My existing regulator is giving low pressure or no gas at all now i've installed an new Auto changeover.
If you fit an auto changeover valve to your existing regulator in your motorhome and the gas system stops working or gives low pressure symptoms, then we are afraid to say that it is likely that your existing regulator is on its way out. What is confusing for most people is that often the low pressure or non-working appliances start to work perfectly (or so you think) if you remove the changeover valve from the regulator and return the pigtail (mounted directly to the regulator) directly to one of your gas bottles and this points directly to the auto change over as being faulty - but it’s not.
Before we go further, we have never seen this issue occur when fitted to a new or relatively new regulator, its only ever when connected to an existing regulator that's seen some use and is suffering gas contamination.
Let's explain why and how this is happening.
The pressure at the outlet of an auto changeover (the part that connects to your regulator) is approximately 2 bar (28 psi give or take). Gas Bottle pressure can be as high as 150psi in the pigtail. The auto change over pressure must be at this lower 28psi pressure to allow it to function as an auto changeover but what happens is when you connect the auto change over valve directly to the regulator (in place of the direct to bottle pigtail) the changeover valve lower regulator inlet pressure shows up an existing gas contamination problem with your regulator which at some point in the near future will fail. What confuses most people, including engineers, is by reconnecting the pigtail back to the bottle and directly to the regulator then forces much higher pressure of up to 150psi into the failing regulator and the system then seems to work, but we can assure you that from our experience the regulator is on the way out and could fail at any time.
The only solution to get this to work is to fit a new regulator (purchased from anywhere) as it will fail at some point in the near future anyway even if not connected to an auto changeover valve and when fitted with your auto change over valve and twin bottles it will work perfectly well. Just make sure the regulator is the correct one for the vehicle and appliances.
As we say with any gas issues, new or old, or if your just not sure, we always recommend you get the system tested by a competent gas engineer at all times.