Gas Flu Venting

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. We thought as much, but couldn't understand why there would be a gap of about 1cm each side of the pipe.
The unit tiself has not been installed yet, only the cowl on the roof.
Yes, we have booked a licence gas/plumber, so will check with them to confimr we will get a certificate.
Hopefully he will have some way of closing the gap where it gets instered into the roof, so no gas/air can come back in.
Thank you again for your help, we know what he needs to do now & we can make sure it is done right.

Kindest Regards,

Hello,
Thank you for your reply.
The unit will be mounted up front in the kitchen area, sleeping area at rear of van.
It is a full roof unit, aluminum framed.

Kind Regards,

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.
I am a little confussed by your comments???
Are not most caravan heaters mounted INSIDE the vans?
This unit is does not have a pilot light, it uses 2 x C batteries to ingnite when hot water is used, so no continous heating or running of gas. Only when hot water is needed.
However, from what I have seen almost all of the older untis have pilots lights & are installed inside.
Can you please explain your comments & why you think all inside installed LPG gas hot water units are illegal?

Kind Regards,

The laws state clearly under no circumstances to install a water heater with a flame inside the caravan. Does not matter if it has a pilot flame or not. Can still explode and discharge flame inside the caravan.
If you are installing this instantaneous hot water system they are not approved by the AGA and the reason the hot water systems are so cheap. Gas appliances that do not conform to the Australian standards cannot be approved by the AGA. The reason they are not approved is they are not safe. People are allowed to sell non approved gas appliances and the tricky bit comes in that you are not allowed to use the appliances. In effect you have bought an ornament.

What you are intending to do is not only very illegal it is doubly dangerous to your lives and the lives of others using non approved AGA appliances let alone in a living space. Gas explosions from incorrectly installed non approved appliances are common and devastating to peoples lives and often lead to death. Imagine if this explodes your caravan in a caravan park. No insurance company will cover your caravan, you cannot get a gas approval certificate, you will not be able to sell your caravan.
If you want to install hot water system there are plenty of approved hot water systems Truma, Atwood, Hansen that all have the combustion process outside the caravan.

Hello,

Thank you, yes that is the exact same unit we are looking putting in.
So from what you say even all the other brands that are instant & mounted inside, they are illegal?
If so, will look at other options & will lok at some of the other units you recommend, even at double the price it is worth it, if these other blow up.

Thank you.

I thought that would be the unit.
Yes all brands are illegal to install inside any caravan or motorhome any RV.
If you have seen instantaneous hot water systems in caravans or motorhomes they would be very old. They banned them due to the number of explosions and deaths. You need to realise as well that unit you were looking at installing is not designed to be mobile and shaken around. That is another thing that makes gas pipes and things fracture in the hot water system and fail. You go to switch on the hot water system and the next thing you have is an explosion.
From the storage systems my recommendation would be Hansen hot water system The Hansen does not have an anode that needs replacing and is a well made unit with better flame path system compared to Atwood or Suburban. That means it is more efficient use of gas.

Hello,

Thank you again.
We have decided to seel the unit we have, as it's still new in the box.
Will look into the link you provided, at $800 that's a fair price to pay to.
One thing that may work for us also is the instant 240v hot water systems, they have aus aproval & look easier to install, thus less/mo modification to the van.
I think they ar 5kw, which I would guess would be more than enough hot water?
We will almost always have 240v power & have an invertor if we are without, but need a little hot water, but for most part I would think we'd have 240v power 99% of the time.

Kind Regards,

A 5KW water heater on 240V would need a 20A+ power supply. I'd be verysuprised if your van is wired for that much current and if it was is the CP park supply rated to 20+A?

I don't know these particular units an am not an expert in caravan installations but a "cabinet without a door" sounds very dangerous to me. Where does the air for combustion come from?, where do the flue gases go to? Any appliance in a cupboard needs air for combustion, the cupboard needs additional air for cooling ventilation, needs to be non-combustible and accesible for service.
Instantaneous gas water heaters inside houses are all but obsolete these days, why you would want one within the limited confines of a caravan etc is beyond me. I wouldn't have one.

the recess i'm talking about is would be from outside of the van ie like a cabinet you might put a gas bottle in but without the door. hence all combustion & exhaust gases occur 100% outside the van .. no flue required. The only parts going inside the van would be the 3 pipes (cold water in, hot water out, LPG source) & those pipe entries would need to be sealed naturally

I've just looked at the web link to Ebay. It looks like an internal appliance with a flue spigot on top, I'm pretty sure that the AGA regs prohibit internal appliances being installed outside. The flue gases will discharge from the top of the heater and as such you would need a big clearance above the unit to allow the heat and products of combustion to dissipate. Even external appliances shouldn't be "boxed in" on more than three sides, so i doubt it would comply.