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Just looking through the BCF catalogue and noticed gas heaters . LPG heater $140. Gasmate Butane $100.& a propane heater $130. I thought they were not allowed in vans/MH's ??

Only if you get court or before we had diesel heating we used it all the time for a couple of hours a night

So whats the difference between Butane, Propane and LPG ? I thought these heaters were banned after a few deaths

Oxygen reduction and carbon monoxide poisoning was the reasons for open flame gas heaters being illegal inside a premises. The use of a gas stove in a caravan is one of those borderline things that would not be legal if the idea was presented today, but because it has been the norm for so long there isn't a lot of push to make it illegal, the alternative is virtually impossible to implement in a smaller RV.
People still die from 3 way fridges in a tent as well as gas heaters, and quite a few have died because the left a window open with a generator running close by filling the RV with carbon monoxide. Common sense isn't very common, but it does help flush the gene pool when it isn't used

T1 Terry

Thank you Terry so now can you explain the differences between those 3 gasses I mentioned?

Dot wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:04 pm Thank you Terry so now can you explain the differences between those 3 gasses I mentioned?
So what's the difference between Butane, Propane and LPG ?

OK, butane has more thermal energy when burnt, boil off from the liquid state at approx. 0.5*C at sea level, propane is a cleaner burn and boils off from the liquid state at -42*C at sea level, LPG is the generic tern for liquefied petroleum gas and covers all of those type gasses, Autogas, the stuff at the fuel station bowser you put into a vehicle fuel gas tank can b a mix of anything, including the garbage products that catalytic cracking of crude oil produces when making diesel or petrol. There are a lot of those gases that liquefy under pressure and some require heating to around 70*C or higher to actually boil of from the liquid state. This garbage is the brown liquid tar sort of stuff that blocks jets, wrecks bottle gas regulators and fills up Autogas vehicle converters and also collects in the bottle of the LPG gas bottle if some wombat has filled the propane bottle with Autogas.

You can tell when a propane bottle has been filled with Autogas, when it's real cold outside, the flame on the stove starts to get smaller yet you can still hear liquid in the bottle and an ice coating starts to form on the lower section of the bottle. This is caused by the propane boiling off out of the liquid mix and pulling the temperature of the butane down below 0.5*C so it will not boil off until the liquid reaches better then 1*C, usually needs to be around 15*C for the boil off rate to be fast enough to support a good flame.
This is why the gas canister in the portable stove still has gas in it cause you can hear it when you shake the can, but the flame is very small or won't light at all. When you take the can out it is very cold, but if you heat it up it will supply gas again until it gets cold again. A cigarette lighter is the same, if it won't light, tuck it under your arm for a few minutes and it will work fine until it gets cold again.

Aren't you glad you asked?

T1 Terry

No not sorry Terry thanks. So which in your expert opinion would be the best of those gasses to be used in the heaters ??

Hold on....

A gas cooker in a motor home needs a gas compliance certificate signed off by an engineer. The engineer will check for correct ventilation which is permanently open. (ie cannot be closed)

My engineer did volume calculations and vent sizes to ensure the bus would circulate enough air.

This is very different from 'remembering' to open a window.

I've built 4 motor homes Jon .
Only needed one "engineer" on the civilian
That was for weight reduction...he never seen the vehicle..all done on the phone... plus bank details.
All different out side Victoria..
Bernie .

No electrical certificate required in Qld for a motor home.. don't know about house boats Bruce .
Gas certificate is required.
Bernie .