Cooking on gas

Most campervans use gas to power the hob, and also the fridge and heating system in larger ’vans (smaller ’vans will have a compressor fridge that runs off the leisure battery, and diesel heating) and most of these have a gas cylinder locker. If you’re worried about replacing a gas cylinder, do a dry run by removing and refitting your existing gas bottle so you know the procedure. The cylinder colour denotes what it contains: blue is butane, orange is propane.

Your campervan will be set up to use one of these gas types and will have a regulator to match that bottle type – you can’t mix them up, as a propane regulator doesn’t fit a butane bottle and vice versa. The regulator sets the pressure at which the gas is supplied to all your appliances and, if you want to swap from propane to butane (or vice versa), you will also need to swap the regulator to match. Regulators come in different pressures to suit different campervans – so leave this to your dealer. In general, any work on your gas system – other than replacing cylinders – should only be carried out by a Gas Safe-registered engineer. Replacing the cylinder involves switching it off first (if it doesn’t have a shut-off tap, it may be built into the clip-off regulator), and, in the case of propane, unscrewing the hose fitting attached to the gas bottle. You can buy a dedicated propane cylinder spanner (keep it in your gas locker) or use a large adjustable spanner. Note that propane cylinders use a reverse thread (so not the usual righty tighty and lefty loosey!).

With the cylinder detached from the hose, remove it from the ’van and strap a new cylinder in place. Then reattach the hose, either by clipping on the regulator, or by screwing on the butane fitting. Make sure the fitting is tight before opening the gas valve on the cylinder. When you are driving, the gas cylinder should always be switched off, unless it has a crash-safe regulator.