Gas Bottle Connections, Its all about convenience

Being away in their Caravan or Motorhome for most people is a leisure activity and anything that enhances the time spent away is great. 
There’s a few things that can be a bit of a pain that we all need to do and one of those is changing the gas cylinders.  Granted some people may not change that often depending on how much gas they use or where they store their vehicle.  But if you have to remove the bottle every time you go into storage or you use a lot of gas, fiddling around with the thin spanner to undo the bottle can be a right faff!

As a caravan engineer I see a lot of vehicles and what surprises me is how few people use a handwheel connection to their gas bottle.  This type of connection replaces the big nut with a wheel that can easily be turned by hand, there's also a special rubber tip that goes into the gas bottle to make a good seal.  

Judging by the damage on the big nut of some installations that I see its obvious that owners have struggled to tighten or loosen it.  I dread to think how many skinned knuckles there have been or how “blue” the air was.

Handwheel connections are slightly more expensive but the extra convenience in my opinion is worth it.  Ask about having one fitted next time you speak to your caravan engineer.  They are available for both bottle and bulkhead regulator systems.
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Oh and just a final note on safety when you are connecting up, whichever type of connection you use, have a quick inspection of both the bottle and hose ends to make sure they are clean.  In the short clip below a small piece of grit was preventing a good seal and you can see the result even with the nut done up tight.  The bubbles are there as I’d sprayed the area with leak detection fluid to show the leak.

Bottle regulator with Handwheel.

Lpg Pigtail with Handwheel