gas leak?

Gas leaks in vans and trailers are serious. It is easy to have an explosion - a gas cylinder makes a very effective bomb. We recently had problems with gas leaks in our van. Our van manufacturer sent us to a qualified gas fitter/plumber for help - we were in western Qld at the time. He did a good job on some of the problem but (because he was unfamiliar with vans), missed one hidden connection so we went through the same thing again later. Then we were in a bigger town and able to find a more experienced gas fitter who did a very thorough check. He pointed out that it was a miracle we hadn't blown up a whole campground! Our problem was essentially inferior quality fittings installed by the original gas fitters who installed the system in the van. These had cracked. This is not uncommon these days as fittings can come from anywhere and brass standards vary - to say the least!
So only a qualified fitter should work anywhere on gas and you would do well to seek out one who knows something about trailer and van set ups. Good luck. Lynne

Hi avid!
Quite possible that your dealer checked using soapy water in his spray bottle - probably not sensitive enough to detect a very small leak - TRUST YOUR NOSE - best leak detector there is!!
Had the same problem with my camper a while back. Try the following: turn off cylinder, depressurise supply hose by turning on a gas appliance for a few seconds then undo the pol fitting that screws into the cylinder valve. Near the nose of this fitting is an o-ring. In my case it was damaged and once replaced there was no more gas smell. Spend a few cents on a replacement ring, replace pol fitting and check again, and again - you just can't be too careful with gas! Good luck!
Cheers
TG
BTW - if you're after a great leak detector a product called Snoop is available from your local Swagelok dealer - just Google Swagelok for nearest location.

Hi,
Just a couple of things to check before spending too much money getting a gas fitter on the job.
1. Is the gas bottle nearly empty? The indicator gas used in the cylinders becomes quite evident when cylinders are nearly empty.
Straight LPG is almost odourless so an indicator gas is included as a safety measure in the manufacturing process.

2. When you open the cylinder tap do you open it completely? Failure to do so allows gas to escape out of the shaft of the tap.
There is a seal that comes into effect when the tap is completely open to prevent this gas leakage.

If neither of the above apply then you definitely need to have an experienced caravan gas fitter check your set-up out thoroughly

Hope this helps.

Disco.

If you have a braided hose I would be very suspicious of that as I had similar and you had to slightly bend the connection near the fitting and it started to leak. I only started to have trouble when I changed bottles. I got a new hose while on the road but i would have much rather have got copper.

hi ring a lic plumber and gas fitter, he will disconnect the gas bottles , turn your

gas appliances off at the gas values , put an inert gas through your lines ,at a higher presure, the cracked fittings or the gas lines will start to whistle,be very carefull parking your van in a confined space (garage or shed) LPG AND OXYGEN can become a highly explosive mixture. im not an alarmist , this mixture only court me wonce in my working life' from justajoe

To everyone - thankyou for your help & suggestions regarding our gas leak.

I now realise that I forgot to include some vital information - we can only smell gas when the cylinder is turned on. It does not appear to be leaking all the time. And the smell seems to be coming from close to the cylinder, not under the trailer, nor inside.

We will be checking the o-ring on the weekend, as well as testing with detergent, water & a paint brush.

Cheers,

avidcamper