Campervan converter / installer

[Eber123]

Good afternoon,

The planning for this years journey to Scandinavia continued. Can't wait....

But before we go I would like to get some changes made on the GC 600. The main changes are:

• Change to LPG
• Change the USB sockets to 12V sockets
• Install Maxview Roam

I contacted almost all campervan converter and installer in ROI, but either they are not interested or are busy for the rest of the year (!?).

There is one installer in Northern Ireland that might be willing to look at least into the LPG installation, but I don't know why but I still hesitate a wee bit, because I don't know them at all.

If you know a converter/ installer / repair centre that you already made good experience with, either in ROI or Northern Ireland, please let me know.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Jester]

Good afternoon,

The planning for this years journey to Scandinavia continued. Can't wait....

But before we go I would like to get some changes made on the GC 600. The main changes are:

• Change to LPG
• Change the USB sockets to 12V sockets
• Install Maxview Roam

I contacted almost all campervan converter and installer in ROI, but either they are not interested or are busy for the rest of the year (!?).

There is one installer in Northern Ireland that might be willing to look at least into the LPG installation, but I don't know why but I still hesitate a wee bit, because I don't know them at all.

If you know a converter/ installer / repair centre that you already made good experience with, either in ROI or Northern Ireland, please let me know.

Regards,
Eberhard

Dose this help re Gaslow. Will

 

[Eber123]

Hello,

I contacted Gaslow directly to ask if they have an authorised Gaslow installer in ROI. I would prefer this for two reasons. 1.) maybe I don't have to drive to far and 2.) in case there are issues it is easier to deal with a company if it is is the same area.

I visited one of the companies on the list. They had a look at the GC and said they can do it. But there are two issues I am not entirely happy with. 1.) it is rather expensive and 2.) they said they need to take the right cupboard out (?!).

There is another company which I will visit in February to see what they have to say. Then I have to make up my mind what to do because the companies need at least 6 to 8 weeks for me to get an appointment and to be fair that is nowadays very good.

I just want to get the work done properly for a fair (not cheap) price. If the installation is messed up I have a problem.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Calimili]

Hi Eberard,
sorry for the potentially silly question, don't know the GC that much, but doesn't the GC already have 2x11Kg LPG gas bottles for heating ? Or for the model with diesel heater a 5Kg LPG bottle for cooking ?

 

[Eber123]

Dear @Calimili,

You are correct the GC can come with with gas heater which has room for 2x 11 kg propane gas cylinder.

In general it works. Last July I got 2x 11 kg bottles, which one is empty now. Because I don't know when it switched over I don't know how much is in the 2nd bottle.

Because of many issues with the camper we have not used it the camper a lot during summer 2021. I lost most of the propane gas because I took the bottles out rather often to check and test the Mopeka Gas Level sensors. Those sensors are a pain in the a.... not worth the money (that only shows that not all online reviews are ok). As long as the bottles are nicely on the workbench everything is working. As soon as they are in the camper it won't show a meaningful gas level.

I don't like those propane gas bottles because there is a chance either to run out of gas or exchange the bottle to early and therefore wasting gas.

Because of this I would like to get the refillable (LPG) gas bottles installed. The problem of the installation of the refillable (LPG) gas system is:



that the filler mounting must be outside the van to meet regulations. I don't want the filler mount on the L-shaped bracket:



So there must be a hole drilled into the side of the camper, the filler mounting installed, the filler mounting connected to the refillable gas bottles. The gas bottles in turn can be connected with the normal pigtails to the Truma DuoControl CS and the rest works as normal.

Now I have the advantage that I can just fill up the propane gas whenever I feel it is necessary. Also the gas is cheaper (if one can talk about cheaper gas these days in the first place). With the help of adapters I can fill up gas in almost all european countries.

At the moment there is no company in Ireland that I am aware of either willing nor capable to install this system, except at least 2x companies in Northern Ireland.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Calimili]

Hi Eberhard,
certainly a nice upgrade, I've looked into the Gaslow website and read the description.
Since you have the Truma Duo Control , you shouldn't be anyway in a stress to weight or having to know how much gas is left, once a bottle is empty it switches to the second one and you know you have an empty 11Kg to substitute. Basically you have a 11Kg gas +11Kg "reserve" on the second bottle.
The Gaslow is certainly more convenient as you don't need to wait for a bottle to empty first, you can refill whenever you want and cheaply.
I think once you start using the GC regularly, and know how long it takes to go through one 11Kg bottle, you can better estimate how much you may have left in the second tank, how much time you have to find a bottle replacement. Of course the inconvenience is that you may have 20% left on the bottle n.2, swap the empty bottle n.1 , and after a few days having gone through that 20% you had on bottle number 2, and having to find again another place to swap the bottle.
With Gasflow you don't care, you fill up both to full everytime.

The system is very expensive, just the 2 bottles 380€... you'll need to go thorugh a lot of cheap gas to break even..
Regarding the convenience is undisputed, especially if you can fill up at a gas station without having to remove and carry around the bottles.

Otherwise, couldn't you just use the Gaslow bottles, without the installation of the refill to the outside of the van? could you remove the bottles and refill them at a gas station ?

Best Regards

 

[Eber123]

Good morning,

@Calimili I thought about this as well. Actually it is even worse. At the moment I am quoted £ 1,150.00 for the parts and installation, which is ruffley about EUR 1400.00! But so far there is only one (this) company who said that they are willing not only to install it, but within 6 weeks. That is brilliant. I contacted other companies in Ireland and they said, regardless what the work is, they won't accept any more work for 2022!

To test the Mopeka sensor I took out the gas bottles at least 15x times. I wanted to ensure that I didn't make a mistake, placed the sensor correctly etc. Each time there was a wee bit of gas lost.

Of course it is possible to take out and put in the gas bottles, but it is a bit tricky and I would like to avoid it.

With the T6 Ocean of course we had the diesel heater, which was so much more convenient. And because of this I have no experience with gas heater at all. So I try to learn from others.

I read several times that at some LPG stations they won't fill (or won't allow) to refill refillable gas cylinders at all. They only allow to fill up the gas through the outside filler mount.

There are not a lot of LPG stations in Ireland and in Scandinavia (for instance) so potentially I don't like to decrease the numbers of LPG stations by trying only to refill the bottles.

Either I make everything so complicated (which is likely) or it is complicated.

Regards,
Eberhard