Camper Trailer Gas Installation that You Need to See

Do you have a camper trailer or caravan that has gas bottle holders, but no gas line, or even a bayonet?

Well, that’s a real pain in the… let’s say it’s a pain point when you’re camping. Here at Beautiful Plumbing we try to get rid of all the pain points out of our customer’s lives, whether it’s at their own home, or even out camping in the bush. This is a little case study where we’ve deleted some pain points for a customer with their camper trailer.

Camping with Kids

Ben from Beautiful Plumbing really enjoys camping with his kids. But to be perfectly honest, it’s not that relaxing, is it? You know, you’re either setting up camp, keeping them warm, washing sand out of their eyes, putting their pyjamas on, feeding them. But at end of the day it’s worth it, because they absolutely love it.

How It All Started

A while back Ben camped next to a guy named Mark, who had this sweet camper trailer. It had two bunk beds either side and a queen bed. That means you could comfortably fit six people off the ground on a very small footprint.

So he got talking to Mark about his camper. It’s Aussie made. Made right here in W.A. Built super tough and awesome quality. But one thing he did notice about it. When Mark had to cook on the stove, he had to go get his gas bottles from the front of the camper, which once is set up, is underneath the main bed. After pulling them out and bringing them over, he then had to connect the hose with a spanner to the hotplates so he could start cooking.

Ben said, “Mark, really? All you need is a gas line run through the rear of your camper here with a bayonet, and you can just plug her straight in. Then you can leave the gas bottles in the gas bottle holders, because that’s what they’re there for.”

Mark said, “Oh, that’d be great.” He goes, “Would you like to do it for me?”

Ben said, “Ah, sure.”

Challenge Accepted

Installing gas on camper trailers or caravans is not that easy. You’ve got these very important regulations that you’ve got to try to get your head around. Also, most of the time you’re working in very tight spaces underneath the camper.

But we like a challenge and we love removing pain points from our customers’ lives. So after chatting to Mark around the campfire that night, he came up with a brief.

Criteria

First of all, he’d love those gas bottles to stay in their holders the whole time.

Second of all, he’d love his hotplates to be connected really easily without the use of tools, and possibly his Baby Weber Q.

And also, there’s a lot of instantaneous hot water systems on the market. He would love one of those to be sort of retrofitted so he could have hot water coming out of the tap on his sink.

The Setup Ideas

So after many hours of going through different options in his head, this is what Ben came up with.

First of all, he installed a stainless steel mounting plate so that the gas regulator could be installed at the front of the camper trailer. Also, he installed a pigtail long enough to connect both bottles without having to move them.

Secondly, he ran a gas line all the way underneath the camper and connected it up to two gas bayonets. Many years ago Ben worked as a plumber in Holland for a company called Heesen Shipyards. They built luxury aluminium super yachts. It was there that Ben got shown how to do a bit of tig welding, because sometimes he had to make up brackets to support parts where there weren’t any.

So on this camper Ben made up a stone guard and a little housing for the gas bayonets just to protect them from stones hitting it, but most of all just branches smashing against them and taking them out.

Hot Water System and Fittings

He also knocked up a pole that supports the hot water system that you can store under the step while you’re traveling. He also upgraded the pump, too. It went from a 3.8 litre to 6 litre a minute, so the hot water system could run efficiently.

Ben then installed a cold supply line and a hot outlet line on the side of the kitchen for the new hot water system. He also used quick connect fittings so you could easily connect and disconnect to make it easy without tools.

Then he installed matching gas quick connect couplings on all his gas appliances.It is a bit matchy-matchy, but the reason he did that is when he made up these hoses to hook in to the bayonet, any one of these hoses now can hook onto the hot water system, Baby Weber Q, or even the hotplates without the use of tools.

So now the hot water system. We chose a Joolca Hot Tap mainly because of its two-year warranty. It needs to be mounted near the kitchen sink, so not to waste too much water. You can also keep an eye on what’s happening on the temperature that’s coming out of the hot water system.

Research Development

So, after all that, it was done. Now Mark was kind enough to let Ben and family take it down south for a sneaky trip to Pemberton. You know, a bit research and development to try it all out. It is an amazing setup, and here’s the run through.

Cooking with Stove

Say you feel like a cup of tea. You pull over to the side of the road and open up your kitchen. You just grab your gas hose, the bayonet end, and go underneath the camper trailer there to find your bayonets. All you’ve got to do is remove the dust plug and plug your gas bayonet in. Line up the little lugs, push it in, give it a twist, lock it in there.

