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It has once again come to the attention of Club Management that some Members fill their LPG gas bottles with Autogas which they obtain from service stations. The reality is that the practice is illegal. It is potentially dangerous to your health, and it may invalidate your insurance cover in the event of a subsequent related claim.
People fill gas bottles from Autogas to save money; it is a lot cheaper. The substantial difference in cost is not, as usually believed however, to do with tax. The government does not currently levy excise tax on either gas (but both attract GST). The reason, claims the gas industry, why bottled gas costs a lot more than Autogas is almost entirely because of higher costs of distribution, storage and dispensation.
Chemically, Autogas and bottled gas are usually (but not invariably) different. They are not hugely different, but sufficiently different to cause problems. The Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) states that ‘bottled gas used for domestic purposes (like cooking and heating), ‘consists solely of propane’. Automotive gas (Autogas) however ‘usually consists of a mixture of propane and butane’.
In some instances however, and particularly on the East Coast, Autogas may sometimes be pure propane. This situation is due to ongoing variations in the respective availability of butane and propane. As a result (in some parts of Australia) the chemical content of Autogas is thus neither consistent nor predictable. There is no practical way however by which the average buyer can establish the chemical nature of an Autogas purchase. It may sometimes be pure propane, but most of the time and in most places it is far more likely to be a varying mixture of propane and butane. Further, it cannot be assumed that an outlet that was supplying propane-only Autogas today will have more of that same gas tomorrow.
Whatever the composition of any Autogas purchase, filling a gas bottle with Autogas is illegal. ‘It is illegal to fill an LPG cylinder, intended for domestic and portable appliances, from an automotive LPG dispenser,’ states Energy Safety’s Office of the Technical Regulator.
This ruling is State enforced, but is similar across the country. It appears to be based on Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 5601, where Clause 5.1.1 (in effect) states that appliances must be designed to suit a specific type of gas. Further, the Standard requires that, in respect to appliance and system installation, gas supply and gas type must be verified – and no domestic appliances are certified as suitable for operating from Autogas.
(Australian) LPG gas appliances are specifically designed to burn pure propane at the temperature that ensures the complete combustion that is vital to ensure to prevent the otherwise generation of deadly carbon monoxide: this temperature varies from gas to gas. Most Autogas contains butane and that butane has sufficiently different chemical characteristics as to preclude complete combustion in an appliance intended to run on propane. There is thus a very real risk of carbon monoxide gas being generated. (European LPG is a mixture of propane and butane, but the associated appliances are designed accordingly).
The AIP’s Safety and Standards Officer, Stephen Reynolds confirms that the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is very real. He told The Wanderer that [Australian] appliances are approved for propane . . . but Autogas generally contains butane. Appliances run on this will not have pure combustion. . . this will affect different appliances variously. . . but some become virtual carbon monoxide generators.’
The only too real dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning have been stressed in The Wanderer from time to time. It is not something to mess with – even low levels are particularly dangerous for older people and even more so for those with high blood pressure. Australian data is not available but it kills over 30,000 Americans each year. Most were campers and RV users who misused gas appliances. The Insurance Risk
Substituting Autogas for bottled LPG has serious insurance implications. The practice is illegal and almost all insurance policies explicitly exclude cover for any accident that is a consequence of illegal action.
Gary Hughes of Ken Tame and Associates advises The Wanderer that because purchasing Autogas for domestic use is an illegal activity, ‘any accident, injury or death that may occur as a result of this type of activity would probably invalidate most insurance policies, including compulsory third party insurance’. Could such gas substitution be subsequently detected? You bet: the insurance industry is well aware of this practice: the content of your gas bottle is the first thing the investigator will check.
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