Gas underslung after 6 years.

Squiffy

Forum Member
Seeing as we can not use our van for it's intended purpose other than using the awning feature in the garden 😎👌. I thought that I would give it a going over, Brakes, water system and gas system. Well I've heard it mentioned on more than one site that you should always use sheathed gas pipe, and I on many occasion have mentioned that with sheathing you are vulnerable to cracked and leaking pipes which are then undetectable as to where the fracture is, my daughter had one such problem three or four years ago whilst we were on a rally, she was losing gas at a fast rate but no visible leak was discernable other than the bottle which was 3/4 full emptied over night and a heavy frost was over the regulator when I checked. It turned out to be a crack in the bend after going through the floor of the gas cupboard and onto re entry to the caravan manifold. I only found the leak after spraying some commercial leak detector over the regulator and pipe leading down through the gas cupboard and found copious bubbles seeping from around the pipe and plastic sheath, of course the only option was to methodically and boreing removal of the plastic sheath till I found the cracked bend, at this point I was able to cut the pipe join in another length and Bob's your Aunty, moral of this long story is plastic coating on RV gas pipe has been an absolute no no for me.
Back to my van inspection all gas pipe under my van after almost six years shows not the slightest degrade of the copper pipe which rather blows out of the water all the doom sayers that bare copper pipe is dangerous under the vehicle, I feel that it is infact the opposite that is true, and my underslung gas tank (25Ltr) shows marginal signs of surface rust that does not put me into a parallax spin as a quick rub down and repeat of anti chip underseal will keep it going for another 6 years I'm sure. Funny isn't it that if you have read this far your as bored as I am.😎 enjoy the sun while we can. Phil

A pps to this thread is that as well as bubbles coming from under the gas cupboard bend end small bubbles were also coming from between the coating and the pipe inside the caravan by the gas manifold valves, this went to show that not only would the crack in the bend be visible and easily found with bare copper pipe but the gas would not have found it's way into the caravan interior, the more I thought about it the more I realised my daughter and her young family had a very very close escape.
 
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Squiffy

Forum Member
Who did that or did you DIY it ?
I did it myself Raw, I'm lucky enough I suppose to have done all my own work in and around my home and commercial garage for the last 40 odd years unless of course it was a legal requirement because of my employees, I think it was only recently that I had builders in to replace the wooden floor in our lounge with a concrete one and that was only really because the wife felt it would be physically too much for me ( Between you and me I'mglad Ididn'ttake it on). Over the years we must have saved a fortune in so called professional repairs and mods. Most work undertaken is really down to believing you can do it and if you are not sure dont, especially if your dealing with gas and electricity, but in the last forty years I have become proficient in most things and have yet to blow myself up or caused major damage 😄 Phil
 

Squiffy

Forum Member
Hey Phil ( @Squiffy )

Do you have plans for the Underslung Gas Tank and what vehicle was it on ?

Many thanks
Robert
Robert, at the time I bought the kit from Autogas 2000 along with stainless steel mounting kit, this was for a 2014-15 xlwb Ducato, thought I believe the kit is the same for mid and swb but is slightly different for 2015 on. I still have the instructions in my shed I think so if you want them I'll dig them out it's not rocket science as the saying goes just attention to detail and good checking of the installation once done, some of the fitting such as the fill point is left pretty much down to you as there are several ways of fitting it I.e. through the van wall or cill mounted ect. This is also fairly self explanatory but if you require assistance those of us that have fitted them can give you the heads up.
 

RAW

Forum Member
Robert, at the time I bought the kit from Autogas 2000 along with stainless steel mounting kit, this was for a 2014-15 xlwb Ducato, thought I believe the kit is the same for mid and swb but is slightly different for 2015 on. I still have the instructions in my shed I think so if you want them I'll dig them out it's not rocket science as the saying goes just attention to detail and good checking of the installation once done, some of the fitting such as the fill point is left pretty much down to you as there are several ways of fitting it I.e. through the van wall or cill mounted ect. This is also fairly self explanatory but if you require assistance those of us that have fitted them can give you the heads up.
Interesting, thanks I had a look at the Autogas site but could only find tanks and no fitting kits so I have contacted them
 

Squiffy

Forum Member
Interesting, thanks I had a look at the Autogas site but could only find tanks and no fitting kits so I have contacted them
I seem to remember that the fitting kits and picture gallery of tank fitting was hidden in an area on their website that wasn't at all obvious, it took me a couple of tries to find it. Phil
 

Squiffy

Forum Member
@Squiffy - Thanks I was looking at

Might be an interesting job for me and mechanical son to do, don't have a lift though but quite friendly with Mechanic so I might be able to use his.
I had retired and sold the garage when I built this one, I managed on the ground by running the front wheels up on ramps and jacking up the rear onto axle stands, it was tight and uncomfortable at times but was fairly easy, I also fitted the waste and fresh water tanks at the same time. Phil.
 

trevskoda

Forum Member
No use stone guard unless its shotblased and painted proper first as there red coating will be on blue scale steel and will let go.
Drives me mad that so many co make things well only to do a crap paint job on there product.
 

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