First question!

[jayhaycock]

Hi everyone - first post so here we go….. not very exciting but we’ve got a Gaslow system installed on our van and the only gauge on it looks like this - can’t for the life of me work out what it’s supposed to be telling us! Any help (humorous or otherwise) would be greatly appreciated….. J

 

[suavecarve]

If your bottles are full, pop out and open one up, I think the colour changes to green if its full and pressured.

The gauge looks as if it has the ability of weather forecasting. Firstly, look out your window to see if it is hot or cold, apply appropriate clothing, then go out, open gas locker, lean down and confirm your initial guess by looking at the gauge

 

[jayhaycock]

If your bottles are full, pop out and open one up, I think the colour changes to green if its full and pressured.

The gauge looks as if it has the ability of weather forecasting. Firstly, look out your window to see if it is hot or cold, apply appropriate clothing, then go out, open gas locker, lean down and confirm your initial guess by looking at the gauge

Currently at 5000ft up an Alp so I’ll get my duvet jacket and woolly hat……

 

[suavecarve]

Currently at 5000ft up an Alp so I’ll get my duvet jacket and woolly hat……

The Northerners will be along shortly to advise you that you may want to consider longer shorts

 

[jayhaycock]

Just gone all green but needle still in same place?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[AdrianChen]

Just gone all green but needle still in same place?



View attachment 983048

Must be cold up there - I guess it has warmed a little and the gauge has set itself - on a hot day the scale has to be different to when it is brassy monkey weather, because the pressure will vary I guess.

 

[Landy Andy]

I’ve never seen one, but my understanding looking at your pictures is that the needle never moves. The colour section behind moves.
The colder the cylinders/air is the different scale you use, due to that causing less pressing the cylinder.

So you first pic show full cylinder in cold conditions (which I assume it was) and second pic shows full cylinder at all temperature. (Assume things have warmed)

 

[gus-lopez]

 

[rosalan]

I so envy you. I used to have one that clipped on the side of the valve and it fell off. As I have two tanks, when one becomes empty for some reason, I fill up again knowing I have plenty of gas in the other tank. If and when you fill up there is nothing you must do as gas goes to both bottles (if you have two) whatever you do.

 

[jayhaycock]

I’ve never seen one, but my understanding looking at your pictures is that the needle never moves. The colour section behind moves.
The colder the cylinders/air is the different scale you use, due to that causing less pressing the cylinder.

So you first pic show full cylinder in cold conditions (which I assume it was) and second pic shows full cylinder at all temperature. (Assume things have warmed)

I’ll just have to keep checking it till it starts to make sense? Needle never seems to move only the background changes - possibly get a better clue next time it’s empty! Talk about over complicating things……

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jayhaycock]

I’ve never seen one, but my understanding looking at your pictures is that the needle never moves. The colour section behind moves.
The colder the cylinders/air is the different scale you use, due to that causing less pressing the cylinder.

So you first pic show full cylinder in cold conditions (which I assume it was) and second pic shows full cylinder at all temperature. (Assume things have warmed)

Logical but I’ve never yet seen the background‘move’

 

[ontheroadagain]

Just gone all green but needle still in same place?

If you now turn off your gas (at the bottle), leave it for 10 minutes and then look again, it should still be in the green.
If it is not, it means that you have a leak somewhere in the system.

 

[Landy Andy]

Logical but I’ve never yet seen the background‘move’

If you look at the gauge you will notice the “needle” is painted/printed onto the back of the plastic screen, and as so doesn't move. The background with the colours on moves I think with a setup similar to a barometer where it is attached to some form of bellows that move according to the pressure provided to them.

To test.

Have all your gas items off, and gas cylinder on. The gauge will read X. Then turn your gas cylinder off and turn on the smallest gas hob burner. I think you will then see the background of the gauge drop as the pressure leaves the system.

 

[cyberyacht]

Those gauges are next to useless to tell the amount of gas you have. The most reliable way is to weigh the cylinder and deduct the tare weight. There are aftermarket gauges that attach to the bottom of metal cylinders that are reputedly more accurate. We lesser mortals with Safefills merely look through the translucent cylinder to see the liquid level.

 

[Lenny HB]

Agree, useless guage only tell you if you have a leak or the bottle is empty.
Latest bottles have a float in the bottle those are fairly accurate.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MichaelT]

One for Basildog

 

[David and Sally]

I fitted one of those purely to tell if there are any leaks in the system. Open the gas valve and the meter goes to green. Close the valve and see if it goes yellow or red over time. Mine stays in the green for a day or three. Happy with that.

 

[Geistguy]

This type of gauge is pretty unreliable, ours seems to either show full or empty and not a gradual movement as gas is used, I've recently fitted one of the magnetic gauges ( less that a fiver from Ebay ), it's a bit soon to say how accurate it is but after a recent holiday it seems to work well.

 

[jayhaycock]

This type of gauge is pretty unreliable, ours seems to either show full or empty and not a gradual movement as gas is used, I've recently fitted one of the magnetic gauges ( less that a fiver from Ebay ), it's a bit soon to say how accurate it is but after a recent holiday it seems to work well.

Thanks for your replies - think I’ll just treat it as a decorative item until I have a flash of genius!

 

[AdrianChen]

Anybody tried the Mopeka device - https://mopeka.com/product/mopeka-pro-check-sensor/

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[rosalan]

please do not flash your genius here, few would recognise it and it might challenge the rest of us.

 

[CAB96]

Anybody tried the Mopeka device - https://mopeka.com/product/mopeka-pro-check-sensor/

There have been several posts, most seem happy with it. Try the search function.

 

[autorouter]

The pressure in a cylinder of liquified gas like propane varies in a totally different way to to a cylinder of a gas like oxygen or nitrogen, which don't liquify at room temperature. The pressure in an oxygen cylinder falls gradually as the gas is used. If it starts off at 200 bar, then at 100 bar it is half used, etc.

The pressure of gas that is liquified stays more or less constant, right up to the time when the last liquid turns to gas and the cylinder is practically empty. Then the pressure falls rapidly. The upshot of all this is that a pressure gauge doesn't give any indication of how full the cylinder is.

User-refillable cylinders like Gaslow usually have a float, attached to a stick, that rotates a magnet, that turns a needle to show the cylinder contents. An alternative is to send an ultrasonic beam through the base, and use clever electronics to pick up the reflection of the beam from the liquid gas surface. That's how the Mopeka gauges work.

 

[Two of usI]

The Northerners will be along shortly to advise you that you may want to consider longer shorts