Hilux 4x4 Forum

Is it legal to connect a gas stove hub as permanent by connecting the hose to a 9kg bottle and placing it under the counter, what does the law say?

The laws as I know it.

If you have the bottle inside (only 9kg bottles) the house your pipe may not be longer than 1 meter. The bottle must be in a cupboard with ventilation holes as well.

You can speak to uncle Volstruis if you want to know more ore even Adriaan Aucamp.

Thanks Cass, I'm hoping he'll see this and comment.

Thumelo ..... ja-nee ...


YES - we did it like this for my BIL ...

NO - the gas company pointed out a few things before they would issue the gas certificate ....




A hob is a "permanent installation", thus your insurance has every right to ask for an "installation certificate".



Our local gas company charge R 1000 for the certificate, or R 1400 for the installation AND the certificate ....





Thumelo the issues we encountered - no more than 9kg in the house, no more than 2m of the flexy hose, no more than two items supplied via a flexi hose, cupboard must be ventilated ..... Clearly the list is longer, but these are the most common issues.

Hi guys, just had this exact job done in the week. As said it's a legal requirement. If you don't your insurance cover is void on your house. The cupboard containing the bottle must be within 2 meters of the hob, and only copper piping is allowed between the connector in the "bottle" cupboard and hob itself... iow no rubber piping is allowed to going through cupboard side walls. I paid R1500, that was R 1300 for the installation including the COC, and R175 for cutting out the hole to fit the hob. Oh, if your cupboard has an overhang on the inner edge, the installers just drill ventilation holes in there.

That's it... I'm loving the gas cooking!

Bretton now get a WOK and start experimenting with stir fry ... :)


we really enjoy our gas hob :) :)


PS - DO keep a spare bottle !!!!!! Each winter there is a shortage of gas !!!!!!!

Yup... was quite shock when I arrived at Bfell Gas to find a queue of 20 people and a 40 minute wait! Yes, 2nd bottle is a must!

The gas install has quite a view legal issues but once that is done,, I would never go back to the "normal" Stove....

It is because of the gas shortage some times that I fitted a 48kg bottle to my stove that stands outside. Lasts about 9 - 10 months....

Thanks guys. Gas is the way to go, I've also just moved into a new place and already converting to solar. Today I bought 150W solar panel, mounting it on the roof tomorrow, a regulator, 95Ah battery - that will feed about 6 x 10W 12V flood lights. This will light up the parameter fence area outside. Once satisfied with the set-up, I'll add on to feed the house (inside) with 12V downlights.

A gas gyser, would follow, must just find a bank to rob

Donkey wrote:Thanks guys. Gas is the way to go, I've also just moved into a new place and already converting to solar. Today I bought 150W solar panel, mounting it on the roof tomorrow, a regulator, 95Ah battery - that will feed about 6 x 10W 12V flood lights. This will light up the parameter fence area outside. Once satisfied with the set-up, I'll add on to feed the house (inside) with 12V downlights.

A gas gyser, would follow, must just find a bank to rob

Yep, solar is the way to go!

After a nice ordeal with City of Tshwane today I will definitely speed up my off-grid process!

Gas geyser are quite easy to do. When you are there, give me a shout, I have installed a few and there are ways to do it and some ways not. PLEASE buy a decent gas geyser, a cheap and nasty model will give you endless trouble. The only brand thus far that has work flawless is the Dewhot range - www.dewhot.co.za

Thabo, saw something a week ago for about R10k for the gas geyser just can't get to the name now.

R10k is VERY expensive!!! Unless it produces its own gas, clean up after the dog and changes nappies!

Oh, and if you run out of gas, then no hot water?

Maybe a solar geyser is a better option. But next inline will be a water shortage....thus a 5000L watertank will be on the shopping list soon!

Thabogrobler wrote:R10k is VERY expensive!!! Unless it produces its own gas, clean up after the dog and changes nappies!

all depends on what is included .....


As a comparison, look at the options for a gas hob installation -

R 1 400 for the "installation and certificate" is a typical price.

Let's say you add a R 3 000 hob, then the cost is R 4 400.


Oooooo, add R 300 for a 9kg bottle .... R 4 700.


But you decide to rather get a dual bottle installation with a change over switch, and a cage, and due to some drains and windows the bottles are fitted some 6 or 7 more away from the hob, thus some extra costs on the copper pipe .... and before you know it, it becomes a R 10 000 exercise .....



Go for an expensive hob and it is easy to add a good few thousand rands to the final costs .....

Thabogrobler wrote:Oh, and if you run out of gas, then no hot water?

Maybe a solar geyser is a better option. But next inline will be a water shortage....thus a 5000L watertank will be on the shopping list soon!

uhm .... NO !!


Once you add a tank you loose municipal pressure. Now you need a pump set to provide pressure to the house ... and ELECTRICITY ....

