UKC

I've got a 2.75kg Campingaz Butane cylinder, i've kept it as a spare for around 4 years in the shed, installed it yesterday on the stove in the camper van and couldn't get the gas to light.  I can smell the gas, hear it coming out, but it won't light.

I can't see a way it could have gone off, the cylinder is full and heavy.  

Any ideas to get it working or how it could have gone off?  Or is it just a case of return it for a refill?

It doesn't go off. Well, not in that sense of going off...

How are you trying to light it?

It's got a electric spark on the hob, which is sparking.  I've tried with a normal cigarette lighter also.

When did you last use the stove? Have you got other gas you could try? Are the air inlets open (it obviously needs fuel and air mixed together)?

Is it not lighting at all or is it sputtering a bit then going out? Ours sometimes does that on a new bottle then settles down. 

Is it really cold (ambient)? 

I had used the stove that morning, the gas ran out at breakfast time, I changed the bottle and it wouldn't light that afternoon, so I don't think it's a problem with the stove.

I'm buying a new one today to replace the empty one, so I will know for sure by this evening.

Thanks for taking the time to try and help.

It's not lighting at all with the electric spark lighter, if I hold a lighter to the outlet I can see the flame on the lighter deflecting slightly as the 'gas' comes out of the holes on the stove so something is coming out.  If I put the lighter flame right next to the outlet I can get it to produce a tiny blue flame for perhaps a second then it goes out.

Cheers for taking the time to reply.

No, that's not it, it was around 12-15 deg C in Langdale this weekend.

I should add, I acquired this cylinder with the van, so it may be a lot older than 4 years.

Maybe it's been previously refilled with something other than propane or butane. Can't think why that should be but just applying a bit of Sherlock Holmes thinking 😁

If you haven't used the stove for a while it may be a fault (corrosion?) in the jets. 

Many... many... ... years ago I had a little camping stove. The jets/nozzles were of a type that the flame wasn't stable above 3,000m, I didn't know that. I tried to use it at about, or slightly over 4,000 and has the same experience you describe. Some sort of burning when you hold a lighter (on that side of burner) it but goes out as soon as lighter removed.

Check the stove.

Gas can't go off. The most likely possibiliy, since you say you can smell gas, and you can hear it, is the flow is very low or it isn't coming out at the place you think.  (if, as you say, you are applying a source of ignition correctly)

This is looking the most likely story so far. 

I've no idea how you would identify exactly what gas(es) might be in there (beyond having access to some kind of gas/mass spectrometer type kit) but I'm sure UKC has some appropriate experts and/or knowledgeable people who will - it'll probably turn out to be compressed air 😁

Year 8 science has taught me how to identify gasses, squeaky pop = hydrogen, so we can at least rule that out!

I’ve got another cylinder now, which is working perfectly.

The chap at the gas shop thought the cylinder might be over full, it struck me as unlikely but I’ve bled off as much as I dare without filling the van with too much gas and it made no difference. It is a go at lighting if I hold the lighter right next to it but won’t hold a flame. 
 

I’ll just return it for a refill. Mystery not solved.

weird. did it smell "of gas" when you just ran it? 

(technically gas doesn't smell but they add something that really does, which is what you associate as the "smell of gas")

Yes, perhaps not as strongly as I would expect, but I don’t make a habit of filling the van with gas so it may have been entirely the strength of smell which was expected.

It's already full... not sure what you'll get back if you return it for a 'refill'...

Don’t they usually just take your existing (usually empty) cylinder and give you a different full one? 

True: some other poor bugger's problem, then...

Thr mercaptan 'gas' stink is so offensive to our senses you can still smell it on an empty bottle that had been filled with water, cut in half, left in the sun for a week then set on fire. Smelling it on anything coming out of a refilled 'gas' bottle is entirely understandable.

I'd guess it's just the wrong gas mix for the stove/regulator.

Jk

I wasn’t trying to make it someone else’s problem, but yes, that is what will happen. In my head back at the refill place they would vent it before filing it back up, however, I see that’s not very likely. Unless they have to empty them to inspect the bottle before filling it back up?

I should probably take it out into the middle of a field and vent it away before I take it back.

Just take it back. If it's an old cylinder they may scrap it or recondition it. Either way the old gas should be collected for safe disposal, used for secondary fuel (not vented in a field)