Should I turn my gas bottle off during driving and also when filling with LPG / Autogas
"Should I turn my gas bottle off when during traveling or refilling with LPG/ Autogas on my Motorhome" is a question our technical team get asked quite regularly.
There are 2 answers to this. Firstly the safety answer is 'Yes' you should always turn the gas outlet valve off on your GAS IT bottle whilst travelling or before refilling at an LPG station and again with our safety hat on we'd have to add that having any gas bottle turned off when not in use is generally best practice. The second answer is from a technical / functionality point of view with regards filling and that is the outlet valve is not connected to the fill side in anyway so opening or closing the bottle bottle before filling has no technical effect on filling in anyway.
The reason from a safety point of view it's worth thinking about (whether your using off the shelf exchange type gas bottles or self-refillable gas bottles like the GAS IT type ) is that some gas appliances in your motorhome or caravan automatically ignite and run on gas once the vehicles engine and ignition is turned off - Fridges left in auto mode that was running on the vehicles 12 volt supply spring to mind. This has always concerned us as it means the fridge could ignite and start immediately running on gas when parked up at a fuel station taking on petrol or diesel. We know some fridge manufacturers have now included a longer pause between the vehicle being turned off and the fridge starting but it’s still worth considering and thinking about if you go to fill up and your gas it turned on.
The only time you need to reconsider this practice of turning the gas off is if the vehicle has been approved to use its heating whilst travelling ( check the owners manual or contact the vehicle manufacturer to see if it is approved to do so ) Don't assume that because the heating works whilst your travelling that its legal to do so. Only when you have confirmed that the vehicle is certified and its thus legal to have the heating on whilst travelling (and it has the manufactures required gas safety components installed to comply with that approval) would we recommend that the bottle is left on whilst travelling - and even then it's not a practice we would carry out.