Just been bounced into getting one of these so that SWMBO could have her
birthday party outside last night!

It actually worked quite well when we eventually got it going - but the
instructions are a *nightmare* - and I wonder whether others have sussed
bits that I'm still struggling with.

The real problem concerns the regulator which was supplied with it - and is
designed to fit one of these new-fangled green & red calor bottles of patio
gas. It sort of snaps and locks on without any tools in a similar fashion to
a regulator which I used to use on caravan butane bottles - except that the
butane regulator had a lever to turn *and* a little release catch which had
to be pressed in to remove it. That was simplicity itself. But this thing .
..

There is just one knob/lever affair with only two obvious positions -
vertical and horizontal. There's another bit behind it, which limits its
travel, and looks as if it might move - but as far as I can see, it doesn't.
The instructions say to fit it by putting the lever in the Disconnect
position and then pressing the regulator firmly onto the cylinder and then
turning the lever clockwise to the Off position. It's not clear which *is*
the disconnect position - but since the only possible movement is clockwise
by 90 degrees between the vertical and horizontal position, I figured that
Disconnect must be vertical.

Something snapped into place when we did that - and it sounded hopeful, but
we couldn't at first get any gas out of the thing. By trial and error, we
found that the only position where gas comes out is with the lever at about
45 degrees - of which there's no mention in the instructions.

The instructions also appear to indicate that the gas valve on the heater
itself has to be turned anti-clockwise for max heat - whereas the opposite
is true - so we spent a lot of time trying to work out why nothing was
happening - not realising the valve was virtually closed! You have to press
the knob on the valve in when lighting - I assume that there is a flame
failure device, but this is not mentioned?!

Anyway, we're now in a position where we can turn the gas on and light it -
and then turn it off again - *despite* the instructions.

What we still *can't* do is remove the regulator from the cylinder. The
instructions talk about pressing it down until it clicks (it *doesn't* -
it's solid!) and turning the lever to the disconnect position. I can't for
the life of me see either how it locks on, even though it *does* - it
doesn't seem to have enough moving parts - or how to release it. Is there
anyone out there who has fought with one of these things, and won? [I can't
help feeling that the instructions describe a different regulator from the
one they actually supplied. For instance, it tells you to turn the gas on by
pulling the tab (*what* tab?) and turning the lever clockwise into the
vertical position. However, to be vertical, you have to turn it
anti-clockwise - and this isn't the ON position anyway!]

HELP!
If it helps to identify my regulator, it says "Enders" on the top. There's
also a model number - but it's outside, and it's dark! I can find it
tomorrow if required.


P.S. I suspect that I could have used a caravan propane bottle and
caravan-type propane regulator (I have a spare one) rather than buying an
expensive bottle of patio gas - but we doing it in a hurry, and I dared not
risk it. Looking at it subsequently, the pressure looks the same at 37
mbar - but I'm not sure about the flow rate. The patio gas regulator has a
max flow rate 1.5 Kg/h. The device itself apparently consumes 730g/h. My
caravan regulator appears to specify its flow rate in volumetric rather than
mass terms - and says 550 dm^3/hr - which I assume is 550 deci-cubic metres,
or 55 cubic metres. Anyone know how these figures relate to each other?
--
Cheers,
Set Square
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It actually worked quite well when we eventually got it going - but the
instructions are a *nightmare*

I wonder if the lack of suitable instructions (which may render a
potentially dangerous appliance really unsafe) are sufficient grounds
to get a refund ?

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In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Colin Wilson wrote:

It actually worked quite well when we eventually got it going - but
the instructions are a *nightmare*

I wonder if the lack of suitable instructions (which may render a
potentially dangerous appliance really unsafe) are sufficient grounds
to get a refund ?

Good idea - but having actually used it for several hours, that may be
difficult to argue.
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Cheers,
Set Square
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I wonder if the lack of suitable instructions (which may render a
potentially dangerous appliance really unsafe) are sufficient grounds
to get a refund ?
Good idea - but having actually used it for several hours, that may be
difficult to argue.

Not if you can`t dismantle safely it per the destructions :-}

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In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Set Square wrote:


What we still *can't* do is remove the regulator from the cylinder.
The instructions talk about pressing it down until it clicks (it
*doesn't* - it's solid!) and turning the lever to the disconnect
position. I can't for the life of me see either how it locks on, even
though it *does* - it doesn't seem to have enough moving parts - or
how to release it. Is there anyone out there who has fought with one
of these things, and won? [I can't help feeling that the instructions
describe a different regulator from the one they actually supplied.
For instance, it tells you to turn the gas on by pulling the tab
(*what* tab?) and turning the lever clockwise into the vertical
position. However, to be vertical, you have to turn it anti-clockwise
- and this isn't the ON position anyway!]

Well, I've finally sussed it. The instructions are totally wrong and must
surely apply to a different model of regulator. [My regulator says Enders
Type 1590 FWIW - but the instructions do not specify the model].

The illustrations in the instructions show the lever moving from horizontal
left to vertical - whereas it moves from horizontal right to vertical - and
no, it's not just a mirror image picture, 'cos the outlet pipe is in the
right place!

I've now discovered that with the lever in the horizontal right (off)
position, the travel limiting block under the lever can be pushed in - which
releases the whole thing and allows it to be lifted off.

So apart from the fact that the instructions are for the wrong regulator,
and tell you to turn the gas valve on the heater itself in the wrong
direction, they're pretty good! g

Bank Holiday today - but tomorrow I'm going to have a word with Trading
Standards because there are serious safety issues here. I'm not even going
to bother to complain to the branch - since there's no chance of any action
if I do.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
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