Under Van Gas Cylinder - Is It Worth It?

H

Happy Trails

New Member
Hi All,
I went to get prices for some conversion work on my T26 Transporter, having arranged for the company to fit a new pop top and windows the discussion came around to other works. Originally I planned to have a diesel heater fitted. The conversion company suggested a underfloor gas refillable storage tank, gas heater and provide a connection externally for a gas BBQ or small gas 2 burner + grill. As I plan to fit a three seat rock and roll bed therefore space for kitchen units is very limited, and I seem to be stuck with a single burner hob and sink.

So my question is has anyone got this type of system fitted to their van? I thought at first this was a good idea but I have read stories that a number of garage selling LPG are not keen in me using the pumps as the refill point is under the van so to speak, I then found out that in France etc you need to have a certificate in French that proves the system has been installed and passed by a gas safe engineer.

Any comments would be great.
 
Hi @Happy Trails .
I have a propex underslung lpg tank.
I use this for running my cadac bbq and my propex auxiliary heating system. If I didn’t have the system supplying both of these, I don’t think i’d have it. It costs around £1200 to install and that is a lot of someother form of lpg disposable/refillable cylinder.
I have never had a problem refilling at an auto gas petrol station.
With regard to the point around France, i’ve never heard of this before.
Best advice is talk to Propex in Ringwood, as the fit these tanks daily to all manner of vans/campervans/motorhomes, so could well have heard about it previously.
Let us know how you get on as I am going to be driving in France in July.

A couple of other threads that may help:-

Underslung Gas Tank, Bbq Point And Fitting

Underslung LPG tanks
 
Hi,
I read the articles in a document called out and about I think it done by the motorhome club. Try searching on google for the topic of refillable gas cylinders and look for the article mentioned, it will be worth a read! I'm really not sure about the gas cylinder. We have had a quote to install the cylinder fit a propex gas heater, gas supply to a single burner hob and a BBQ point for around £1430, whereas the cost to fit a diesel heater is about £1000.. Sorry to bore you but with a rear seat @ 130cm it does not leave a lot of room for kitchen units, my wife is not keen on the units which end up behind the back of the drivers seat almost as wide so looking at a under bed drawer fridge and a single burner and sink which will only protrude about 500 mm behind the seat. Leaves me a bit stuffed for where to place the gas bottle in the van!!
Thanks for your comment I# will get in touch with this company you mentioned
John
 
Mmm, a bit of a head scratcher, keep the wife happy or fit what works best; good luck with that one. No advice we can give will ever resolve that predicament satisfactorily.
 
Well as the old saying goes "happy wife happy life" :smile bounce:btw I just been reading the posts you suggested really like the idea of the filling point below the indicators. I think if we go ahead I will show this to the guys doing the gas installation.
If you struggle to find the link to "out and about" let me know and I will post it online.
 
Happy wife, happy life seems to be the saying at the moment, aka Duke of Sussex :rofl:
 
I wondered about this when fitting out our camper van but we didn’t do it. I’m fairly happy though, as it turns out that simple 907 cylinders last absolutely ages for us.
 
Wallas XC Duo, combined Diesel cooker and heater.
Wallas | XC Duo | XC Duo | Easy and warm camper travelling
Many advantages over gas;
No explosive gas onboard.
No need to reduce water tank capacity or loose spare wheel to locate the gas tank.
Simple installation without need for a gas safety certificate.
No open flame, reduced fire hazard.
Runs on same fuel as van, economical and unlikely to run out.
No condensation in van from burning gas.
No carbon monoxide in van.
Combined thermostat controlled heater and cooker.
 
My TSI has an LPG onversion, and following some internet research, I concluded that I did need my certificate of conformance (or whatever it's called) for the installation if driving through Europe. I would expect the same to apply to any setup that is refilled externally (i.e. not based on exchanged bottles). It's worth noting that they use differant connectors in Europe, so you will need to carry adaptors if you expect to need to refill while there. I bought a set of 3 from Amazon, and needed 2 of them while driving through Holland, Germany & Austria.

