What is R67 and how does it affect me?
Well, if your buying a gas bottle from GAS IT then R67 and its rules and regulations don't apply to you as your just fitting a GAS IT gas bottle that's approved to the same specification as your current exchange type gas bottle, but ours are just refillable by you and not the company you exchange them with. So fitting a GAS IT bottle is as easy as just replacing your exchange bottles with any of the GAS IT ones, tighten up the webbing that held your original gas bottles in place and your good to go - Oh, you do also need to install the fill point of course.
We have as a company for over 20 years chosen not to sell R67 gas bottles to any of our GAS IT dealers and members of the public as 99% of the time you legally can't install them in a gas locker on a motorhome as a retrofit in place of the existing exchange type gas bottles without major engineering being involved to comply with R67 regulations which defeats the object. So simply put even though we stock R67 certified gas cylinders, and have done for over 20 years, we just won't sell R67 gas bottles to you and we only sell them to OEM's who can satisfy the R67 regulation install needs when building our GAS IT R67 gas bottles into their new vehicles.
So let's look simply at what R67 is.
R67 or how its actually known as ECE 67R.01 has been around for 25 + years and is a current European and UK gas installation regulation that affects the install of R67 certified LPG gas products on road going vehicles.
Its comes as a UK & EU legal document which is full of rules and install requirements that apply to all anyone fitting R67 certified gas tanks of any shape or size like gas bottles and gas tanks to road going vehicles. It's no safer or even worse than your normal gas bottle it's just how the seller of the gas bottle or gas cylinders gets its product certified at the point of manufacture. So its been certified as a R67 product rather than a CE, ∏, EN1442 gas bottle and so forth.
The major difference is that if you certify your gas cylinder R67 then you have to carry out the installation and fitment to the R67 regulations dictate. Also within R67 the gas bottle or gas tank loses its generic description of say being called a gas bottle or a gas tank and it legally becomes known under R67 regulations as a gas cylinder.
So how does buying a R67 gas cylinder affect you?
Well, it depends if your supplier firstly sells you the right gas bottle product for the right job as 99 times out of 100 an R67 gas cylinder might not be what you need or want and your supplier would know that by making sure the R67 product they are selling you is able to be installed ( legally ) in your vehicle in the location you want it to as that it will comply to the current EU & UK R67 regulations. Then finally they need to advise you how to safely and legally install your R67 cylinder in your vehicle once you've bought it.
The first place most suppliers fall down is they sell you say an R67 gas bottle ( don't forget its classed as a gas cylinder now under R67 rules) and they forget to advise you that to legally install your R67 gas cylinder in accordance with R67 regulations ( legally ! ) plus you will need to comply to BSEN12979 ( a document dated back to 2002 ) - which both state you have to fix you R67 gas cylinder into your vehicle in a location that is capable of taking a 20G force in the direction of travel and 8G side direction ( from experience gas bottle lockers are not built to able to withstand this force in our opinion and having carried out testing on 3 gas lockers ).
Then BSEN 12979 document tells you that the R67 gas cylinder needs to be installed with a minimum of 2 metal bands of a certain thickness and width, with a minimum of M8 or M10 bolts, washers and nuts to a specific ISO type. It even specifics the R67 approved fill hoses you can use how they are to be dated and marked R67 on the tube and end fittings as well, etc, etc - The R67 document goes on and on.
In fact every autogas installation on a road going vehicle that UKLPG and other autogas installers carry out have have to be to R67 regulations and their R67 gas cylinder have to also be installed with steel straps, certain size bolts and so forth. That's just the start. R67 as an approval and as a document is a mine field especially if your supplier sells R67 gas cylinders just for selling sake.
It really is buyer beware because if you install a R67 gas cylinder incorrectly by not using the required steel straps and to the 20G proof location fixings and don't use R67 compatible products - like R67 marked and stamped approved fill hoses, fill points etc and don't follow the regulations then your vehicle insurance will be invalidated - FACT.
This is taken from the current R67 document.
17.4.Installation of the fuel container
17.4.1.The fuel container shall be permanently installed in the vehicle and shall not be installed in the engine compartment.
17.4.2.The fuel container shall be installed in the correct position, according to the instructions from the container manufacturer.
17.4.3.The fuel container shall be installed such that there is no metal to metal contact, other than at the permanent fixing points of the container.
17.4.4.The fuel container shall have permanent fixing points to secure it to the motor vehicle or the container shall be secured to the motor vehicle by a container frame and container straps.
17.4.5.When the vehicle is ready for use the fuel container shall not be less than 200 mm above the road surface.
17.4.5.1.The provisions of paragraph 17.4.5. shall not apply if the container is adequately protected, at the front and the sides and no part of the container is located lower than this protective structure.
17.4.6.The fuel container(s) must be mounted and fixed so that the following accelerations can be absorbed (without damage occurring) when the containers are full:
Vehicles of categories M1 and N1:
(a)20 g in the direction of travel;
(b)8 g horizontally perpendicular to the direction of travel.
Also R67 states that R67 approved gas tanks must be fitted with a gas tight housing around the container fittings ( valves or Multivalve ) As yet there are no R67 approved bottles being sold that are fitted with the legally required gas tight housings.
17.6.5. Gas-tight housing on the container
17.6.5.1. A gas-tight housing over the container fittings, which fulfils the requirements of paragraphs 17.6.5.2. to 17.6.5.5. shall be fitted to the fuel container, unless the container is installed outside the vehicle and the container fittings are protected against dirt and water.
17.6.5.2. The gas-tight housing shall be in open connection with the atmosphere, where necessary through a connecting hose and a lead-through.
17.6.5.3. The ventilation opening of the gas-tight housing shall point downwards at the point of exit from the motor vehicle. However, it shall not discharge into a wheel arch, nor shall it be aimed at a heat source such as the exhaust.
17.6.5.4. Any connecting hose and lead-through in the bottom of the bodywork of the motor vehicle for ventilation of the gas-tight housing shall have a minimum clear opening of 450 mm2. If a gas tube, other tube or any electrical wiring is installed in the connecting hose and lead-through, the clear opening shall also be at least 450 mm2.
17.6.5.5. The gas-tight housing and connecting hoses shall be gas-tight at a pressure of 10 kPa with the apertures closed off, and show no permanent deformation, with a maximum allowed leak rate of 100 cm3/h.
If you want to know more then as well as running R67 regulation courses here at GAS IT HQ for anyone installing R67 gas products, on any scale, we also ask that you feel free to ' Submit a Ticket' here on the Technical portal with your questions so one of our GAS IT technical team can help you out.