Topped up in Spain now heating not working?

[Nanniemate]

This is an interesting one

I have refillable gas which I have been getting on OK with .

Been running the heating all fine lovely n toasty not having to worry about silly little calor bottles.

Put Spainish gas in yesterday for the first time ever and pow. Heating won't work. This was immediately. Fridge and hob working no issues

If the heating is turned on the gas level drops on the gas hob which is also a new experience.

I do have a second bottle which is full with UK gas. so i may need to swop the bottles over (keep uk for Heating only )

The heating switches on runs for a few minutes then turns off. It is also pulling 1.5 amp instead of the usual 0.5, seems to me the heating is 'working harder' and there nit enough power to pull gas through.

Back to warming the van using the gas rings again , it's going to be cold getting out of bed

 

[Steve N Tracy]

Spanish bottles tend to be butane which not gas off at low temps.

 

[Nanniemate]

It's Spanish autogas, ive just put in sorry it that wasn't clear

 

[MaidinDevon]

Oh no, join my club!! It's freezing isn't it. No idea how to help, but at least we are suffering together.
Its 2.5 degrees in my van, both gas rings on..

You weren't empty either were you?
So, even if dodgy, should have mixed with the rest.

 

[jongood]

This is an interesting one

I have refillable gas which I have been getting on OK with .

Been running the heating all fine lovely n toasty not having to worry about silly little calor bottles.

Put Spainish gas in yesterday for the first time ever and pow. Heating won't work. This was immediately. Fridge and hob working no issues

If the heating is turned on the gas level drops on the gas hob which is also a new experience.

I do have a second bottle which is full with UK gas. so i may need to swop the bottles over (keep uk for Heating only )

The heating switches on runs for a few minutes then turns off. It is also pulling 1.5 amp instead of the usual 0.5, seems to me the heating is 'working harder' and there nit enough power to pull gas through.

Back to warming the van using the gas rings again , it's going to be cold getting out of bed

Sounds like a flow issue, bottles turned on properly? Blocked regulator?

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[bluesurf989]

It sounds to me like your regulator is knackered!! or probably full of oil.

 

[flatpackchicken]

All the symptoms lead to : Sounds like more butane mix than propane !!!!! As you have another bottle change asap then you will know !!!
Hope it works ok with new bottle

 

[Gellyneck]

First thing I would do would be to swap over to UK gas bottle assuming it's propane to eliminate the regulator / pipework.

If it works OK it's the gas refiling (butane?).

EDIT: like flatpackchicken said

 

[jumar]

Spanish Autogas has mixed content 35%/65% from 1/11 to 31/03
The UK Autogas is 100% all year round.
There are many possibilities, oiled up regulator.... Airlock (I've experienced this)
If you are currently in a cold location you shouldn't have bad ignition problems using either cylinders....we use Spanish Autogas all year round in all regions of Spain...only last week we had minus 4°c...with no issues..
One point that would concern me is using open flame to warm the van..

 

[MichaelT]

If you look on my lpg.eu it tells you the mix, it could be 100% butane which won't gas if it's cold.

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[steve69]

Please be careful. Heating with the gas rings in a sealed van can cause depletion of oxygen and an increase in carbon monoxide.
Your going to have to let a little outside air in (cold) to reduce that risk.

 

[MichaelT]

Please be careful. Heating with the gas rings in a sealed van can cause depletion of oxygen and an increase in carbon monoxide.
Your going to have to let a little outside air in (cold) to reduce that risk.

What's the difference having a gas ring on for heating and to cook on? Admit not the best solution but can't see it being any more dangerous than cooking with 2 or 3 saucepans?

 

[steve69]

What's the difference having a gas ring on for heating and to cook on? Admit not the best solution but can't see it being any more dangerous than cooking with 2 or 3 saucepans?

Most people have some sort of ventilation for cooking - or you get a van full of smoke or steam, surely.
Historically I believe there have been instances of people being found dead in motorhomes for precisely the reason i have stated.

 

[MichaelT]

Most people have some sort of ventilation for cooking - or you get a van full of smoke or steam, surely.

We don't open a window if it's cold out, maybe a bit of the roof vent but the van will naturally ventilate with the inbuilt ventilation in the floors and roof lights.

 

[steve69]

We don't open a window if it's cold out, maybe a bit of the roof vent but the van will naturally ventilate with the inbuilt ventilation in the floors and roof lights.

Fair enough. But many older vans are not so well ventilated (I had one many years ago).

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[Shrimp]

Bit cold here in Suffolk.
Diesel heater pump gave up the other day (new one coming today with luck) woke this morning and EHU outage so no heating at all!

 

[Gellyneck]

What's the difference having a gas ring on for heating and to cook on? Admit not the best solution but can't see it being any more dangerous than cooking with 2 or 3 saucepans?

But how long do you have the cooking rings on for vs heating with a dedicated flue?

 

[Minxy]

As the hob loses pressure when the heating is turned on it makes me think that there's not sufficient gas getting through the regulator so that would be my initial suspect. If everything else that uses gas is turned off, ie fridge and hob, see if the heating works, or tries to work, better, if so then it's a flow issue which points to the regulator.