With hindsight, and a bit of planning, I could have combined my LPG system with a heater instead of installing a seperate Webasto that uses the petrol (mine's a day van, so no kitchen). This might have been more efficient.
 
We have an underslung Propex gas cylinder feeding twin burner hob, oven and grill and the gas air blown heating. I thought it was quite common.
I have never had problems at a garage here when filling it, but can’t comment on France. The system works well. Except when I had a leak but that could happen to an internal bottle system. Our filler is underslung at the rear alongside a BBQ outlet that we have never used. It's all quite unobtrusive, so I wouldn't myself have the complexity of an 'indicator' filling point
I would have the same system fitted again which saves lots of hassle with exchanging bottles. Downside is that whilst we retain a spare wheel, I don't think that 4 wheel drive is also possible due to space constraints
 
Shaun Witts said:
My TSI has an LPG onversion, and following some internet research, I concluded that I did need my certificate of conformance (or whatever it's called) for the installation if driving through Europe. I would expect the same to apply to any setup that is refilled externally (i.e. not based on exchanged bottles). It's worth noting that they use differant connectors in Europe, so you will need to carry adaptors if you expect to need to refill while there. I bought a set of 3 from Amazon, and needed 2 of them while driving through Holland, Germany & Austria.

With hindsight, and a bit of planning, I could have combined my LPG system with a heater instead of installing a seperate Webasto that uses the petrol (mine's a day van, so no kitchen). This might have been more efficient.
Click to expand...


Di you have a link to the 3 connections, I don't want to get caught out.
 
I have the underslung tank forward which is fitted forward of the spare wheel. This services the BBQ point, blown hot air heating and 2 ring burner.

Never had an issue filling it, small issue with the heater(slow blow fuse went when the fan motor seized but 50p later it was sorted)

Propex at Ringwood did my install. I have changed the interior slightly and after modifying the pipework I had the system inspected by a gas engineer.
 
I have an underslung propex, I would say NO to your question. You have a T26 and with your set up, you are close to your weight limit when packed up. These are good I've had them before. Just choose the handiest size for you: Gaslow Refillable
 
I was going to go Gaslow as it is great but have decided on underslung. I do have a 4motion so will probably have to sacrifice my spare. However I didn't have a spare with the van and even fitting the holder is a farce so couldn't see me using it. There is a ~50 L tank that goes in the space but seems like overkill! Would rather maybe a 20L. Although I've already got a floor fitted with caravelle rails so don't really want it bolted to my immaculate floor.

Where does the tank that goes in the diff recess get bolted to? I was hoping it could get bolted the same but from the rear side?
 
boopzz said:
I was going to go Gaslow as it is great but have decided on underslung. I do have a 4motion so will probably have to sacrifice my spare. However I didn't have a spare with the van and even fitting the holder is a farce so couldn't see me using it. There is a ~50 L tank that goes in the space but seems like overkill! Would rather maybe a 20L. Although I've already got a floor fitted with caravelle rails so don't really want it bolted to my immaculate floor.

Where does the tank that goes in the diff recess get bolted to? I was hoping it could get bolted the same but from the rear side?
Click to expand...
did you ever get a LPG tank fired to your van as I also have a 4motion and looking to have the same done ?
 
Bynxy said:
did you ever get a LPG tank fired to your van as I also have a 4motion and looking to have the same done ?
Click to expand...
I did, I replied to your post. To stay on topic for the Ops post There does seem to be a reduction in LPG at fuel stations. We've used our van quite a bit the last few months and have loads of gas left. So not sure what the alternatives are to filling up if you can't get to an LPG station?
 
boopzz said:
I did, I replied to your post. To stay on topic for the Ops post There does seem to be a reduction in LPG at fuel stations. We've used our van quite a bit the last few months and have loads of gas left. So not sure what the alternatives are to filling up if you can't get to an LPG station?
Click to expand...
which one did you get ?
 
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