Alichri Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 I am a complete DIY novice and have just bough a new house in Normandy. I have learned that most gas cookers in rural areas use bottled gas and when I go over next week I plan to buy a new one. Does anybody know if when I buy the new cooker will it come with a 'regualtor' to fit to the bottle or does this come seperately? If it does come seperately will I be able to fit it to the cooker myself or do you need a qualified engineer? Last question - is it better to use propane or butane, the bottle will be stored in the kitchen. ThanksAlichri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 The regulator does not come with the cooker. Regulators for butane and propane are different. As a complete novice get someone to fit up the system for you - gas is dangerous when you get it wrong. Butane in the kitchen is OK (some say), personally I hate the thought of a gas cylinder inside the house but others disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 You buy a 'detendeur' or distributor when you take out the rental on the gas bottle. In fact we bought ours at But when we bought the cooker.You pay a deposit on the bottle (returnable if you give up the contract) and a fill charge each time you take it back for a new one.We had to buy a detendeur and a tube. The fitting was very simple - push fit and jubilee clip. No need for an engineer unless you are totally hamfisted - I managed it!As to propane or butane I can never remember - but the person selling you the stove will tell you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 [quote user="powerdesal"]The regulator does not come with the cooker. Regulators for butane and propane are different. As a complete novice get someone to fit up the system for you - gas is dangerous when you get it wrong. Butane in the kitchen is OK (some say), personally I hate the thought of a gas cylinder inside the house but others disagree.[/quote]Our cooker has a little cupboard for the bottle - I don't think it's too much of a problem.That said, I saw a TV programme once in which the entrance test for the Pompiers was putting out a burning gsa bottle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 I know people have gas cylinders inside cupboards in kitchens all over rural France. I just dont like it !!!! Its a personal thing, I dont like primed bombs in my house either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Ach! With my cooking you're living dangerously anyway!Just to say - one tip - you turn off the gas via a screw valve on the top. Sometimes when you turn it back on again, no gas flows. You then get to change the bottle.Unless you know that there is a little reset button under the detendeur. Press it in and hear a little pssst! and away you go.That was the first tip I got from this forum, many, many years ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 If you're buying from somewhere like But or Darty they will usually set the cooker up and fit the bottle for you when they deliver the cooker, assuming you have the bottle. Gas, not nerve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 The hoses used to connect are marked with a date and must be changed regularly and it is worthwhile getting an auto-changeover valve which switches to a fresh cylinder when the first becomes empty.Make sure there is plenty of ventilation-particularly at floor level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 The most important thing in all this that people are overlooking is that the jets on the burners, grill and oven are different for butane and town gas so when you buy the cooker make sure that you have the right jets and get them changed by the shop if they are not for bottled gas, they are not that easy to change on some cookers.If you already have bottled gas in situ, all you need to do is plug the cooker into the existing pipe, the regulator etc is usually next to the bottle. If you are starting from scratch get a plumber in to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gastines Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Yes Ron's made the point ,Bottled gas jets are not the same as town gas jets. The supplier will normally change them for you,if you ask them, as both are normally supplied with the cooker. One point. We recently bought a double oven cooker from Connexion, the gas bottle is in the utility room and the supply tube had to come through a wall 1metre thick, into the kitchen. I had already put the tube in with jubilee clips to the old cooker but he said this was no longer permitted.I had to drill a larger hole through the wall [Try it ,it's quite good fun ] put a pipe through the wall and put the new heavier duty gas pipe with bolt on connection inside the larger pipe. Much safer.. A similar reg. applies in UK, if you put a gas pipe through a cavity wall it must be inside another copper pipe. The problem of a leak in a cavity wall can be quite exciting and explosive. For the sake of a few euros it pays to be safe rather than sorry.Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 We have just had to purchase another bottle for the cooker - it was around 24 euros and has lasted a year - we are only over a few weeks a year at present.We also have another bottle in the kitchen - this heats our gas water heater, so that's two bottles in the kitchen! The water heater had to be replaced as it was too old - our plumber neighbour turned it off and would not let us light it as he aid it was 'explosive'! It cost around 500 euros to refit a new one, including digging through a metre thick wall twice to lay a vent tube to the outside world.The system is eay, but having had caravans and a camper you get used to the gas bottle idea.keni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 If you do get a cooker with an attached cupboard then you HAVE to use butane: propane is only allowed outside the house.p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 I sometimes quiver a bit late at night thinking about the gas. We have a bottle in the cooker, three bottles in heaters and one in the BBQ. Plus spares in the utility room. In case of fire the house could conceivably make it to a geostationary orbit.But - no-one else seems very bothered!BTW - your plumber was right. A boy I taught, his wife and two kids were taken out by a malfunctioning heater. A terrible waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Anglia Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Dick: I just laughed out loud at your post. After smiling at the "quivering" bit, the geostationary orbit did it for me.Then I reached the bit about the family.............[:(]My first Grammar School French teacher was also killed by a malfunctioning gas appliance, so I never did get to tell her how much I appreciated what she did for us, and the love of the language she communicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Do they still have regulators that are screw fit or are they all 'clip on' now? I only mention it because the screw ones are a left handed thread and you can do yourself a mischief if trying to undo it the wrong way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Yes, they are a left-hand screw. Buy a special plastic spanner, ours is yellow, and be very rigorous about always putting it back somewhere you can find it easily (ours goes into the screwdriver rack in the utility). The nuts will not open easily with a spanner or pliers (without getting chewed up) as the proper spanner is designed to fit over little lugs on the nut. Being plastic it can't make sparks, and you can't overtighten and strip the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyphilpott Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Dick - the button tip posted years ago certainly saved my bacon! Not at all obvious and with my gas cylinder in the back of a dark cupboard even harder to spot.Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 A butane regulator has a female connector;a propane a male connector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 And viccy verccy on the cylinders [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Vive la Difference!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Difference between Propane and Butane:Propane has a lower freezing point and gives off less heat.Butane freezes at about zero degrees C but gives off more heat.All year caravanners normally use Propane in winter, when the temperature is likely to be low but switch back to Butane when it warms up.Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 [quote user="Jc"]A butane regulator has a female connector;a propane a male connector.[/quote]not in my part of France they're not: the cylinder tops are all the same p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I'm not sure - but then I'm not sure what we use...I just replace like with like.I thought that the difference was that one had a right-hand thread and the other left-hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Yes;the threads should also be different but there have been problems with some of the less responsible(and cheap) suppliers filling cylinders with the wrong gas.In the past;the regulators were set at different pressures but the latest ones are between the two settings and can be used for either(so it says in my instruction leaflet.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 [quote user="Dick Smith"]Buy a special plastic spanner, ours is yellow, and be very rigorous about always putting it back somewhere you can find it easily (ours goes into the screwdriver rack in the utility). The nuts will not open easily with a spanner or pliers (without getting chewed up) as the proper spanner is designed to fit over little lugs on the nut. Being plastic it can't make sparks, and you can't overtighten and strip the thread.[/quote]Well, there's a tip. For nigh on three years I have been doing the "struggle with expandable pliers" bit and I don't like it!Someone's going to tell me next that I can pick up one of these things in any supermarket, aren't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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