Gyn_Paul Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Would anyone know where I can get hold of a MALE 21.8 left-hand thread fitting? It is exactly what is on a French gas bottle.I am installing a small gas kiln which comes with a regulator/controller which fits directly to a gas bottle, with the usual LH-thread capture nut connector. However the kiln is indoors, and I want to feed it with Propane, so direct connection is out of the question, so I need to be able to connect the regulator to a piece of copper pipe, thus the need for this item. Brico - NG. Proper Plumber's Merchant - also NG. - Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Cut up an old regulator? I wanted to adapt the regulator for my space heater to fit a French cylinder, there is a second hand and hardware store near me and they made up an adaptor comprising of two fittings swaged onto what looks like hydraulic hose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 [quote user="Chancer"]Cut up an old regulator? I wanted to adapt the regulator for my space heater to fit a French cylinder, there is a second hand and hardware store near me and they made up an adaptor comprising of two fittings swaged onto what looks like hydraulic hose.[/quote]Cut up a regulator and I'll end up with more of the same - It's the gas bottle's male thready bit I need, Chancer ! Has anyone ever tried to unscrew the tap off the top of an empty gas bottle? I've seen them used as wood burners, but they've always had the bottom cut off and a hole in the top for a flue pipe, so I suspect welding was involved ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 The left hand threads on the Calor Gas bottles are the same as the French bottles so it may well be possible to get what you want from Calor, or another U.K. gas supplier This is their contact https://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/contact-usI know this because I bought a 10lb bottle over and still use it occasionally along with Butagas bottles, using the same fittings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Has anyone ever tried to unscrew the tap off the top of an empty gas bottle? I've seen them used as wood burners, but they've always had the bottom cut off and a hole in the top for a flue pipe, so I suspect welding was involved ! Yes mant times! Make sure all the pressure is released first and do it outside! We remove the valves from our diving cylinders ever year to do the TIV inspections, I once saw a numpty with a mallet trying to remove the valve from a fully charged cylinder, luckily with 3000 PSI acting on its threads there was no way he would have succeeded but I did get worried when he wanted to change to a club hammer [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I was always taught, as a Boy Entrant learning to become an aircraft eleky, that one should never force anything, but one should use a bigger hammer. [8-|]So what's wrong with a club hammer [8-)][8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Breaking off the valve from a fully charged air cylinder usually leads to a few problems !I remember one such cylinder fired like a torpedo when it lost its valve, it went through a double skinned brick wall and (luckily) embedded itself in an earth bank outside the building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 One can picture Frank Whittle watching that and saying, " hmmmm.. now if you were to just put a pair of wings on that...." ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I remember at University when some Numpty (not me!) used grease on an Oxygen bottle. The resultant explosion sent the valve and bits of the bottle through the ceiling and the floor above. Astonishingly nobody was hurt!If you're going to play with an old gas bottle it might be worth filling it with water first lest you suddenly turn into red mist [:'(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Would it not be possible to put the bottle and regulator outside, and run a pipe for low pressure gas to the kiln? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Well yes it would, but that would mean I couldn't see the flame to adjust it. The 'regulator' is really just a tap with a pressure gauge and a HP hose to the burner. It's a high pressure burner like a butch version of one of those soldering sets which attach directly to the gas bottle.... and also if I did move it to the outside, I would want it to join the party after the twin bottle change-over set which terminates in a standard M20x150.paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 [quote user="Pierre ZFP"]I remember at University when some Numpty (not me!) used grease on an Oxygen bottle. The resultant explosion sent the valve and bits of the bottle through the ceiling and the floor above. Astonishingly nobody was hurt!If you're going to play with an old gas bottle it might be worth filling it with water first lest you suddenly turn into red mist [:'(] [/quote]I intend to put a hose on it into a bucket of water & washing-up liquid . I'll heat up the bottle slowly (that way I can flare off the bubbles of residual gas) then as it cools it will suck the water into the bottle. At least I will if it ever stops blowing a gale & raining! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Well that was less of a problem than I expected: at first, anyway.The tap came off a very elderly Butagaz bottle (circa1964) with a gert big wrench and a little gentle persuasion from a lump hammer (is it only Liverpudlians who call it 'a clod hammer'?). Turns out, under all that oxide and corrosion, the tap on a gas bottle is brass !Turns out also that whoever designed it had for his model the tap for hammering into a beer barrel or wine cask, because it's goes into the gas bottle on a similarly steep tapered thread, 20mm-ish. which - if you grind off the thread - fits inside a brass 22mm female to 3/4" thread fitting.Trying to braze the buggar is another matter, however! Before you can get the inside hot enough to melt the brazing rod, the outer part has gone through cherry red to slump, and bang goes the thread!Back to the drawing board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Does the tap still work after you have heated it to brazing temperature?Edited: Altered "your regulator" to "the tap" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Well it turns.... as long as it doesn't leak up the stem that's all I care about. But that's a consideration some distance down the line. I still have the problem of getting something gas-tight to 20 Bar afixed to the end that went in the bottle! It's currently adorned with a piece of turned brass (definitely NOT gas tight, even to a pressure of 1 diaphragm) which once had a male 3/4 thread on it. I have a sneaking feeling this is going to be Mk1 of a number of versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 I would do it with a first and second stage regulator, keep your existing one for the fine flame regulation and have one on the bottle but for a little higher pressure, that way you wont have to worry about the hose or the fitting to the gas bottle although I guess you will still have the problem with connecting to your existing regulator. I have just looked at my space heater set up, they have used a short length of high pressure hose to connect up to my BOC Saffire propane regulator, it was intended for a propane cutting torch, using that I can adjust the heat output of my space heater to what I want, it came with a fixed regulator which like yours would not fit onto a French bottle. If you can only find a fixed regulator for the bottle and its not a high enough pressure then if its an old one you can take it apart and shim the spring to get what you want, I didnt tell you though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 [quote user="Chancer"]I would do it with a first and second stage regulator, keep your existing one for the fine flame regulation and have one on the bottle but for a little higher pressure, that way you wont have to worry about the hose or the fitting to the gas bottle although I guess you will still have the problem with connecting to your existing regulator. I have just looked at my space heater set up, they have used a short length of high pressure hose to connect up to my BOC Saffire propane regulator, it was intended for a propane cutting torch, using that I can adjust the heat output of my space heater to what I want, it came with a fixed regulator which like yours would not fit onto a French bottle. If you can only find a fixed regulator for the bottle and its not a high enough pressure then if its an old one you can take it apart and shim the spring to get what you want, I didnt tell you though![/quote] PM'd you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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