Butane to Propane conversion success! Stove burns 'em both just fine

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

You couldn't get a gravity fill in the UK, Germany, France, Finland, etc. to save your life. It's against about 17,000 pages of EU safety regulations. .

You can if you do it yourself

Have the swapover kit & blag an empty local bottle for a day, kettle of hot water over the top bottle now and again can speed things up if it's cold.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by conachair

You can if you do it yourself

Have the swapover kit & blag an empty local bottle for a day, kettle of hot water over the top bottle now and again can speed things up if it's cold.

Ha, ha. Thanks for the tip.

I do have the swapover kit -- a mega assortment of boat gas fittings and adapters from around the world, left on my boat by mistake by a friend setting off on a circumnav and subsequently gifted to me.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

You couldn't get a gravity fill in the UK, Germany, France, Finland, etc. to save your life. It's against about 17,000 pages of EU safety regulations. Bizarrely, it's done routinely in Sweden, of all places, and I have availed myself of this very useful service, which avoids having to change your bottles for yet another proprietary national type.

I've no idea if what we did was officially approved or not, DH! We simply bought a local swap bottle, hung it from a tree and waited while nature did her thing and then returned the mt bottle and got our deposit back. Did it in French Polynesia, Vanuatu and the Solomons that I can remember offhand, possibly elsewhere.

Never occurred to me that it could be done officially!

Jim

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I've no idea if what we did was officially approved or not, DH! We simply bought a local swap bottle, hung it from a tree and waited while nature did her thing and then returned the mt bottle and got our deposit back. Did it in French Polynesia, Vanuatu and the Solomons that I can remember offhand, possibly elsewhere.

Never occurred to me that it could be done officially!

Jim

You are clearly more creative than I am

[IslandHopper]

Watch us gravity fill our propane tank (with butane) in paradise. SV Estrellita 5.10b

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQN6EGLwTxQ

[pjatock]

this Goz regulator that came with my van probably has a 21mm female connection. (I measured 20mm but the standard Calor butane tank apparently has a 21mm valve.)

even though the seller of my van told me it took a camping gaz R907 which is supposed to have a M16x1.5 fitting.

man, confusing....

[imacad]

perfect timing of this thread as I'm assessing a EU boat.


i did find this adapter for butane to propane converter.


if everyone is correct that only thing that needs conversion is the connector, this is the easiest conversion.

[GrowleyMonster]

Wow... glad I cook on diesel! Gas is confusing and complicated!

[john61ct]

Note that adapter is not specifically "butane" or "propane" anything.

Just adapts the physical fitting connector / thread types.

Can be used for either type of gas still.

The regulator is the other key, an adjustable one in the right range is best.

[Cloroxbottle]

So here's what I did:

(1) Removed the original butane bottle, butane regulator, and hose which was attached to the regulator and barb with clamps.

(2) Put in a propane bottle, threaded propane regulator that screwed on to the bottle, and a new hose that screwed in to the regulator with loctite.

(3) Used a hose cutter to cut the fitting off the other end of the hose and attached it to the barb with the clamps from the former installation.

Haven't touched anything from the barb to the stove, or the stove.

Any thoughts?

The bottom of the bottle fits the locker very nicely, but there is still some wobble if you sideload the top so I'd like to come up with something to secure the top of the bottle.

[Cloroxbottle]

So I finally gave it a try today. A leak tester showed no leaks. It indicated gas flow with he burner on. But can’t get any of the burners to light. Ideas?

[hellosailor]

"A leak tester showed no leaks. It indicated gas flow with he burner on."
Sounds like you used a pressure tester.
Regardless, if the pressure is going down with the burner on, there has to be gas moving someplace. I'd suggest a spray bottle with soapy water, or brushing soapy water all along the gas lines (good excuse to clean them) and around the burner jets as well.
Wherever the gas is coming out, it will blow bubbles. Find out if it is coming out the burner jets, or if you replaced those, perhaps it is getting out internally.

[donradcliffe]

Clorox, it would have been more kosher if you had adapted the hose fitting to whatever screw threaded pipe fitting was coming into the locker, but the hose clamps are on the low pressure side of the regulator and I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I would be more concerned about the fact that there is no remotely operated solenoid in the line.

Don't know what you are using for a leak tester, but most common is a pressure gauge between the tank and the regulator. You pressurize the system by cracking the tank valve, then close the tank valve. There should be no measurable pressure loss for at least 20 minutes. If you then turn on a burner, there should be a rapid pressure loss.

Once that test is sucessful, open the tank valve, then turn on a burner and try to light it with a BBQ lighter. It may take up to a minute for the gas to flush out the air in the lines, but you should see the air blowing on the lighter flame for a while, then the burner should light.

The next test is If the stove has a piezoelectric igniter, turn the burner off and try to light it with the igniter. You should hear sparking , and the burner should light. If not, turn off the burner and look closely to see if you see a spark near the burner. Sometimes the fix is to replace the battery in the igniter, and sometimes its just easier to use the BBQ lighter.

[Bill Seal]

Originally Posted by Cloroxbottle

So here's what I did:

(1) Removed the original butane bottle, butane regulator, and hose which was attached to the regulator and barb with clamps.

(2) Put in a propane bottle, threaded propane regulator that screwed on to the bottle, and a new hose that screwed in to the regulator with loctite.

(3) Used a hose cutter to cut the fitting off the other end of the hose and attached it to the barb with the clamps from the former installation.

Haven't touched anything from the barb to the stove, or the stove.

Any thoughts?

The bottom of the bottle fits the locker very nicely, but there is still some wobble if you sideload the top so I'd like to come up with something to secure the top of the bottle.

You have done it the only safe way. Get down to low pressure immediately after the bottle.
One advantage of tank exchange, like Blue Rhino, is they don't care about tank expiration date. It's only about 15 bucks at WalMart.
Sometimes, the excess flow valve activates when first connecting a new tank, just turn the tank off and back on.

[Cloroxbottle]

Originally Posted by Bill Seal

Sometimes, the excess flow valve activates when first connecting a new tank, just turn the tank off and back on.

This must have been it...works fine now. As far as the barb and the solenoid, the boat is old and European enough that it had no solenoid. I chose the route to result in the minimum amount of disruption to the existing system.