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LPG leak ?


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Hi all.

 

I have a slight problem with the LPG line son my boat. I fitted over a year ago and was all well until last week and now i have all three lines leaking. I have redone a few joints as they seemed a little to tight when i tried to nip them up. I am using the leak detector on all joints and find nothing at all.

 

If i dont turn on any of the taps there are no bubbles showing in the tester. If i open one tap at a time then bubbles show and obviously if i open all taps together. 

 

I am lost now what can be the problem and i am thinking of the bubble tester is faulty now, Although there are no bubbles when taps are off.

 

Any thoughts please on the bubble tester?

 

This is the set up from cylinder to taps.

 

20190516_173434.jpg.12217a2e164ceb4923a9e33188287dea.jpg

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2 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

Had similar on a previous BSS. Turned out to be a faulty regulator on the gas bottle.

But woudlnt it show bubbles in the tester when all taps are shut, 

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Do you have isolating valves at the appliance end of each of the three gas lines? If so, do you still have the leaks with these turned off? If not, fit them - it helps with leak tracing!

 

There is no short cut to finding the leaks I'm afraid. Leak detection fluid and gas sniffer are the main tools to use. 

 

Good luck with it. LPG leaks can be hard to find, but you KNOW they are there for the finding. 

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48 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Do you have isolating valves at the appliance end of each of the three gas lines? If so, do you still have the leaks with these turned off? If not, fit them - it helps with leak tracing!

 

 

Isolating valves adjacent to each appliance are a BSS requirement. 

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2 hours ago, Bod said:

No.

The bubbles are after the regulator. 

 

Bod

Being thick here. If the reg is faulty how does it produce bubbles in the tester ?

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Do you have isolating valves at the appliance end of each of the three gas lines? If so, do you still have the leaks with these turned off? If not, fit them - it helps with leak tracing!

 

There is no short cut to finding the leaks I'm afraid. Leak detection fluid and gas sniffer are the main tools to use. 

 

Good luck with it. LPG leaks can be hard to find, but you KNOW they are there for the finding. 

 

I do have a shut off tap on the cooker as it has a length of hose from pipe to cooker, and Malaga water heater but thats all solid. I dont have one for the Propex as thats with the three way tap after the bubble tester.

 

Yep defo no short cut. Just wondering if the bubble tester could fail.

 

I will get a new cylinder Reg first.  

1 hour ago, Mad Harold said:

Leaks can occur on the gas taps of the cooker. Is there a pilot light on (water heater,fridge?)+

Brand new cooker and was fine when i did the pipe work over a year ago. No leaks at all. no pilot lights on anything. 

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19 minutes ago, W+T said:

Being thick here. If the reg is faulty how does it produce bubbles in the tester ?

 

You're not being thick. A faulty regulator on the bottle does NOT cause bubbles in the bubble tester. A big fat red herring.

 

 

1 hour ago, Sapphal said:

Isolating valves adjacent to each appliance are a BSS requirement. 

 

Twerpery like this reminds me why decided long ago to stop answering gas threads.

 

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3 hours ago, Bod said:

No.

The bubbles are after the regulator. 

 

Bod

 

Leaks can be, cylinder valve, regulator, low pressure pipe, also the bubble tester.  None of these will show in the bubble test, as they are before the tester, which can only show leaks, after the tester.

 

Bod

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41 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Could you please quote the section which states that ?

Of course he can’t because it’s rubbish. 

2 hours ago, W+T said:

Being thick here. If the reg is faulty how does it produce bubbles in the tester ?

Wayne, Bod was saying ‘No’ to the assertion that a faulty regulator can show bubbles in the tester. You’re not being thick, it can’t. 

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44 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Could you please quote the section which states that ?

There not, unless they have a short length of hose from pipe to appliance.

3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Of course he can’t because it’s rubbish. 

Wayne, Bod was saying ‘No’ to the assertion that a faulty regulator can show bubbles in the tester. You’re not being thick, it can’t. 

Yes i realised that kida after i posted. 

 

And you just beat to the the other ;) 

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3 minutes ago, W+T said:

There not, unless they have a short length of hose from pipe to appliance.

Absolutely. Might be an idea though for fault-tracing as Mike suggested. 

 

Just a thought... have you checked with the fluid for leaks at the manifold? And on the output of the tester? I can’t see it being at the tester though. 

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4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Absolutely. Might be an idea though for fault-tracing as Mike suggested. 

 

Just a thought... have you checked with the fluid for leaks at the manifold? And on the output of the tester? I can’t see it being at the tester though. 

There is one shut off tap before the cooker and water heater.  

 

I have checked all joints and fittings etc etc after the bubble tester. reason why its doing my head in. Had T to use her better eyes and still no visible bubbles from joints. 

 

There are only bubble showing when a tap is open on the three way tap fitting after the tester.

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9 minutes ago, W+T said:

There is one shut off tap before the cooker and water heater.  

 

I have checked all joints and fittings etc etc after the bubble tester. reason why its doing my head in. Had T to use her better eyes and still no visible bubbles from joints. 

 

There are only bubble showing when a tap is open on the three way tap fitting after the tester.

Shout at me if you like but have you checked the stems of the valves

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4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Shout at me if you like but have you checked the stems of the valves

Not sure where you mean. But i have sprayed all areas where gas can escape from. 

 

And why would i shout at you, never. 

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To ask a silly question, how do you know you have a leak?

 

Recently I have had 2 different Calirllor gas bottles which both leaked slightly from the stems of the valves on the top of the bottle but only when they were turned on; one leaked only when turned fully on and the other only if it was turned half on. In neither case could I make it blow bubbles at me.

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3 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

To ask a silly question, how do you know you have a leak?

 

Recently I have had 2 different Calirllor gas bottles which both leaked slightly from the stems of the valves on the top of the bottle but only when they were turned on; one leaked only when turned fully on and the other only if it was turned half on. In neither case could I make it blow bubbles at me.

The bubble tester is blowing bubbles. When i press it a big bubble comes out then every so may seconds it releases another. 

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27 minutes ago, W+T said:

The bubble tester is blowing bubbles. When i press it a big bubble comes out then every so may seconds it releases another. 

You say that you get bubbles as soon as any tap on the manifold is opened, and that it can be any tap... are the bubbles twice as fast with two taps open and three times as fast with all three?

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22 minutes ago, WotEver said:

You say that you get bubbles as soon as any tap on the manifold is opened, and that it can be any tap... are the bubbles twice as fast with two taps open and three times as fast with all three?

Ok now my head is about to explode.

 

Just popped out to double check for you.

 

Last time i checked either today or late yesterday when non of the taps were turned on the tester was not bubbling. 

 

When each tap in turn was turned on all three gave a small bubble at around 21 seconds but started with a large bubble when the tester was pressed

 

Now still with no taps turned on there is no bubble showing.

 

But when each tap in turn is turned on there is  large bubble then,  cooker bubbles every 15 seconds. the Malaga every 7 seconds and Propex near a minute. 

 

All small bubbles.

 

All turned on there is  a small bubble every 15 seconds if not more.

 

Has to be the tester at fault ??? 

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To be absolutely sure, do a manometer drop test on the test nipple,  that cannot tell lies . The old ways are best. What are you using as test fluid?

Never liked these new fangled bubble blowers, I refuse to have one, not full time on the boat.

I had a persistent minute leak for 2 years, finally traced it to the shut off valve for the cooker, it must of had a leak from new. Regreasing it cured it.

We had troubles with cooker cleaning firms washing the grease out of the taps with solvent when they stripped cleaned.

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