Motorcaravans use gas to do several jobs when on tour. Much like at home, gas is used for cooking and heating and when away from a hook-up point, it’s an effective way of running your fridge. Most systems are pretty simple, but knowing your way around some basic safety checks and the different gases on offer can help keep your feet warm and your food cold when you are away on tour.

System basics
The gas system in any motorhome consists of three or four major components (see diagram, opposite).
The gas reservoir is the first bit, taking the form of a fixed tank or, much more commonly, exchange cylinders supplied by the likes of Calor Gas UK or Campingaz . This is connected to a regulator, which ensures that the gas is supplied at a constant pressure, to ensure consistent operation of appliances.
The regulator sits on the end of a length of flexible gas hose and this hose is typically joined to the fixed copper gas pipes by an isolator tap. This allows the gas bottle, hose and regulator to be isolated from the rest of the system for safety and servicing.
Fixed copper pipes run to each individual appliance from the gas locker, but each appliance is protected by a further isolator tap, so that if any develop a fault, they can be switched off individually and the rest can still be operated. While owners can inspect regulators, flexible hoses and cut-offs for correct operation, gas bottles, tanks and appliances should only be serviced by engineers.

Gas types and suppliers
You can flow gas into your motorhome in two main ways: by carrying gas bottles in the traditional way, or by using a refillable gas tank.
Gas bottles are by far the most common method. Many petrol station forecourts offer exchange of the popular Calor Gas cylinders, which have the UK market pretty much cornered. These cylinders come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes but there are two which are seen regularly in motorhome lockers: butane and propane. To avoid confusion, they are supplied in different coloured bottles.
The easy way to remember which colour inidicates which gas is in the name: ‘Blue-tane’ is found in blue bottles, so propane must be the red cylinders. Appliances in motorhomes are designed to run on either gas so technically you can use either.
If you are touring in cold weather, Propane is the only option because Butane turns from a gas into a liquid at temperatures around freezing point (32° F/0° C).
If switching between the two types of gas, the regulators need to be swapped as well. If you are touring on the Continent, Calor Gas is not available so you’ll need to swap to CampingGaz. This needs a different regulator again, but more of a problem is the fact that the largest cylinders are very small (less than half the size of the popular Calor 6kg propane cylinder) and they are only supplied filled with Butane – and that’s a problem if you are winter camping.
In this case, you can switch to a Continental gas system by swapping regulators and buying a new bottle, or opting for a refillable system.
Fixed refillable tanks are mainly seen on larger ’vans. They are designed to be filled at LPG (Autogas) filling stations, so you can fill up cheaply and don’t need to worry about finding compatible bottle types on the Continent.

 • The above is an extract from an article published in the September 2005 issue of Practical Motorhome magazine. The full article goes on to cover: Gas types and suppliers, Safety Checks, Monitoring how full.

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