camping gaz guage ?

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mayk19
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camping gaz guage ?

Post by mayk19 » Thu May 15, 2008 8:36 pm

I've got a converted bongo with a small size camping gaz bottle in a cupboard. Its a bit of a guessing game with this to know if its empy. Anyone know of a guage / meter to measure the contents ?
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Peg leg Pete
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by Peg leg Pete » Thu May 15, 2008 8:40 pm

halfords sell a magnetic guage, we have one, not much good, might have got a faulty one :cry:
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by daveblueozzie » Thu May 15, 2008 8:40 pm

halfords used to do a stick on one for the side of the bottle, dunno how it worked, but i think andandden got one .
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mayk19
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by mayk19 » Thu May 15, 2008 9:52 pm

Hi im Simon
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apole
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by apole » Thu May 15, 2008 10:04 pm

Hi,

I have a magnetic one on a 907 bottle, however I have yet to see it work. Has anyone found one that does on such a small bottle?
pippin

Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by pippin » Thu May 15, 2008 10:08 pm

I think they are useless!

I have never ever seen the segments change colour.
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by trevd01 » Thu May 15, 2008 10:26 pm

We have a magnetic one that came free on the front of MMM magazine. It does work on a 907, but remember none of these work unless the gas is (or just has been) flowing. They rely on the temperature difference caused by the liquid fuel in the bottle turning to gas as it is drawn off, to indicate the level.
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by lev8 » Fri May 16, 2008 10:24 am

I have a magnetic strip guage that works well, I pour freshly boiled water over it (lots) then quickly look near the bottom and watch the colour change. If you can't do the hot water thing there are two other ways
Low tech - disconnect the hose and vigorously rock the cylinder, stop rocking and hold slightly off vertical with a finger tip. The sloshing liquid will make the cylinder rock, strong rock=half full, weak or no rock nearly empty
High Tech - refillable cylinders must (should) have a tare weight stamped on them, check weight on kitchen scales and subtract tare to find remaining gas. Propane weighs about 500g/L
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mayk19
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by mayk19 » Fri May 16, 2008 11:34 am

thats neat Lev... thanks for that tip.
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Peg leg Pete
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by Peg leg Pete » Fri May 16, 2008 7:12 pm

Good tip thanks my guage has dropped off somewhere, weighing is much more accurate :wink:
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by AndAndDen » Fri May 16, 2008 9:51 pm

Yeah wev'e got a Gas Level indicator ,from Halfords and YES it does work :) . About £3
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by Aethelric » Fri May 16, 2008 10:01 pm

Never tried this, but it may work. Is there room to fit bathroom scales under the canister?

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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by MountainGoat » Fri May 16, 2008 10:15 pm

I have just got one of these gas level indicators so will find out if it works or not at Fort William.
Hedging my bets I always take a small camping stove from my wild camping days with me as a backup. So at least we are guaranteed a cup of tea until we can get a gas bottle refill. :D
Last edited by MountainGoat on Sat May 17, 2008 9:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by Muzorewa » Sat May 17, 2008 9:15 am

lev8 wrote:High Tech - refillable cylinders must (should) have a tare weight stamped on them, check weight on kitchen scales and subtract tare to find remaining gas. Propane weighs about 500g/L
Marvelous - we use a pair of 904 cylinders and the empty weight is 2.9 or 3.0kg depending which one, the nett weight is 1.8kg so the kitchen scales tell us we have one half full and one nearly full, saves us getting two fresh cylinders for next week's trip to Germany. :D

On the half full vs half empty theory, there are three views:
1. the optimist says the cylinder is half full
2. the pessimist says the cylinder is half empty
3. the engineer says the cylinder is twice as big as it really needs to be :roll:
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Re: camping gaz guage ?

Post by Bob » Sat May 17, 2008 11:16 am

You could leave it outside on a cold night, the condensation will be on the bottom of the cylinder, to the level of gas.

Having the empty weight is also a good method.
Take a torch, toilet roll, and tea bags.

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