What are they all about?
All touring caravans and motorhomes manufactured from the 2004 model year onwards (i.e. vehicles manufactured from September 2003) had to comply with the new European standard EN1949.

Amongst other requirements, EN 1949 harmonises - across Europe - the installation of LPG in touring caravans and motorhomes. Its principal effect is to specify that the LPG pressure is regulated to 30mbar pressure by means of a factory fitted regulator.

Why are they needed?
Anyone who has caravanned widely in Europe will be aware of the wide variety of LPG systems and pressures in use in different countries. This has led to mobile gas appliances being used on pressures for which they were not designed – a potentially dangerous situation.

How will they affect me?
If you buy a caravan or motorhome manufactured from September 2003 onwards it will have been fitted with a bulkhead regulator. The regulator will be labelled 30mbar and attached to the bulkhead in the gas locker. When you purchase a caravan you will be asked whether you will be using butane or propane so that the appropriate high pressure connecting pipe (or “pigtail”) can be supplied to connect your cylinder to the new regulator.

Here is the bulkhead mounted regulator. The new regulations stipulate that it has to be mounted in the centre of the bulkhead but of course this forces out the spare wheel that would normally sit here. Swift has solved this problem  by transferring the spare wheel to an underslung carrier.

To effect a safe connection with a European cylinder, you will need to obtain a “pigtail” connector appropriate to the cylinders available in the country you are visiting. This replaces the UK pigtail attached to the bulkhead regulator whilst you are using the European cylinder. When you revert back to a UK cylinder, simply swap the pigtail connectors back again. You will no longer need to replace the regulator.

The new arrangement ensures not only that you have the correct regulator at the correct pressure for your LPG powered appliances, but also that it is checked along with the rest of the installation as part of the manufacturer’s soundness checks before the vehicle leaves the factory.

Are there any downsides to the new regulations?
At just just 450mm  long (about 17¾ inches in old money) the new connecting hoses mean you have to make the high pressure connection to the cylinder whilst it is in the locker. This can be fiddly, especially in the dark, and with larger cylinders there may be little room to swing the spanner.

Longer hoses are available but, as the recommended length is 450mm dealers may be reluctant to supply anything different. The new connecting hoses are expensive and have a finite life (max 5 years for the 'rubber' ones) . Stainless steel hoses are also available. They have a life of 20 years.

The initial down side was the failure of the bulkhead regulators due to contamination with plasticiser leeched out of the rubber connecting hoses. More details in the main article on gas here

Can I disconnect the new system and go back to the old?
Tempting as it might be, especially if you've suffered one or more bulkhead regulator failures, the answer is NO!. Any such modification would put the caravan or motorhome outside the type approval regulations that it was manufactured to. This would possibly make it illegal to use and render any insurance invalid.