OT: Calor Gas

[The Natural Philosopher]

I think those vents are all over the place actually.

I've seen em on rear 3/4 pillars, into the boot, even back out to the engine compartment.

[Bill Wright]

Depends on the bottle size. Or do I have some very old big bottles?

Bill

[John Williamson]

Not IME. Calor Butane is in blue bottles, normally with the clip on regulator they introduced in the '80s. This replaced the screw on regulator with a male thread on the bottle tap. Propane is in red bottles, with a regulator that is screwed into a left hand female thread connection on the bottle tap. I've never seen any other regulator fastening on a Calor propane bottle, even those that use a high pressure adjustable regulator for things like oxy-propane burners and tar boilers. ISTR that the connection is the same on an acetylene bottle as the propane one, but it's a decade or more since I did any gas welding.

I've seen other regulator connections used by other suppliers of butane, and did, at one time, carry a number of different regulators for them, but I've not seen anything other than the standard left hand thread connector on a propane bottle from any supplier.

Now watch someone post a picture proving me wrong....

[dennis]

It might be a good idea to allow some ventilation..

if it leaks the car fills with gas and the door switches for the courtesy lights spark.. boom, big boom.

Caravans carry them about all the time but they do have ventilation to get rid of leaked gas.

[dennis]

1981?

[Jethro_uk]

IIRC the air/fuel ratio required to get a bang is quite a narrow range. Having worked for Calor, I imagined the amusement in the engineering team when they heard of the London "bomber" using a gas cylinder.

I believe Acetylene cylinders are the business for bangs.

[Gazz]

That's because a car's lpg tank has a float valve that shuts off the inlet valve when at 80% full.

I've only seen a video of calor filling the propane bottles, but part of the procedure is to remove the valve, wash the cylinder inside and out, dry it, re-fit valve with new sealing gloop on the threads, then fill

I guess butane cylinders are the same, just different valves used... most common nowadays seem to be the type that take a clip on regulator, so no manual turn valve at all,

[Gazz]

it is, something like 1.8 to 8% gas to air is all it will go bang at,

Used to be someone on an american RV newsgroup who was trying to persuade people that the use of LPG in RV's was just far too dangerous to contemplate, he posted any photo's of burnt out RV's he could find, claiming the gas bottles onboard were a contributing factor,

much safer to use a microwave for cooking, run from an inverter and big batteries he claimed,

Then someone pointed out that that he needed to charge his batteries, and doing so produces hydrogen... which has an explosive mixture range of something like 5 to 75%, Suddenly the 1.8 to 8% of gas dosent seem so bad after all.

[Clive George]

Or take them to somebody with a big bottle and a little hand pump. They put a hose between the two, and pumped it full - not sure if they weighed or what. This may not have been a terribly official supplier :-)

[bert]

And if installed correctly will have a sealed enclosure around the valve which is vented to the outside.

[Jethro_uk]

And it's more a conflagration than true explosion

that's your problem right there ;)

IIRC you shouldn't use LPG on boats. Because it's heavier than air, it pools in the bottom ....

[Tim+]

It gets used on plenty of boats, but carefully. ;-). I've certainly hired canal boats with LPG.

Tim

[Andy Champ]

The lucky boat owner comes back to his boat, and realises it is full of gas before turning anything on. The only way to get rid of it is by bailing it out with a plastic bucket.

So you are then standing in your boat with a bucket, bailing out nothing that anyone can see...

Andy

[Stewart]

I think it is also important to keep the cylinder upright if possible.

And if installed correctly will have a sealed enclosure around the valve which is vented to the outside.

[geoff]

In message , Stewart writes

Better tell the manufacturers of fork lift trucks then

Why am I bothering replying to this TP'er?

[dennis]

Don't they make special bottles for fork lift trucks? they did the last time I used one a few decades ago.

88

[Andy Burns]

Yes, the have dip tubes to deliver liquid, rather than gas.

[geoff]

Looked uncannily like a standard 15kg calor gas cylinder last time I looked

>

[Huge]

The difference is internal. They have a tube attached to the valve to make sure the cylinder delivers gas (as opposed to liquid) even when laid on its side.

[Andy Burns]

Is exactly the wrong answer, they have a dip tube to *ensure* they give liquid, otherwise called Liquid Offtake cylinders ...