Gas Bottles

Hi Damiem
When I take my 4kg bottle in the 4x4, I check the valve is not leaking , with soapy water,then place it inside a plastic bucket with clip on lid. Then nothing else in the back of the 4x4 can shift arround and hit the valve.
Regards
Neil

Damien

I would ensure adequate flow through ventilation when moving. Make certain by having a window slightly open.

You would either have to remove the bottle when parked (eg highly desirable O'nite) or leave a couple of windows down a bit.

Petrol is worse, I believe and too many drivers take the risk of carrying (say) mower fuel without full ventilation. People also store flammables in closed spaces eg home garage without proper ventilation. Risky.

I think if you're travelling with gas or petrol you just have to make provision for external storage (eg roof rack).

EV700

A lot of people with station wagons and gas conversions travel all the time with very large LPG cylinders inside the vehicle.

I just ensure mine are located where the valves won't be broken off them if they're hit by another object.

Mike Harding

you can buy a gas detector from whitworths and the like that are usually put in the bilges of boats. I had one in my ski boat and it works very well. the sensor has quite a long lead and a loud buzzer. If I was going to carry a bottle in my wagon, I would consider fitting one in the area/box/bucket that the gas bottle was in. The one I had could be set off with a cigarette lighter a foot away almost instantly.

Cheers Andrew

I have heard from an experienced Caravan User and Tafe Trainer on the subject that there are something like 4 different grades of Gas Tanks. Two of the are "approved" for outdoor use and use on Caravans.

Apparently the grades are from 1 to 4 but I am not sure whether it is grade 1 and 2 that are Ok or grades 3 and 4. Must check up with him before I pick up the new van.

Hi Damien. Some very sound advice has been offered, however no one has mentioned the result of a gas cylinder explosion. (AND THEY DON'T REQUIRE A SOURCE OF IGNITION EITHER !!) It's known as a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion). I have seen the result of such incidents and believe me the resulting explosiOn from a 9KG gas cylinder would totally destroy a vehicle and occupants. A week or so back in Adelaide, a gas cylinder, attached to a relatively new caravan exploded. Result - a heap of matchwood. Have a read of the following if in doubt:

BLEVE
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

BLEVE, pronounced blevy, is an acronym for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion. This is a type of explosion that can occur when a vessel containing a pressurized liquid is ruptured. Such explosions can be extremely hazardous. When the liquid is water, the explosion is usually called a steam explosion.

A BLEVE can occur in a vessel that stores a substance that is usually a gas at atmospheric pressure but is a liquid when pressurized (for example, liquefied petroleum gas). The substance will be stored partly in liquid form, with a gaseous vapour above the liquid filling the remainder of the container.

If the vessel is ruptured - for example, due to corrosion, or failure under pressure - the vapour portion may rapidly leak, dropping the pressure inside the container and releasing a wave of overpressure from the point of rupture. This sudden drop in pressure inside the container causes violent boiling of the liquid, which rapidly liberates large amounts of vapour in the process. The pressure of this vapour can be extremely high, causing a second, much more significant wave of overpressure (i.e., an explosion) which may completely destroy the storage vessel and project it as shrapnel over the surrounding area.

A BLEVE does not require a flammable substance to occur, and therefore is not usually considered a type of chemical explosion. However, if the substance involved is flammable, it is likely that the resulting cloud of the substance will ignite after the BLEVE proper has occurred, forming a fireball and possibly a fuel-air explosion. BLEVEs can also be caused by an external fire nearby the storage vessel causing heating of the contents and pressure build-up.

Significant industrial BLEVEs include the accidents at Feyzin in France in 1966, Texas City, Texas in 1978, and San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico in 1984

I believe that a 2kg bottle is the max legal size that can be carried inside a vehicle

G'day Damien
What's ideal and what one has to do are often two very different things. If you take the precautions mentioned (check for leaks regularly and make sure the unit can't be damaged i.e. securely held in place) you should be OK. I too carry ours in a sealed bucket. Whilst it can't be entirely ruled out the chances of any mishaps, if you're sensible, are in reality quite remote.

Very contraversal subject, and I am sure the ideal and safest way to carry gas bottles would be outside the vehicle, but with a lot of people like myself it is not very practical.Ihave carried two 4.5kg. bottles inside the vehicle for years including trips to Cape York,Gurig, Gove,Walcott Inlet etc.etc. but the bottles are totally secure and are checked with soapy water after every fill.An interesting point is that hundreds of the older Britz type hired campers had gas bottles fitted inside for years and must have been legal then although they now seem to be all vented to outside of the vehicle.If like myself you carry them inside do so with great care and regular checks with soapy water.Isuppose life is an ongoing risk and we should all just try and live it the best we can.
Cheers and safe travel.

I'm a gas fitter and when I worked for a large company we had to carry gas cylinders in a sealed cabinet, vented to outside the vehicle for OHS. Admittedly it was acetylene and not LPG. I believe Telstra trucks have to have a vented box for their LPG.
Having said that I often carry my Oxy and Acetylene in the back of my Patrol because I sure as hell can't fit a sealed box in there. When camping my gas bottles are always kept on the roof rack. I had a valve leak once when in the back of a ute and when i got to camp all I had left was a frozen block of LPG that vaguely resembled a 3kg cylinder. It was scary to think I had lost 3 kg of gas and wasn't aware of it until I stopped to pick up fire wood.

One thing that no one has mention as yet. The valve might be good and tight, but what happens when the gas bottle is left in the vehicle on a very hot day. We all know that the inside temperature is a lot higher than out side.

When the bottle reaches a certain temp it will vent. Gas is then pumped into the vehicle. Gas is heaver than air and will sit on the floor of the vehicle.

This has always been my concern with carrying gas bottles in the vehicle.

Wayne

If you do carry the LPG inside then at least make sure the bottle is held upright and the valve is protected against anythng hitting it.. It reduces the escaping gas effect by about 800 times if something does go wrong with the valve.

Hi Damien,

On a couple of occasions I've seen small gas bottles being carried in a bracket from the spare wheel mount on the back of 4WD's. Similar arrangement to hi-lift jack holders etc. Not sure what type of 4WD you have but this could be an option for you. I googled for a commercially made bracket as I've described bt can't find one so perhaps the ones I saw were DIY or custom made jobs. A good metal fabricator could probably knock one up for you fairly inexpensively. If you must carry the bottle in your vehicle, check out the Safe-T-Alert 12V gas detectors here

Also, bare in mind that you dn't need a faulty valve etc to experience a gas bottle leak. On our last trip we were annoyed by a nasty odour on the air from time to time. It was about 24 hours before we realised that one of our gas bottles was leaking. The valve had simply shaken loose as we travelled on a not too bad dirt road. Luckily for us, the bottle is carried in an external bracket on our camper trailer so the gas simply dispersed in the air but it shows how easily a leak can occur.

:o) Melissa