 

[jumar]

There is a big difference from being alert and cooking in a van...when people are relaxing...perhaps watching TV had a drink or two...become drowsy take a nap etc, the situation is very different..not enough is said about The Silent Killer...C O...Carbon Monoxide... I've experienced and had need to recover the deceased from these situations...
It's basic safety measures whilst Caravanning or Motorhoming...

 

[JockandRita]

Spanish Autogas has mixed content 35%/65% from 1/11 to 31/03
The UK Autogas is 100% all year round.
There are many possibilities, oiled up regulator.... Airlock (I've experienced this)
If you are currently in a cold location you shouldn't have bad ignition problems using either cylinders....we use Spanish Autogas all year round in all regions of Spain...only last week we had minus 4°c...with no issues..

Nanniemate. Ditto to Martin's post above. We've never experienced problems using Spanish Autogas over winter with overnight temperatures in minus figures. If the same symptoms occur with the changeover to the UK filled cylinder, then it's a flow problem as previously suggested. Good luck getting it sorted.

One point that would concern me is using open flame to warm the van..

Another ditto, and I can't believe others in their posts above advocating such a practise. Cooking with ventilation is a totally different scenario to heating a large closed space for habitation comfort. Your CO alarm (if installed) will soon be warning you of the lower oxygen levels when it kicks off. It's a "NO NO" without adequate ventilation.

For those referring to floor vents, both our quality German built MHs from the Hymer Group, have had no floor vents whatsoever.

Regards,

Jock.

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[Minxy]

What's the difference having a gas ring on for heating and to cook on? Admit not the best solution but can't see it being any more dangerous than cooking with 2 or 3 saucepans?

But how long do you have the cooking rings on for vs heating with a dedicated flue?

Exactly, it's the same reason why we have to have an air vent in our home lounge as we have a living flame gas fire. Using the hob for a shortish length of time whilst cooking is completely different to doing so for hours. Never underestimate the deadliness of CO, it's not called the silent killer for nothing.

 

[MichaelT]

But how long do you have the cooking rings on for vs heating with a dedicated flue?

Could be hours if cooking a stew, as I said not ideal but no more risk than cooking dinner. Hopefully Nanniemate will sort it soon.

 

[Peavy]

Something similar here.
New year's eve we went down, at least, to -5°C and our Truma triggered E516H while we were sleeping (gas not reaching the burner). We did lost all the water because we reached 4°C inside (we have a very warm bed duvet) and I only woke up when I heard water being dropped. After a while, we did reset the valve, but, of course, the fresh water supply in the municipal area was frozen. A very friendly gas station worker, did let us top up with water, we fired the heating, no more errors.
We've been in cold Spain before, but never that cold. My guess is that the poor propane mix we use here is to blame this time.
Problem is not easy to avoid, we should put some heating in the bottle or the regulator.

 

[ivorantony]

Bit cold here in Suffolk.
Diesel heater pump gave up the other day (new one coming today with luck) woke this morning and EHU outage so no heating at all!

What pump is that if I may ask? Chinese/ German/Russian,

 

[Shrimp]

Chinese, been working for several years now without any hiccups!

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[EuroTrotters]

Where in Spain are you ?

 

[jumar]

The specific gravity of Carbon Monoxide is 0.9657 (with normal air being 1.0), this means that it will float up towards the ceiling because it is lighter than Air....
The reason for ventilation in floors is to allow cooler air to enter a van or to allow LPG to dump outside in the event of a leak...CO will not dump outside...

 

[Gellyneck]

Could be hours if cooking a stew, as I said not ideal but no more risk than cooking dinner. Hopefully Nanniemate will sort it soon.

If we were cooking stew, which we will be doing at home today, we'd have a window open for ventilation to allow fresh air in and steam out. Extractor fan will be going, as well.

We've always got the kitchen window in the motorhome open a crack to reduce condensation even when we're not cooking!

 

[Markman]

Could be hours if cooking a stew, as I said not ideal but no more risk than cooking dinner. Hopefully Nanniemate will sort it soon.

Do a risk assessment to using an open gas flame:

• positives: consequence - keeps you warm, probability - 100%
• negative: consequence - death due to CO poisoning, probability - depends on natural venting in van so odds between very low and medium but definitely not zero and a lot higher than driving, flying, bungy jumping, sky diving, etc

For me , I'm not keen on Russian Roulette so would rather leave the van and sleep in a hotel than risk death due to CO from sleeping with the gas on.

If you do take the risk PLEASE do go out and buy a CO detector TODAY (€10-20 in UK from Srewfix, Argos, B&Q type stores).

With a detector, the consequence stays the same (death) but the probability drops because it may go off and wake you up before the CO kills you.

 

[Lenny HB]

Knowing you have a new regulator I suspect it's down to a high butane content of the gas probably 65%.
Although butane can gas off down to 0° it starts reducing around 10° also butane has difficulty supplying the high flow rate a Combi boiler requires.

Your higher electrical draw is just the fan running faster to try to bring the temperature of the area up, on full blast it will draw 6 amps but it won't run flat out if the boiler is not that hot.

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