Turning gas on and off

Hi folks,

I joined the forum as a newbie a couple of weeks ago. We’ve already had our first site stay, at Alderstead Heath, and are due to spend two nights in our Symbol at the Brighton site later this week.

I have a simple question. Should we turn the gas bottle off each night of our stay or only when we leave?

Best wishes to you all

Entirely up to you. The reason for switching it off at all is for safety reasons. When travelling, if you were in an accident the last thing you need is a gas explosion on top of everything else that may be happening. When camped at night you can leave it on. This time of year you may need the gas for the heater or fridge if not on EHU. (ok the fridge is a bit tongue in cheek for late October).

Ideally turn the gas bottle on when you're parked up, and close it when you move the van again.
In reality we only turn the gas off at the bottle valve when changing it or on board a ferry.
 I know there's always a risk of an accident when travelling, but I always shut off all the valves to the individual appliances when on the move.
Al.

Thanks Crystal Voyager and Biker Al. Very helpful

Don’t forget that gas is heavier than air so any leakage will fall downwards and out through ventilation holes rather than gassing you in your sleep.

Perhaps i'm the only one confused by your question.    I presume when you are on site you will be using EHU so there would be no need to have the gas turned on at all .   If you are not on EHU on site then you will be using gas to power your fridge surely ?  Therefore turning the gas off every night will turn your fridge off.   I always turn the gs off when leaving a site as the fridge would be powered by 12v via the alternator.  You should never use 2 power sources at the same time. If I've not understood your question you will have to forgive me - blame it on age 

On a cold evening in your motorhome it’s a lot warmer with gas heating than electric.

Terry

" I presume when you are on site you will be using EHU so there would be no need to have the gas turned on at all."


notwithstanding the gas heating as Eltel suggests, it may be that the OP is using a gas ring on his hob?
some vans dont have an electric hotplate, although the OP's Symbol would have, i guess.
however, even if the hob has an electric hotplate, sometimes you might need more than one rîng and not everyone feels a hotplate is as controllable as a gas ring.

I'm afraid I don’t understand Taurian as it is quite usual to use two power sources at the same time. Gas oven and electric for hot water, for example, or powering the heating by gas and electric at the same time as designed. Maybe I’ve misconstrued something.

Re never using two power sources at the same time - I assume you meant that only to apply to the fridge.

The instructions for our Truma UltraHeat includes "Heater operation is basically possible with gas only, electricity only or simultaneously with electricity and gas."

Our Truma UltraStore water heater can also be used with both gas and 240V at the same time to reduce the heating time, also per the instructions.

We often use both, especially in depth of winter.

Tinwheeler wrote:I'm afraid I don’t understand Taurian as it is quite usual to use two power sources at the same time. Gas oven and electric for hot water, for example, or powering the heating by gas and electric at the same time as designed. Maybe I’ve misconstrued something.

Sorry, I was referring to using gas and 12v  for the fridge whilst driving, but I appreciate that most people do switch off the gas supply before setting off.  Having said that, I have been known to be 1 mile down the road before remembering that I'd left the fridge on gas !

Taurian wrote:

Tinwheeler wrote:I'm afraid I don’t understand Taurian as it is quite usual to use two power sources at the same time. Gas oven and electric for hot water, for example, or powering the heating by gas and electric at the same time as designed. Maybe I’ve misconstrued something.

Sorry, I was referring to using gas and 12v  for the fridge whilst driving, but I appreciate that most people do switch off the gas supply before setting off.  Having said that, I have been known to be 1 mile down the road before remembering that I'd left the fridge on gas !

 Does it not have some sort of gas cut off system to prevent use while travelling?

That would be very useful, unfortunately  mine doesn't have that facility.

" Does it not have some sort of gas cut off system to prevent use while travelling?"


TW, we certainly don't have this as far as i know....
our Dometic Fridge 'electronics' will prioritise DC over gas if the alternator power is detected, but i guess i could manually change it, although ive not tried this.
...but the reverse is also true these days....systems are now in place to specifically allow the gas to be used whilst on the move, primarily for habitation heating.
this applies to Alde and Truma units where 'Crash Safe' (or whatever the latest moniker is) regulators and rupture proof hoses are fitted, although Alde users may well make use of their built in heat exchangers to heat the fluid in these systems.

bolero boy wrote:" Does it not have some sort of gas cut off system to prevent use while travelling?"


TW, we certainly don't have this as far as i know....
our Dometic Fridge 'electronics' will prioritise DC over gas if the alternator power is detected, but i guess i could manually change it, although ive not tried this.
...but the reverse is also true these days....systems are now in place to specifically allow the gas to be used whilst on the move, primarily for habitation heating.
this applies to Alde and Truma units where 'Crash Safe' (or whatever the latest moniker is) regulators and rupture proof hoses are fitted, although Alde users may well make use of their built in heat exchangers to heat the fluid in these systems.

Yes, I know about using gas while on the move. We had it on the last van and on this. You missed Whale off the list.

Taurian wrote:That would be very useful, unfortunately  mine doesn't have that facility.

Hard luck, Taurian.

On the Duo, you can forget to turn the fridge to battery while driving and leave it on gas, I know as I have travelled through the Tunnel with it on, I forgot after stopping in their carpark. No one bothered to ask if my gas was off.

Also as has been mentioned, our hob is gas only.
---------
Richard