Carrying LPG

[Chris Green90]

Hi Guys.

Not sure if this has been covered before. I seem to remember a thread about carrying petrol on the outside of a vehicle but can not remember anything about LPG.

I am in the planning stages for my storage system and camp kitchen in Pimp and am thinking that I would like to have the calor bottle (Probably 7kg butane) strapped to the back door where the number plate would be (will relocate number plate in front of bottle).

I have tried looking for the legalities of this but can not seem to find much and it seems kinda conflicting. I suspect it would be fine to do in the UK but imagine I may have issues on the Romania trip????

Any thoughts or advice would be great guys.

Thanks in advance

 

[mrdelmonti]

In my mind it's no different to having an lpg tank strapped under the vehicle.

 

[chadr]

Some LPG cars, especially 4X4s actually have the LPG tank inside the vehicle in the passenger compartment. So can't really see the difference.....

 

[Shayne]

On boats the gas bottle must not be enclosed so any leak can disperse without build up , I think you will find bloody great American motorhomes and the like have vented lockers on the outside of the vehicle (albeit flush) for the same reason . Connection leaks are the danger and believe me you will not blow a gas bottle no matter how hard you try . As kids we put a 15kg full gas bottle on top of a bombfire built 15ft high , i wouldn't blow , so we wasted half hour shooting it with black widow catapults and 22 air rifles still with no joy . Then my mate "borrowed" his brothers 12 gauge . 6 times we hit it and nothing . With the benefit of hindsight thank god it didn't blow , we were hiding behind grass maybe 30ft away stupid buggers

 

[Chris Green90]

Don't get me wrong I know these things are very robust and I personally wouldn't have any problem with strapping it to the outside, however, I am not the powers that be. Caravans have had them in front lockers for years and most motor homes have a thin sheet of tin to protect them from damage when stored in the side lockers.

I suppose the difference between a calor bottle mounted on the back and an LPG fuel tank is the fact that the tanks are under-slung so perhaps less likely to take the full brunt of an impact???

Perhaps a simple ally box to contain it would answer any fears of being pulled for it???

 

[Shayne]

What i mean is i think the laws (if any) are aimed at ventilation rather than anything else , suppliers use open top lorries to deliver and sellers store bottles in cages . I would do as you suggest and build a vented box which would likely prevent any questions to start with and if you were pulled .... "it's vented" even the worst little hitler won't want the work of investigating that obscurity of law .

 

[Shayne]

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?4194-Legal-requirement

 

[Towpack]

There's an interesting thread here http://www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=19187 regarding this issue. Haven't read all the links but maybe they'll provide some info. Elsewhere on the net found this http://www.ncass.org.uk/docs/defaul.../lpg-installation-in-trailers_v8.pdf?sfvrsn=0 which talks about trailers and vehicles modified for catering and says the external mounting of bottles should take into account damage from accident/impact and be in a vented, locked enclosure to prevent tampering. Note that the info is for 'guidance' so may not be law enforceable.

 

[Chris Green90]

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?4194-Legal-requirement

Any chance you could point me to the bit that is relevant mate. Unless I am reading it wrong I can't find anything.

There's an interesting thread here http://www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=19187 regarding this issue. Haven't read all the links but maybe they'll provide some info. Elsewhere on the net found this http://www.ncass.org.uk/docs/defaul.../lpg-installation-in-trailers_v8.pdf?sfvrsn=0 which talks about trailers and vehicles modified for catering and says the external mounting of bottles should take into account damage from accident/impact and be in a vented, locked enclosure to prevent tampering. Note that the info is for 'guidance' so may not be law enforceable.

Quite interesting reading there. I think that as far as the UK is concerned there should be no problem having the cylinder in a vented ally box with a sticker on it. Guess I just need to find out how the rest of Europe will react!

 

[Shayne]

I think this may be what your looking for but i haven't read it . Can't help wondering why you don't just bang it on the roof rack ?

http://www.hse.gov.uk/cdg/manual/exemptions.htm

 

[moggy1968]

LPG tanks are required to have sophisticated pressure valves I believe so they vent off in the event of an explosion hazard such as a fire.

gas bottles absolutely do explode, just ask the fire service!!

here's one vehicle based episode for your amusement!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6ZXOLbFD6M

 

[froggy Steve]

golly, some of those went off like rockets!

 

[Chas]

Round about the late sixties when I lived in Fulham (North of the river) I could see there was a huge fire going on miles away down South, so I drove over to have a look, it was in Western Rd, Colliers Wood six miles away. It must have been a storage depot for gas cylinders, when I got there it was like the Forth of July, cylinders were raining down from the sky all over the place the noise was tremendous. Great fun when you're a teenager.

 

[Ben]

LPG tanks are required to have sophisticated pressure valves I believe so they vent off in the event of an explosion hazard such as a fire.

gas bottles absolutely do explode, just ask the fire service!!

here's one vehicle based episode for your amusement!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6ZXOLbFD6M

Thats true and its the same with other flammable gas cylinders, they have little discs in the valves that melt at a certain temperature and then slowly release the gas.