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Bottled gas and instantaneous water heating


BIG MAC

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Does anyone here have any experience of running a small hot water only multipoint type heater on Propane butane mix 'Big Bottles'..I am interested in finding out what the regs require in terms of bottle storage and if auto switchovers on tandem sets are permitted.
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Well obviously the bottles would be outside so the propane/butane business isn't an issue..... Only fixed piping (i.e. copper) allowed inside with a auto-cutoff detendeur thingy mounted by the installation...  Respect the ventilation requirements.....   As for the auto switchover assemblies.. well they are available in the bricos, and I've seen them on multiple bottles outside campsite toilet blocks here in France, so I can't imagine there's a problem with them.

p        

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Cheers Gyn . I am thinking that rather than waiting for the Ballon to heat up (we isolate our electrics when not there) I like the idea of being able to run a bath or shower when we get in after the long drive and electric showers are non starters on limited French supplies,
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That's exactly the reason we had a multi-point in our 1st house. 3-hour drive+6 hour ferry+2-1/2 drive= desperate need for a long hot shower. NOW!

I picked up a 2nd-hand Leblanc in a Depot Vent for about £40 (we are talking back in the dark ages) which delivered about 13-15 litres/minute. ample for a shower, but a bit on the slow side for a bath.

The only problem was that the pilot light thermocouple would sometimes be reluctant to work having been switched off for perhaps 3 months (cannot think of a single reason why - it just was).

You, I suspect, would have attacked this problem with the same solution as I did : forget the Piezo spark, hand me the blow-torch. A 10-second blast soon showed it the way.

p.

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Ze Germans who lived here before I did had fitted one of these.

Two of the largest type of propane tanks in a cupboard in the bathroom, a manual changeover valve between them, and everything connected with low pressure rubber hoses that was several years past its change-by date, no hose clips either.

Between that and the shockingly (literally) badly bodged electricity, I am surprised the place never went up in flames.

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[quote user="Gyn_Paul"]That's exactly the reason we had a multi-point in our 1st house. 3-hour drive+6 hour ferry+2-1/2 drive= desperate need for a long hot shower. NOW!

I picked up a 2nd-hand Leblanc in a Depot Vent for about £40 (we are talking back in the dark ages) which delivered about 13-15 litres/minute. ample for a shower, but a bit on the slow side for a bath.

The only problem was that the pilot light thermocouple would sometimes be reluctant to work having been switched off for perhaps 3 months (cannot think of a single reason why - it just was).

You, I suspect, would have attacked this problem with the same solution as I did : forget the Piezo spark, hand me the blow-torch. A 10-second blast soon showed it the way.

p.

[/quote]

It always seems to be the thermocouple when these things  do not fire up straight away..... I now keep a spare one to hand . The universal ones are less than £4 in the U K  and the one I had to buy in France was 15  euros ... I know ........they saw me coming  ! 

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