Placement of gas bottle for cooker

Aug 14, 2007 17 Replies

A relative of mine has only just gone and dug a hole in the kitchen floor put a gas cylinder in it and them put his new freestanding cooker over the hole. I can't help but think this is not the safest thing to do



There enough clearance to reach under the cooker and turn the gas valve off, but still I am slightly concerned.



Anybody more qualified than myself prepared to give an advice?



I've popped the photos he proudly emailed me here:



formatting link


thing to do. Half-way through tea, the gas runs out. Which means moving the cooker, hefting the cylinder out, putting a new one in, moving the cooker back again, and then trying to restore whatever mess you've got left over into something edible.

That hole will fill with gas nicely - no ventilation. It doesn't appear to be especially big, so it probably won't take the house down with it when it goes bang, but it's not something you want to take a risk with.

Tell him to put the bottle outside. And at the risk of being repetitive, tell him to get a auto-switchover regulator and another bottle while he's at it so he won't run out of gas halfway through cooking.

cheers, clive

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:40:58 +0100 someone who may be "Clive George" wrote this:-

Indeed.

And take precautions against squirrels and other little things that might fancy a nibble.

I agree, I think the rational behind it was that previously he had a small cooker with he bottle by the side. SWBO wanted a bigger cooker hence the move. I guessing he's not keen on drilling a hole in the wall and having a bottle outside. It's a 800 year old stone house with nowhere obvious to hide the bottle outside. Not trying to justify what he's done - just some more information for you

Our house is old and stone too. A nice big drill sorts that out. A simple wooden housing to put the bottles and regulator in isn't terribly hard to make, and should look fine. Some sort of wire netting would seem appropriate as a way of providing the required ventilation and protection against squirrels.

I'm guessing this is a holiday home, so doesn't get much use. This would mean the running out of gas thing won't happen every few months, which would be very tedious. OTOH a little leak while away would fill that void nicely, and there wouldn't be anybody there to check it.

cheers, clive

In message , Charlie writes

to automate the bottle change? All he needs is an ignitor at the bottom of the hole and a very small gas leak, when the bottle is empty he just flicks the ignitor and voila, cooker moved, bottle removed from hole and all ready for the new bottle. Shame about the ceiling but hey...

...

Oh poor baby!

Then he should have a wood burning stove - if he wants to be authentic.

Mary

Even has a megabarbeque backup mechanism. Changing the regulator will allow a small amount of gas to leak into the hole. Dropping the new bottle in to the hole creates spark and sends new bottle into low earth orbit - flames flash grill operator.

Even by the dire standards of the French this is a pretty daft design. If you keep the photos safe though then quite soon you may be able to nominate him for an award

formatting link

I know next to nothing about gas bottles, but this strikes me as an explosion just waiting to happen. It used to be called common sense.......

Spoiling me dinner is the last thing I'd worry about.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Charlie saying something like:

Honestly, that's one of the daftest things I've seen. Comes second to a mate's house where he proudly showed me where he'd removed a supporting wall and concrete beam which tied the back wall to the structure.

I suggest you get your relative to do a quick google on "marine gas bottle explosions".

formatting link
search - "marine gas bottle explosions" - did not match any documents.

So must be safe :-)

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Burns saying something like:

Safe as houses... errm not...

formatting link

At least it is a small hole, and not just fitting it in the space below the floorboards. The energy available in the bang in the latter case would be at least a couple of magnitudes more.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like:

Hmmm.... even so, I wouldn't particularly want to be cooking in that kitchen when the volume surrounding the gas bottle goes whoompa. If small volumes in gas bottle lockers weren't a problem, there'd be no requirement for bottle lockers to be vented.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required