Will a french gas canister work with my UK pigtail (got a l.h. thread at the canister end), or will I need a new pigtail as well? Asking because I've got a gas flow issue with my existing Safefill canister and I've emailed them with details but concerned that I might be forced to buy a regular canister over here in France on my travels if it's not an easy fix.
French gas canisters
- Thread starter GeeCee
- Start date
Stealaway
Free Member
- Jan 8, 2013
- 8,496
- 11,548
- Funster No
- 24,202
- MH
- Burstner Lyseo 690G
- Exp
- Happy FLT since 2011
Have you made sure the connector into your Safefill is hard in enough to open the ball valve. French bottle connections are totally different. You can buy a bottle contact with any of the supermarket chains
OP
OP
Thanks. The connector is solid brass, been using it for 6 years now. When you say a bottle contact do you mean a pigtail or something else?
You should be using a pigtail with a propane connector like this
Safefill don’t recommend using the solid brass type
I had the same issue , until I changed mine
Stealaway
Free Member
- Jan 8, 2013
- 8,496
- 11,548
- Funster No
- 24,202
- MH
- Burstner Lyseo 690G
- Exp
- Happy FLT since 2011
Have read of this.
The French bottle pigtails are normally a female thumb screw with a rubber seal.
Subscribers do not see these advertisements
I Used a large Hypermarket to purchase " the Cube" and associated valve/hose etc on my previous Mo-Ho.Easy to change bottles anywhere in France .
OP
OP
Thanks Neil, wasn't aware, not much I can do now I'm in France unless I can get one mailed out to me if I stay at a campsite for a few days.
OP
OP
Case closed - kind of. I bought a french Butane bottle, plus the regulator and pigtail required from Bricollage, connected all up and hooray gas on and working. But ..... there was a leaking sound and smell. Asked the French guy in the van next door to ours to check if I'd set it up correctly and after checking and double checking he confirmed it was. After further checks he thought the leak was from the pigtail joint to the regulator. I wasn't convinced but the fact was it wasn't safe to use. A scottish guy just across the way came over afterwards to have a look and he started playing around with the pigtail on my SafeFill bottle. He discerned that the release valve on it (the little blac rubber thing that you press down after connecting the pigtail to the bottle) was stuck. He fiddled with it and it started to work loose. So we connected it to the SafeFill bottle opened the gas on the bottle, pressed the release valve and hey presto gas flowing again - actually blasting. So connected to van regulator and all working as normal. Only problem now is I've spent €85 for the French bottle and connectors, no longer need them and am miles away from where I bought them, having moved on today. Suspect I'll have difficulty explaining the problem to Bricollage in another town in the hope of getting it resolved.
OP
OP
Every bottle outside Supermarkets or DIY stores in France (propane or butane) requires both a regulator which clicks over the top of the bottle and a pigtail to connect the regulator to the van regulator. I've not seen any that connect directly from the bottle to the van regulator. Found the above article misleading hence went on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to find what I needed.
You don’t need a regulator on the French cylinder if you are routing it through your existing bulkhead regulator
All you need is a proper Motorhome/ caravan pigtail and the necessary connector available at any French Motorhome dealers
To have a regulator on cylinder and fed to the regulator on your Motorhome is not necessary considering modern bulkhead regulators in caravans and Motorhome are 30mb and designed for both butane and propane
Subscribers do not see these advertisements
Stealaway
Free Member
- Jan 8, 2013
- 8,496
- 11,548
- Funster No
- 24,202
- MH
- Burstner Lyseo 690G
- Exp
- Happy FLT since 2011
Last edited:
Don’t understand why you would you need a regulator on French cylinder fed to a bulkhead mounted 30mb regulator
You would be effectively reducing the pressure twice .
We use a French Le Cube propane cylinder which is connected straight to the existing regulator with propane/butane stainless steel pigtail and 27mm clip on connector
Basildog
LIFE MEMBER
- Feb 21, 2018
- 2,305
- 4,170
- Funster No
- 52,506
That looks like single stage regulators ? probably at the incorrect pressure and without any over pressure protection device fitted , why have you bypassed the bulkhead mounted regulator that’s specifically designed for leisure vehicles with built in safety devices ?
Stealaway
Free Member
- Jan 8, 2013
- 8,496
- 11,548
- Funster No
- 24,202
- MH
- Burstner Lyseo 690G
- Exp
- Happy FLT since 2011
The original bulkhead regulator is not used. The French regulator is connected to a tee piece along with the calor bottle regulater.
I used to switch between the bottles depending if I was in Europe or at home
I used to switch between the bottles depending if I was in Europe or at home
Basildog
LIFE MEMBER
- Feb 21, 2018
- 2,305
- 4,170
- Funster No
- 52,506
Why would you do that ?
Do you realise the difference between the cheap single stage bottle mounted regulators and the proper leisure vehicle regulator?
If those cheap regulators fail they allow full bottle pressure to the appliance
Subscribers do not see these advertisements
Stealaway
Free Member
- Jan 8, 2013
- 8,496
- 11,548
- Funster No
- 24,202
- MH
- Burstner Lyseo 690G
- Exp
- Happy FLT since 2011
As far as I was aware they were the common caravan type regulators.
I had that set up and the same regulator's for over ten years.
They performed perfectly until I bought a set of Safefill bottles .
I had that set up and the same regulator's for over ten years.
They performed perfectly until I bought a set of Safefill bottles .
Basildog
LIFE MEMBER
- Feb 21, 2018
- 2,305
- 4,170
- Funster No
- 52,506
No they are single stage basic regulators so actually provide a pretty unsteady pressure compared to the 2 and 3 stage leisure vehicle regulators.l
But more importantly they don’t have any over pressure protection built in so will fail to full bottle pressure, unlike the correct leisure vehicle regulator that will only allow 100 -150 mbar maximum pressure.
The red one is definitely 37mbar which again isn’t actually correct for modern leisure vehicles .
Stealaway
Free Member
- Jan 8, 2013
- 8,496
- 11,548
- Funster No
- 24,202
- MH
- Burstner Lyseo 690G
- Exp
- Happy FLT since 2011
I've never heard of any problems with them in MoHo or caravans. From what you are saying, I must have been very lucky to survive.
OP
OP
No problem
OP
OP
Well you sound as though you know what you're talking about. But all the gas bottles outside the supermarkets, be they propane or butane, had no threaded connector on them to allow a pigtail connection directly. You had to fit the push down click-on regulator first and that had a threaded connection point for a pigtail connector.
Subscribers do not see these advertisements
I use a French Le Cube cylinder doesn’t have threaded connection but I use with the existing bulkhead regulator with clip on 27mm connector which is not a regulator and has a pigtail attached to it
Also fits Flogas lightweight cylinder
Last edited:
OP
OP
Yes interestingly I bought a Le Cube but they sold me a different connector to the one you've got.
Super u supermarket sell there own 13 kg gas bottles this requires a pig tail fitting the same as Gaslow. Connects to bulkhead reg in van. The same bottles from other suppliers are available all over france
Subscribers do not see these advertisements
Join us or log in to post a reply.
To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun
Join MotorhomeFun
Join us, it quick and easy!
Log in
Already a member? Log in here.
Latest journal entries
-
Alcoceber or Bust! Autumn Awaycation 2024
- InvictaMoto
- Entries: 23
Latest entry: Day 17 - Homeward Bound,