short fueling?

[Pedro_The_Swift]

The original underneath twins have been serviced, all valves tested and replaced as required,
the new boot space triple tank (2nd hand from Auto LPG GAS Tank G84MAN Reconditioned Scuba Tank NEW Electric Solenoid | eBay) are advertised as fully serviced.
According to my installer the twins are filled first and used last.
First fill attempt went ok,, over 100 litres,( I stopped due to slowness of fill)
second went to 140, (which, I think, is impossible) but still hadnt clunked off, but as the last 30 litres was so slow its hard to tell when overfilling starts---
3rd fill clunked off at 24L,,,, pulled the trigger again, clunk.
4th fill again 24L.

It makes it a bit difficult to work out towing range when I cant tell if the tanks are full or not,,
and theres no range at all with a 24l fill
and no, these oil containers are just returns from its last service

[bee utey]

In short, your installation is illegal until you fix the filling situation.

It's not really possible to fill 3 tanks reliably off the same filler. Even 2 tanks struggle unless they've been fitted with the newest design 10mm ID filler hoses and filler valve. The 80% fill level valves (AFLs) are designed to shut off at a flow rate that can't be easily achieved with too many hanging off one filler. The total volume of LPG in your 3 tanks should be in the order of 130 litres. The actual volume is more like 160 litres. So any amount over 130 means that one or more tanks is being overfilled, and you can't tell which one. If you leave the vehicle in the full sun after over filling (think accident scene, traffic jam etc) one of the tanks will vent LPG at some time.

As for the low fill amounts, you will have to look at the contents gauges to work out which tanks are overfull and which ones are empty. You can usually see the LH underneath tank gauge with a mirror and the G84M should be no problem.

Oh, and under current rules your inside tank needs a protective cover, make sure your LPG fitter has the current rules and has actually read AND understood them.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

tank cover on its way

as for the rest
The gentleman I was dealing with in Toowoomba also said he would fill it off the original inlet,,

I suppose they could both be wrong

link to regs?

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Where do you recommend the 2nd inlet?
would changing the first inlet hose to the bigger size alleviate the problem?

[bee utey]

Unfortunately the regs are copyright protected and subject to licence fees so I can't give you a copy. They are not meant for the general public to use.

There's no specific part of the regulation that forbids filling multiple tanks off one filler. The onus is on the installer to not only design the installation correctly THEN test it to be certain that it fills correctly. Ford factory multiple tanks for example are designed with 12mm filler hoses/pipes to ensure the flow rate is high enough to trigger the twin tanks AFLs reliably. In your case you will undoubtedly have a filler not designed to work with what your fitter attempted. I suggest you talk to your fitter and possibly fit a second filler for the G84M low in the LH rear fender so you can at least fill it safely. You could post up pics of the filler and plumbing you already have, then I might be able to help. (or send me a PM with your email/phone number)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Thanks for the advice
Have you put a filler there with the rear ULP tank in that area?

[bee utey]

Thanks for the advice
Have you put a filler there with the rear ULP tank in that area?

No, I've once or twice fitted low mount fillers on the left hand side. There may be space around the RHS but it depends entirely on what the ULP tank looks like. There are many different brands so without looking it's all guesswork.

[harry]

from your picture it looks as if the tanks are high on the left, but that may be an optical illusion.
but if so, you will always have a problem getting it all in,
I would be looking at the installation to see that the tanks furtherest from the fill port are plumbed so that the air gap(for want of a better word-?) is able to vent to allow the liquid to fill the space, if it (the liquid)cant displace the vapour, it will always shut off on fill pressure and that gas space will be just that, gas, not liquid, LPG,which is pretty useless when it comes to wanting range out of a gas car.

[bee utey]

from your picture it looks as if the tanks are high on the left, but that may be an optical illusion.
but if so, you will always have a problem getting it all in,
I would be looking at the installation to see that the tanks furtherest from the fill port are plumbed so that the air gap(for want of a better word-?) is able to vent to allow the liquid to fill the space, if it (the liquid)cant displace the vapour, it will always shut off on fill pressure and that gas space will be just that, gas, not liquid, LPG,which is pretty useless when it comes to wanting range out of a gas car.

The thing in the picture is one tank made from three cylinders welded together during manufacture with large interconnecting passages and therefore it has one valve set. No vapour is ever vented from a vehicle's LPG tank during filling. The vapour is compressed into the 20% of vapour space above the liquid level by the force of the pump. It doesn't matter where the vapour space is in the tank, as the interconnecting pipes are quite large. The bigger issue with this particular tank is that the accuracy of filling is controlled by a float valve that lives in the right hand rear corner of the tank. It means that filling accuracy can't be guaranteed unless the tank is absolutely level and the flow rate into the AFL valve is sufficient to cause it to shut off at 80%.

[harry]

I don't think I explained what I meant very well,
thanks bee uty,
what I meant was that the liquid has to displace the vapour to get a full tank, if the venting system in the tank cluster isn't able to let the liquid settle and purge the vapour out of the space, (the liquid being heavier than vapour), you will get short filling. i didn't mean that anything was vented to atmosphere.