My wife and I started caravanning 10 months ago with a used Avondale Argente. We were complete novices. To connect the gas we just pushed the rubber pipe onto the  gas pipe and switched on. The wife saw the new Elddis Xplore 540 model and fell in love with it. We bought it said goodbye to the Avondale.

We got the caravan home put the two gas bottles in the holders in the front locker but there was no pipe to push the rubber pipe onto. We read the manual but there was no mention about connecting gas bottles. What are we missing?

Phil & Glenis Stevenson

 

Doug says

Generally, new caravans are not supplied with the rubber hoses or ‘pigtails’ that connect the gas bottles to the rest of the gas system. The reason is that manufacturers don’t know what type of gas an owner will use and different ones are needed for different gas types. It is however, an item which a dealer supplies – at a cost – when the owner collects the caravan.

What does surprise me is that your dealer didn’t mention this to you when he was handing the ‘van over. Any dealer worth his salt will always takes the owner through the operation of all the caravan’s systems. From your email it seems obvious that yours did not.

You will need a pigtail and my advice is to opt for propane gas. This comes in a red cylinder or in BP Gas Light- rather than butane – blue cylinder. Butane will not ‘gas’ at below 1 degree C whereas propane will ‘gas’ down to -40 degrees C. And there’s no need to change to butane during the summer as you can still use propane at the temperatures found in southern Europe without any problem. It might be worth you downloading Calor’s Guide for Caravanners from here, to help you get your head around the basics.

 

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