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.
. 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. PhilA 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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Phil
