Servicing propane regulators

[Kent]

I will repair and fix most things but others were I have to comply with regs or liability issues nah! Especially when you consider time fixing gas regulators ain't a goer

In truth if I was stranded miles from anywhere with a broken aircraft I should have a go at fixing it
But I don't know a great deal about them and it isn't about cost effective then lol

 

[Jim Davey]

Having seen a wide range of regs, torches and hoses badly modified or repaired and some of the results of such things, I'd advise anyone not to give it a go.

 

[MattF]

Having seen a wide range of regs, torches and hoses badly modified or repaired and some of the results of such things, I'd advise anyone not to give it a go.

Fair & sound advice Jim. I can fair imagine some of the stuff you must've seen over the years.

Just been rooting through the storage area, (read that as being a cronky old shed where stuff just gets put out of sight ), and found another bottle with an adjustable reg on in there, (thought I had one somewhere). That one has a pressure gauge attached to it, just a standard PSI scale gauge. Are those different from air ones internally, or would a bog standard gauge designed for an air system work okay as a replacement? The gauge currently on it has seen better days.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I'm a scaredy-cat , but when it comes to fixing anything which might kill or set fire to me, I'd buy a new one, esp when propane regs are relatively cheap.

Not knocking Matt's 'have a go' approach, I do a lot of 'can I fix this' 'investigations', but......

 

[MattF]

I'm a scaredy-cat , but when it comes to fixing anything which might kill or set fire to me, I'd buy a new one, esp when propane regs are relatively cheap.

Not knocking Matt's 'have a go' approach, I do a lot of 'can I fix this' 'investigations', but......

Believe me, I'm more than cautious around anything gas related myself. That's why I've only now actually got hold of any propane gear again. I've spent years trying to find workarounds so that I didn't have to have any gas gear knocking about.

Saying that though, I can't see approaching something like this with a healthy dose of caution and attention to detail being detrimental. End of the day, each job is as dangerous as we make it. Attention to detail and relevant specifics should make a sound repair/service feasible in some cases. If something's knacked or dangerous, then obviously common sense says to bin it. I'm just as averse to killing or maiming myself as anybody else with an ounce of gumption, but conversely if we never did owt which had a potential ounce of danger about it, we'd rarely do owt.

 

[MattF]

On a slight tangent, does anyone use Calor gas? Just wondered if their stockists worked on the same exchange setup as is listed on the Calor website? Just been digging through to see what Calor bottles I have, and I appear to have a 15kg butane one, so according to their site, I should be able to exchange that for a 13kg propane bottle at a stockist?

 

[winchman]

On a slight tangent, does anyone use Calor gas? Just wondered if their stockists worked on the same exchange setup as is listed on the Calor website? Just been digging through to see what Calor bottles I have, and I appear to have a 15kg butane one, so according to their site, I should be able to exchange that for a 13kg propane bottle at a stockist?

They have groups of bottles, you can change within a group but not from one size group to another, occasionally a retailer will swap for the wrong size as some times people just dump bottles out side so they have spares.

 

[winchman]

I have a good few years engineering experience but as I hold no bit of paper to prove I am competent to work on gas I do nothing bar a hose and clip change on a camping stove ets. If something did go wrong its just not worth it

 

[MattF]

I have a good few years engineering experience but as I hold no bit of paper to prove I am competent to work on gas I do nothing bar a hose and clip change on a camping stove ets. If something did go wrong its just not worth it

Aye, if it was for someone else, I wouldn't even entertain the notion. Due to me being the only person who'll be around them or using them, the worst case scenario is that the Darwin Awards get another nominee.

 

[Kent]

I have two butane gas bottles without a purpose
Might well try swsping for propane not that I realy need three propane but I have no great use of butane either

 

[MattF]

Never hurts to have spares. This is their group list with regards to what you can swap each around for.

https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/buying-gas-bottles/gas-refills-exchanges-returns

Just out of curiosity, does every size of propane bottle use the standard screw in type connector?

 

[winchman]

I think they are all the same apart from the Fork Lift Truck bottles.

 

[zx9]

I think they are all the same apart from the Fork Lift Truck bottles.

And the silly light weight patio heater / BBQ ones with the clip on fittings.

 

[MattF]

A photo for anyone who may be intending to make up some type of butane/propane ring burner at some point. I know this point has cropped up in one or two threads over the years, so a shot of the where they plonk the nozzle assembly. Just a standard nozzle as used in the torches, so easy enough to source. The bore seems a tad larger than the torch burner nozzles, (still well under 1mm by the looks of it though), so opening it up slightly might be required.

That burner ring has been derusted and given a quick coat of that wax paste. It's just freshened it up a tad from this:

to this:

I'm not expecting it to stay looking like that for long though, once it gets fired up.

Where that gap is underneath, below the nozzle, a sprung circular clip goes around that section of the body. I'm assuming to act as a basic air intake reg. It sits snugly between those two shoulders. You can see the clip in this photo:

That's not gone back on. Seems a bit of a cheap and cheerful method, so I'm going to try and spruce that idea up a tad.

I'm thinking this ring may end up being part of a soldering/brazing hearth, to help heat up any larger pieces.

 

[Jim Davey]

You will find that the circlip air restrictor valve works very well, no need to re-invent the wheel, just put it back on and use the thing.

 

[eSCHEn]

It'll be interesting to see what you end up with in terms of finish after burning.

 

[MattF]

You will find that the circlip air restrictor valve works very well, no need to re-invent the wheel, just put it back on and use the thing.

Where's your sense of adventure man? I was just thinking of making something a bit softer, and which is easier to grab/rotate for adjusting, if needs be. That circlip really does need some good, strong fingers to rotate it. I did put that circlip back on once, after doing it, and took it straight back off. Call it some type of OCD if you will, but that really would irk me leaving that on there.

It'll be interesting to see what you end up with in terms of finish after burning.

I'm more curious as to how long it'll take for the flames to burn out once the coating ignites. Good way of checking whether this paste will be any good for use on the stove though, which is one of the other uses I made it for. I'll soon find out whether I need to tweak the recipe or not.

 

[MattF]

I know this is pretty much one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions, but what type of runtime can you generally expect from say a 6kg and a 13kg propane bottle? Assuming that gas ring was the main source of consumption on a fixed regulator, to take any possible variables out of the mix.

 

[Jim Davey]

You would need the flow rate or consumption per hour to figure that out.
You could weigh the bottle and re weigh it after an hours use, subtract from the original bottle weight to work it out. 9,13 or 19kg bottle?

 

[MattF]

You would need the flow rate or consumption per hour to figure that out.
You could weigh the bottle and re weigh it after an hours use, subtract from the original bottle weight to work it out. 9,13 or 19kg bottle?

Cheers Jim. So it's pretty much going to be a suck-it-and-see scenario with the first bottle then? At the moment, I have the option of going with pretty much any size bottle. I have a couple of butanes, (7kg and 15kg), in the smaller sizes which I can swap over for propanes, (6kg and 13kg respectively), and then I have a 47kg propane which I could get exchanged for either a 19kg or 47kg, so I do have a decent selection to choose from. The smaller bottles could go inside the workshop, whereas the larger ones I'd probably end up housing outside and then running a hose into the workshop. Sounds like my best option would probably be to start with the smallest bottle, (easiest to weigh and takes up least room), and then gauge the best option from that?