Have you physically tried getting a 11kg bottle in? If not try and borrow a 11kg one or two if possible; failing that model one in cardboard or drive down and see Alugas and see if bottles can be inserted at an angle if there is room either above or below the opening (there invariably is room). From memory if I had tried to push my bottles in straight they wouldn't fit.
Yes you can manage with 2 x 6kg, you could manage with one but 2 x 11kg are much better.
Good luck, hope you find a solution

 

[Welsh girl]

We had an autosleeper before our autotrail in which we could only fit 2x6 kilo bottles,now the Auto trail could fit 2x11 kilo bottles but we have kept the 6 kilo bottles as we find we manage quite well with the 2 smaller ones anyway. When one runs out we start looking for a refill place ,never have we run out before finding one.

 

[moggyg]

Search 'lump hammer' under my username ... yes I'm serious!

I have thought about this option as its refillable and it wont need to come out again!

Cheers for all the comments.
Newbie (learning fast) Marco.

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[Lenny HB]

If you can get by with 6kg bottles really comes down to you useageand only you know that, we certainly couldn't. We have 2 x 14kg bottles in Aug/Sept this our last trip 28Lt/14kg lasted 18 days, that rate would give 8 days from 6kg. In colder weather using the heating a lot 6kg may only last a couple of days fine if you are near an LPG filling station but if the nearest one is 50 miles away you don't want a 100 mile round trip to fill up.
I would say 2 x 6kg is workable for 3 season camping but too small for all year round use.

 

[Minxy]

Just in case you haven't found my info about the lump hammer here's the pertinent point ... you can actually gain a few more mm by judicial use of a lump hammer on the base 'ring' as it is slightly wider than the main part of the bottle itself ... that's what I had to do when I fitted our existing 11kg refillable into a gas locker meant only to take a 6kg one ...

However, this got me thinking, as its only the base ring which is 304mm, the rest of the bottle being a bit 'slimmer' you should be able to angle the bottom of the bottle in through the opening and the rest should follow - certainly worth seeing if you can try a 11kg bottle through the opening rather than dismissing it completely, if you can't do this alternatively get someone to measure the actual width of the upper part of the bottle as I'm sure it will be 300mm or less. Shame you're not near me otherwise you could have tried one of mine in there!

 

[moggyg]

Minxy, I am trying to find someone with a spare 11kg bottle to give it a go. If I can prove I can squeeze it in I will be straight on the phone to GAS-IT to change again. Luckily they are out of stock of bottles so it has given me some time!

How wide is the door on your gas locker then? I take it, it is the same 300?

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[Minxy]

Minxy, I am trying to find someone with a spare 11kg bottle to give it a go. If I can prove I can squeeze it in I will be straight on the phone to GAS-IT to change again. Luckily they are out of stock of bottles so it has given me some time!

How wide is the door on your gas locker then? I take it, it is the same 300?

Give them a ring and put a hold on the order until you can confirm which size you definitely want, better to do that than risk being sent the smaller ones.

Can't say what the locker door size was as that was our previous camper (Autocruise Accent), I had the same issue with it being just that wee bit toooooo small to get the bottle which I already owned ... below is a post with a photo of the bottle in the locker so you can see how tight the aperture was!

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/gaslow-refillable.80140/page-2#post-945396

 

[Minxy]

Just a thought ... am I right in believing that your gas locker is on the nearside below the wardrobe/behind the fire? If so it may be possible to access the gas locker from the top to drop it in, although of course you'd then have to make sure it was well sealed and gas tight afterwards - this was something I had seriously considered doing with my Accent if I couldn't get it in through the aperture which I managed so fortunately didn't need to go down this route.

 

[Terry]

You could always buy and fit a larger locker door ?
Terry

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[Minxy]

You could always buy and fit a larger locker door ?
Terry

Cheaper to get 2 smaller bottles I suspect Terry!

 

[moggyg]

Chickened out and just got a refillable 6kg bottle kit from GAS-IT and will have a 6kg calor as a backup. I think the biggest choke'er for me was that it was only 10 quid cheaper for the 6kg and I wanted more for my money!

Tight arse.

Thanks for all the advice, not brave as some of you on here.

Ciao

 

[Minxy]

Chickened out and just got a refillable 6kg bottle kit from GAS-IT and will have a 6kg calor as a backup. I think the biggest choke'er for me was that it was only 10 quid cheaper for the 6kg and I wanted more for my money!

Tight arse.

Thanks for all the advice, not brave as some of you on here.

Ciao

Dear, dear, dear, me ... here I was thinking you were gonna start swinging that hammer ...

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[Lenny HB]

Dear, dear, dear, me ... here I was thinking you were gonna start swinging that hammer ...

I was looking forward to the thread " How do I get hammer dents out of the bodywork".

 

[moggyg]

Thanks everyone, I have now put in my teeny weeny 6kg GAS-IT kit. Quite happy with it all now that I am resigned to accepting that the 11kg would not fit(without a lump hammer).

I have done my first fill and all looks to be working.

Ciao

 

[moggyg]

Hi all, Moggyg's wife, and even newer to all this than Marco. A few questions. I am terrified of gas and whilst i trust my husbands installation of the refillable gas unit, and all tests showed it was ship shape and works fine and as it should be and carbon monoxide installed internally, i am strugging to get my head round how safe the gas is and how to know if it was unsafe before catastrophic explosion occurred, is it simply that safety features exist at all points to ensure that the system is effectively failsafe, secondly the installation of the refillable gas unit by ourselves could it nullify the insurance if there was any claim irrespective of cause and should it be signed off by a qualified gas person.

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[Minxy]

Hi Mrs Moggyg ... don't worry, so long as he's checked for leaks on the joints (washing up liquid/water mix does the trick) it's no more dangerous than connecting up a standard Calor bottle, in fact I think its safer because you don't have to constantly disconnect and reconnect another cylinder. We've had Gaslow since 2009 and I've moved it from MH to MH to camper etc without any problems. It doesn't need to be checked out normally for insurance purposes, just worth letting them know that you've fitted it so it's put against your camper's details in case you need to claim in the future and it's clearly shown as part of your kit.

Whilst I know some jobs can be 'challenging' for the male of the species I'm sure your t'other 'alf will have done it properly as it's not the most difficult of tasks (ps ... I'm a girlie!).

 

[moggyg]

thanks for that, will stop worrying and enjoy our newfound freedom Gillian

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi all, Moggyg's wife, and even newer to all this than Marco. A few questions. I am terrified of gas and whilst i trust my husbands installation of the refillable gas unit, and all tests showed it was ship shape and works fine and as it should be and carbon monoxide installed internally, i am strugging to get my head round how safe the gas is and how to know if it was unsafe before catastrophic explosion occurred, is it simply that safety features exist at all points to ensure that the system is effectively failsafe, secondly the installation of the refillable gas unit by ourselves could it nullify the insurance if there was any claim irrespective of cause and should it be signed off by a qualified gas person.

I always carry one of these, very useful as makes pinpointing a leak easy. Yes, wise to fit a CO alarm inside the van.