Now, when the hose is connected to the gas bayonet, no gas is going to come out of this fitting here. This is just a dust cap anyway. So, there’s a stop valve in there so it’s very safe. All you need to do then is bring it over towards your stove. Just remove the dust cap and clip it on. And now, you’re cooking with gas.

Cooking with Baby Weber Q

What if you feel like cooking some sausages for the kids?

Well, it’s easy. You get your second gas hose out. But if you’re done with using the hotplates, all you do is reach over, disconnect it from the hotplates, because it’s a quick release fitting. Take the dust cap off on your barbecue. Line it up, clip it on, and now you’re ready to start cooking sausages for the kids. T

hat’s a whole hell of a lot easier than pulling out bottles, isn’t it?

Hot Water

How does this hot water system hook up?

All you need to do is grab the pole that is stored under the back step while traveling. You grab the pole right up and stick it in the pole holder at the back here. And then you just chuck the hot water system and hang it on that pole just like that.

Grab the hot supply line to the kitchen sink. Hook that into the hot side of the hot water system and plug it into the hot quick connect on the kitchen side. Same thing for the cold. You hook the cold into the bottom of the hot water system.

Now, if the pump’s on it’ll automatically start charging. So, if this is live at the moment, you’ll plug it in and the water will start pumping, and stop because the tap on the kitchen sink is stopped. So it’ll just sit there.

Just grab the second gas hose, remove the dust plug. Line up your lugs, stick your bayonet in and hook it in. Remove the dust cover from the hot water system, and then connect the gas up to it like that. So now, when you turn the hot tap on of the kitchen sink, the hot water system will fire up. And in five seconds you’ll have hot water at your sink ready to go to wash your dishes.

Shower

The thing is, what if your kids need a shower? How’s that going to work?

It’s really easy. The best thing to do is to switch the pump off by the switch. Remove the hot feed, which supplies the kitchen sink tap. Just take that out because we don’t need that anymore.

Now, plug your shower lead, which is just about a five meter hose. Click that onto the bottom of the Joolca Hot Water System  then just turn the switch back on, and that will start charging through.

The shower has an on/off at the top by rotating it. So as soon as you turn it to on the hot water system fires up, and you’ll have hot water coming out of your hose.

You can adjust the temperature by adjusting the flow and the gas on the hot water system. And there’s a little read out just over here that tells you what temperature that the hot water is running at for you or your kids.

Pump

If you’re camping for a few days and you’re using the water in your tank for showering, you run out of water pretty quickly. So, it’s probably better just to leave the water in the tank for drinking and cooking.

Now this is where we step it up to a new level. We’ve got a pump that rides in the camper trailer now. This has a cigarette plug, or jumper lead attachment, so you can put that onto a battery or whatever.

You can just plug it into the side of the kitchen. it’s got about a 10 meter cord on it. And now, you can throw this in. It’s got a filter on it. You can throw that in your dam water, or the creek, if you’re lucky enough to be camping close by.

Hook it onto your pump. And from the pump, you hook it into your hot water system, and then you can use the water source close by. Now, if you’re camping too far away from a creek or something, just take your jerrycan down to the creek, fill it up, and then come back to camp. And then, all you need to do is grab your jerrycan with the creek water in it. Take the top off and grab the hose with the filter on the end of it. You chuck that in there, that’ll stop any stuff going into your pump.

You just plug it into the “IN” of the pump and then clip the other hose to the “OUT” of the pump. Then you just turn the switch off your pump on your camper trailer. Undo your supply line that you were using water from the tank. You clip that on the bottom of the hot water system.

Save Filtered Water

Now, you just turn your pump on. You grab your shower. Make sure you turn rocker switch on, on your pump. Go ahead and switch that on. That’s firing up now. It starts sucking water from the jerrycan, and start bringing it out here. You see it will start cranking up. Hot water system will start lighting up, using the gas from the front of the hot water system.

And you can shower away once it gets all the air out. As soon as the water runs out, you can to the creek, fill it up again, and shower away. Then you’re saving all that filtered water, if you do have filtered water, in your tank for drinking, cooking, and staying alive out there.

Good Solution

We think we came up with a good solution for Mark and his family, so he can enjoy his holiday adventures just a bit more.

What do you reckon? We’d love to hear your thoughts and criticisms.

We’ve got a really big workshop. If you need a gas line installed, or a gas bayonet, or need your camper trailer certified gas wise, or there might be a gas leak. Or, even if you want one of these hot water systems installed in your caravan or camper trailer, give us a call, and we’re happy to help out.