Post by Brian M on Oct 28, 2008 12:31:05 GMT
From: towedhall (Original Message) Sent: 30/03/2006 15:34
We had our 14/2 serviced last week by Gale's mobile he advertises in CClub magazine, would recommend he used to sell Safari's and been in the trade for 25 years.
He surgested that I move the battery into the outside, side(if that makes sense) locker.
I now read in this months CClub mag that having a battery and gas cannisters in the same locker is not good news risk of explosions etc.
Has anyone else move their battery?
From: Sylvesteruk1 Sent: 30/03/2006 15:54
It seems a shame to have to modify an icon of the caravan world because everyone today is paranoid over safety. Ask yourself, have you ever heard of a gas explosion in a caravan from having the battery next to the gas bottle and sparks.
I would have thought that if you were to change the battery the gas bottles would be shut down first before disconnecting the battery leads.
I have just fitted a very tidy quick release connection with a plastic cover to my batteries pillers and I cannot get them to spark however hard I try.
When towing the gas bottles should be shut off anyway.
If it was so dangerous then you would have the insurance companies insisting on it. Or Blair and Prescott introducing further legislation or tax on caravans so fitted.
Regards
Mike
From: Gareth851 Sent: 30/03/2006 17:22
Just to add to the discussion about moving the battery, being a caravan mechanic myself, I would suggest it's a total waste of time, effort and probably money to do so as when you are on site and plugged into mains electric your van charges the battery which causes it to produce sulphur dioxide and hydrogen which are explosive anyway. So your battery would still be surrounded by combustible gases even if you moved to side locker, which if you wish to play the H&S Taliban at their own game is now under where your head is when you are asleep........
As Sylvesteruk1 says ''It seems a shame to have to modify an icon of the caravan world because everyone today is paranoid over safety''
Regards,
Gareth.
From: OliverShaw1 Sent: 30/03/2006 20:33
One point that no-one has mentioned is that both butane and propane are substantially denser than air, so in free air they sink downwards, and since the bottoms of Safari gas lockers are open to the elements these gases sink straight out of the gas locker.
The problems of the explosive nature of these gases have been well known since long before these caravans were built, and Safari designers knew exactly what they were doing when they designed a gas locker with an open base, and when they then considered it safe to fit the battery in the same locker. It would have been the world of difference had it been a modern gas locker, almost fully enclosed and with minimal ventilation, if indeed any. But in my view the Safari design is perfectly safe as designed, which is why they have stood the test of time over a period of some 30 years since they started fitting batteries in the same locker.
Oliver
From: Brian Sent: 30/03/2006 21:22
The article in the Caravan Club magazine states:
In a photo caption:
"Although sealed conduit's permitted, cables, lamps fuses and batteries should never be fitted in a gas cylinder locker"
In the body of the article it goes on to say
"Since gas cylinder valves can leak and sparks can occur, this mixing of gas and electricity is not recommended, although several years ago one manufacturer fitted a storage point for a battery in a gas locker. That wouldn't happen today."
Was this Safari Caravans Ltd?
Is the location of our batteries unique?
Has there been one single instance of a spark in a Safari gas locker igniting the gas bottles?
Interesting questoins?
Brian Miller
From: Gareth851 Sent: 30/03/2006 21:34
The battery in the front gas locker is fairly common on older vans, certainly Bailey, Sprite and Eriba are three which spring to mind who have used this method. It's not uncommon and it's certainly nothing to worry about.
From: OliverShaw1 Sent: 31/03/2006 14:17
And, your outside side locker, often known as a "wet" locker because it is convenient for storing outside gear which may be wet when you come to leave a site, is not ventilated. It also has restricted headroom, and access is only from the side.
If you were to move your battery there you would need to provide ventilation to disperse gases given off during charging (e.g. by a tube from the battery vent outlet - standard on most modern leisure batteries - down through a hole drilled and lined in the locker floor).
You would also need to consider how to have access to the top of the batter for maintenance and in order to secure or to disconnect the clips, and how to make it secure for travelling. That would seem to require that you have connection cables long enough to enable the battery to be completely removed and placed on the ground before disconnecting the cables (and you then need to keep the slack cable out of the way when the battery is mounted in position), and that you devise a means of locating the battery in position and (separately) a means of then securing it there.
Finally you would then need consider what you normally store in that locker at present, and where that is now going to go. In my case the locker is fairly full, both when on site and when towing, although some of the contents differ between the two situations. Some of the items could be relocated to the front locker, but since a large area of the bottom is open to the atmosphere proper storage would need to be built for them there, to prevent losing them onto the road, and this without compromising the principle of that locker floor ventilation.
Crucially however, in my case, when on site the Scott stabiliser bar just fits diagonally into that locker; I doubt whether that would relocate into the gas locker, and I am certain that it wouldn't fit into the side locker with a battery already there. To say nothing about the risk of short-circuiting the battery terminals ... ... And I don't want to clutter up the car with it, nor to clutter up the space around my 'van by leaving it out to view, to say nothing of the potential risk of petty theft.
All told, quite a complex move. Personally I don't think there is any need for it.
Oliver