IF YOU SMELL GAS :- EXTINGUISH ALL FLAMES, OPEN ALL WINDOWS & DOORS, GET OUT, TURN OFF THE GAS, CALL THE BOATYARD FOR HELP

The gas system on a boat is one of the most safety critical installations. Propane, the gas used is heavier than air, which means that if a leak does occur any gas that escapes will fall to the bottom of the boat, where it will slowly build up until  it is either removed by a draught (opening all the doors and windows) or it finds something to ignite it and explodes. For this reason the gas bottles are always kept outside of the cabin area, in a separate locker which has vents to the outside at the very bottom, this way if there is a leak at the cylinder it disperses harmlessly over the side. All gas appliances fitted to boats have to have a flame failure device, which in short relies on the heat of the pilot flame to keep the gas supply on, if the pilot light gets blown out the gas supply to that appliance is automatically turned off.

Cookers

Just about all boats use gas cookers, at one time these were small units, now they tend to be domestic versions converted to run on bottled gas. My own domestic cooker even came with a set of jets to enable it to use propane. That said I should point out performance can vary, and that most critical of all foods, toast, can require several turns to get evenly done. You may also find cooking times slightly longer than you would expect at home.

Central Heating

Although some smaller boats use warm air for heating the larger ones use a small gas boiler unit, this will either supply just the radiators, or the radiators and domestic hot water system. To avoid excessive battery drain the systems are 'gravity fed' which means they rely on the 'heat rises' principle to circulate the hot water, a system that seems to work very well and silently. If the hot water does not come from the boiler it will be provided by a heat exchange unit known as a calorifier which uses the cooling water of the engine to heat the domestic water. If this is the case you will need to have run the engine to heat the tank.

Fridges

Gas fridges went through a time of not meeting the new safety regulations but now Electrolux at least (and probably others too) have produced a balanced flue gas fridge that does meet the new regs. but electric is the norm on new boats. A gas fridge can be very good, but the ice box is small, and at best rated at 2 star, which is Ok for a week or so. Generally speaking regard a gas fridge as something to keep things cool in, do not rely on it the same as your domestic one.