Small single burner butane stoves have become very popular in camping kits due to their ease of use and low purchase price, in fact many of us probably have one (or two) stowed away – possibly in the back of their 4WD. Having become somewhat ubiquitous, how safe are they?
The first thing is to check the stove has an Australian Gas Association (AGA) compliance sticker/logo, if it doesn’t have the sticker it is not compliant for use in Australia … toss it and get one that is compliant.
Given general safety procedures such as cooking outdoors in well ventilated areas and not using hot plates or pans that cover the entire stove (overlapping the canister flap) what else should we be looking out for to avoid explosions?
In the September 2013 edition of Exceed (the Pajero 4WD Club Vic magazine) there was an article that flagged an important element of safety with the Butane cans. (Partially reproduced in the club forums)
The CRV (Countersink Release Vent) is a Butane can safety feature that allows gas to vent through the perforations in the can rim when extreme heat or pressure is too much. Non CRV cans will exploded with damaging results.
The CRV approved cans are identified by their certification marked on the can and packaging (certification and compliance of either EN417 or UL147B) they also have a light blue colour rim.
Having checked the stock in our Venturer Den, only 1 can in 5 was a CRV can. This situation has now been rectified and we will only purchase and use cans with the CRV certification.
On the 4th March 2015, Fair Trading NSW released a public warning regarding the portable butane cookers ( http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/News_and_events/Media_releases/2015_media_releases/20150304_public_warning_on_portable_butane.page? ). The finding was “Up to 31 models of butane gas cookers have been withdrawn from sale …” and “Testing, undertaken at the request of NSW Fair Trading and other State gas regulators, has found a fault with the cookers’ shut-off valves, posing a risk that the devices may overheat and could explode.”. The Certification is via AGA and is therefore a National certification suspension.
( Interestingly there was no indication i the release to indicate if units were tested with CRV (Countersink Release Vent) or non-compliant butane cylinders; but being a valve issue it probably doesn’t matter.)
At this stage it would be best NOT to use these devices at all until the AGA (Australia Gas Association) compliance of all the devices is clarified. It would be great to have a definitive “revoked certification appliance list” but such a thing doesn’t exist.
You can search http://equipment.gtrc.gov.au/default.aspx Certifier = Australia Gas Association, Status = Suspended and sort by expiry date and look through each of the 2015 Suspended ‘LPG portable and mobile appliances’ to get a feel for which ones have failed (pers. comm. phone call to the AGA, some suspended models are being re-certified with slight changes).
I think a good Standard Operating Practice for the moment is don’t use the butane cookers until their status is clarified. Better safe than sorry.