Wanted - Recommendations for Calor Gas Leak Fix

[cookwatty]

My van has developed a gas leak which I've failed to track down and repair. There's only a T junction taking gas to the gas rings and the fridge and a separate cut off valve for the fridge which is attached to the fridge pipe with a compression joint. I've tried loosening off all the joints and retightening with the appropriate paste on the joints, but to no avail.

Can anyone recommend anywhere that could diagnose and fix the problem in the South East London area? I'm in SE22.

[AngeloEvs]

If no luck with a recommendation try yellow pages, a lot of caravan dealers will have gas services, or even ring a few local gas fitters. You could in the meantime brush soapy water on all of the joints, pipes, gas hoses to establish the source or buy a can of leak detector (same thing but in a handy can). The flexible hoses perish and worth inspecting for visible signs. If the leak is at a rigid pipe union then new olives should be used rather than paste.

[T-3PO]

If the leak is at a rigid pipe union then new olives should be used rather than paste.

Ditto that!!

Had problems with mine and no matter what I used or how tight I did the connections up it still stank of gas ... spent about 50p on a few new olives and problem solved!

[cookwatty]

Thanks for the replies.

My next question is... How do you get old olives off the pipe. The old one won't budge. Do you have to take a hack saw to it?

[AngeloEvs]

NO!, No!......never use a hacksaw but get a proper pipe cutter from any hardware shope or B&Q, etc. They are so cheap and cut/chamfer the edge at the same time without distorting the end. If you haven't ever seen one they are quite small and have a circular cutting blade, simply tighten it around the pipe and twist the cutter aound the pipe, every so often you will need to adjust the thumbwheel to increase the cut depth......simple to use and can be used on a wide range of copper pipes, plastic water hoses/pipes, etc. Useful to have .......

[bigherb]

As above and check the pipes if they touch anywhere it's not unknow after 20+ years of vibration to wear a hole in the pipe.

[kentishvanman]

Hi,
I was informed, by them that know, that soapy water is corrosive so should not be used.
I am not far away from you, Sevenoaks/Tonbridge and have pipe cutter, bending tool and leak detection fluid and some knowledge at your disposal. So if you fancy a drive down here----------
Don

[grumpyoldgit]

If you are still using rubber tubing like me, you need to be aware that it has a limited shelf life. The year of manufacture is printed on the tubing along with other information.
I needed my fridge to be serviced and the caravan agent I took it to would not do it in situ as the regs say that there should be proper copper piping throughout. That was going to cost me about £300 before they even looked at the fridge.
The solution was for me to remove the fridge and take it to them in the boot of my car.
The tubing is attached to the built in y pieces with metal bands which tighten with a screwdriver. I am not sure if that is what yiou mean by olives. I'm not technically minded so do not know what they are called.
The fridge came back with new rubber tubing dated 2009. My older tubing is dated 2002. Not sure when it aught to be replaced though.

[The Bobdogs]

Thanks for the replies.

My next question is... How do you get old olives off the pipe. The old one won't budge. Do you have to take a hack saw to it?

Very carefully cut through the olive with a hacksaw to the point where you are almost through, then open the olive out with a screwdriver blade. Old olive will now slide off allowing you to fit a new one. If you cut the old ones off with a pipe slice all the pipework will be too short to reconnect!!
Just do it slowly and carefully.

[kentishvanman]

Hi,
Ref rubber tubing. When I was installing a new fridge in my van it became obvious to me that using a length of rubber hose to connect the fridge to the coppper pipework would make life easier when pulling the fridge out for servicing. All the books, all the experts and the fridge manufacturer said that you must not use rubber hose in the system, except to connect to the gas bottles. Nobody was able to tell me which regulation covered this fact but interestingly Calor Gas said you can use rubber. It is often used in the marine world to connect appliances and I would have thought that Calor Gas know a little about lpg. So I used a short section of hose to connect up.
I think I am correct in saying that rubber hose has a life of 5 years, hence the date stamp. I change mine every 3yrs.
Don

[cookwatty]

Hi,
I was informed, by them that know, that soapy water is corrosive so should not be used.
I am not far away from you, Sevenoaks/Tonbridge and have pipe cutter, bending tool and leak detection fluid and some knowledge at your disposal. So if you fancy a drive down here----------
Don

Thought I had this problem licked by replacing/tightening jubilee clips, but after a recent trip am convinced there is still a leak. Kentishvanman, is the offer to help diagnose the problem still open if I pop down to Sevenoaks? It would be much appreciated.

Mike