U Lounge Rear Gas issues

[Col Fawcett-Holme]

Just looking for any information/ideas from anyone with a rear U lounge setup.

I recently bought an 18-month-old T6.1 professionally converted by a well-established reputable company.

I took it in for its 2-year service and they recommended I have a habitation check which I thought was probably a good idea.

They came back with a report saying that the whole gas system did not meet current or previous regulations, namely:

Gas bottle shares its storage with electrical items and other sources of ignition
Gas bottle storage area isn't room-sealed, ie not in a sealed box
Wrong pipe from the gas hose connector to the gas appliance, it's an exterior LPG plastic pipe not copper
Hose can't be viewed due to running behind ply paneling
No test point on the regulator

They quoted nearly £600 to rectify these issues.

I basically have an LPG plastic pipe running from the gas hob behind the side panel, and where it comes out a rubber hose to the camping gas cylinder at the rear of the van with a drop vent. It does seem quite basic but I assumed all above board. Don't want to spend another £600, but don't want something potentially dangerous either!

I spoke to the convertor who said the system was satisfactory, that it had a gas installation certificate (which it does), and that they had built over 2000 vans so clearly there wasn't an issue with their setup.

Being a u lounge there does not appear to be room under the rear seats to fit a sealed cupboard that could be easily accessed for removal/changing the bottle.

Just a bit confused as to why a well-established convertor, with excellent reviews and a long waiting list, would fit a non-compliant gas system and how a well-established independent caravan servicing company would issue a gas check sheet for campervans showing everything as passed if it was so obviously not compliant.

If anyone has a u setup in the rear I'd be interested to know what setup you have. I'm not going to mention the company at this stage as I'm a bit confused over the whole issue.

 

[Deaky]

Habitation checks are more applicable to motorhomes than camper vans.

 

[Bigsidavies]

It’s up to you whether you want to live with it. I have u-shaped seating but my gas bottle is under the sink. Mine is a twin slider so the gas bottle is in a plywood box that is open at the back so accessible to the drivers side slider with a drop vent within. I’m happy with that although I keep saying I’m going to put a panel over with 4 screws to make it pretty well sealed.
It is plumbed in as per regs. ie it has one continuous gas pipe that runs from the hob into a bulkhead regulator mounted inside the gas box. There is then a rubber pig tail from the reg to the bottle. It was fitted by a gas-safe registered person who is a good mate.
Many ‘pro’ conversions just run a rubber gas hose from the appliance to the gas bottle with a snap on regulator on the bottle.
Maybe look at boxing in your bottle yourself with some ply and silicon the joints.

 

[Col Fawcett-Holme]

It’s up to you whether you want to live with it. I have u-shaped seating but my gas bottle is under the sink. Mine is a twin slider so the gas bottle is in a plywood box that is open at the back so accessible to the drivers side slider with a drop vent within. I’m happy with that although I keep saying I’m going to put a panel over with 4 screws to make it pretty well sealed.
It is plumbed in as per regs. ie it has one continuous gas pipe that runs from the hob into a bulkhead regulator mounted inside the gas box. There is then a rubber pig tail from the reg to the bottle. It was fitted by a gas-safe registered person who is a good mate.
Many ‘pro’ conversions just run a rubber gas hose from the appliance to the gas bottle with a snap on regulator on the bottle.
Maybe look at boxing in your bottle yourself with some ply and silicon the joints.

The logical place would be under the sink but that loses precious storage space and is inaccessible when the bed is down, where at least at the rear it the regulator can be turned off and on even with the bed made. I spoke to gas safe engineer today who fitted the system and put his name to the certificate and he said he was perfectly happy the system was safe. I might get the jigsaw out though and fashion a storage box to give some albeit limited extra protection in the event of a gas leak.