I've done alot of research on what to use to augment my solar geysers with for the 4 chilly winter months. Answer for me is a gas geyser, hooked up to the 2 showers only(ok, maybe kitchen sink too). When you take into account all the factors such as loadshedding, electric geyser standing heat loss, gas instant heat, electricity rise costs, cost of a quality gas geyser vs heat pump, cost of installation of each... in my (new) opinion the gas geyser wins! Now I've just got to find someone reputable that can install a decent setup at reasonable cost!

ChrisF wrote:

Thabogrobler wrote:R10k is VERY expensive!!! Unless it produces its own gas, clean up after the dog and changes nappies!

all depends on what is included .....


As a comparison, look at the options for a gas hob installation -

R 1 400 for the "installation and certificate" is a typical price.

Let's say you add a R 3 000 hob, then the cost is R 4 400.


Oooooo, add R 300 for a 9kg bottle .... R 4 700.


But you decide to rather get a dual bottle installation with a change over switch, and a cage, and due to some drains and windows the bottles are fitted some 6 or 7 more away from the hob, thus some extra costs on the copper pipe .... and before you know it, it becomes a R 10 000 exercise .....



Go for an expensive hob and it is easy to add a good few thousand rands to the final costs .....

HOB wise you are correct, however, here we were discussing gas geysers. No matter what brand, R10k just for the geyser(domestic) is madness!

ChrisF wrote:

Thabogrobler wrote:Oh, and if you run out of gas, then no hot water?

Maybe a solar geyser is a better option. But next inline will be a water shortage....thus a 5000L watertank will be on the shopping list soon!

uhm .... NO !!


Once you add a tank you loose municipal pressure. Now you need a pump set to provide pressure to the house ... and ELECTRICITY ....

Once again, think about: Low pressure or no water?

Chris, how well is the water infrastructure in the Cape managed? Up in Gauteng it is pretty shoddy to put it mildly. I am a plumber by trade and see what is happening. On top of that, an old school mate is quite a senior at DWAF. The picture he paints is not very rosy!

Mr_B wrote:I've done alot of research on what to use to augment my solar geysers with for the 4 chilly winter months. Answer for me is a gas geyser, hooked up to the 2 showers only(ok, maybe kitchen sink too). When you take into account all the factors such as loadshedding, electric geyser standing heat loss, gas instant heat, electricity rise costs, cost of a quality gas geyser vs heat pump, cost of installation of each... in my (new) opinion the gas geyser wins! Now I've just got to find someone reputable that can install a decent setup at reasonable cost!

I agree 100% with you. The challenge arise when you can not lay your hands on gas!

I have installed quite a few gas geysers in my 102 years in the industry. Gas geysers is very good and I love them, however without gas it is a piece of modern art.

As a back up system: 100%

Thabogrobler wrote:

Mr_B wrote: I have installed quite a few gas geysers in my 102 years in the industry. Gas geysers is very good and I love them, however without gas it is a piece of modern art.

Blikemmer... maar jy's oud oom! The trick is to stock up on 3 or 4+ backup gas cylinders, which should be enough to carry you through the typical winter shortages. I've been told that there is a new lp gas facility being commissioned at Saldanha. This will greatly alleviated Cape Town's shortages, and it seems the cost per kg will also be substantially less(of course until the big oil companies do some collusion deal).

Mr_B wrote:

Thabogrobler wrote:

Mr_B wrote: I have installed quite a few gas geysers in my 102 years in the industry. Gas geysers is very good and I love them, however without gas it is a piece of modern art.

Blikemmer... maar jy's oud oom! The trick is to stock up on 3 or 4+ backup gas cylinders, which should be enough to carry you through the typical winter shortages. I've been told that there is a new lp gas facility being commissioned at Saldanha. This will greatly alleviated Cape Town's shortages, and it seems the cost per kg will also be substantially less(of course until the big oil companies do some collusion deal).

Ja, a few cylinders will solve the problem on the short term but AFAIK you may only store 48kg per stand.

Thabogrobler wrote:

Mr_B wrote:

Thabogrobler wrote:

Mr_B wrote: I have installed quite a few gas geysers in my 102 years in the industry. Gas geysers is very good and I love them, however without gas it is a piece of modern art.

Blikemmer... maar jy's oud oom! The trick is to stock up on 3 or 4+ backup gas cylinders, which should be enough to carry you through the typical winter shortages. I've been told that there is a new lp gas facility being commissioned at Saldanha. This will greatly alleviated Cape Town's shortages, and it seems the cost per kg will also be substantially less(of course until the big oil companies do some collusion deal).

Ja, a few cylinders will solve the problem on the short term but AFAIK you may only store 48kg per stand.

Sure... but they'll never find my 1000kg underground tank! Until it explodes of course!

Thabogrobler wrote:

ChrisF wrote:

Thabogrobler wrote:Oh, and if you run out of gas, then no hot water?

Maybe a solar geyser is a better option. But next inline will be a water shortage....thus a 5000L watertank will be on the shopping list soon!

uhm .... NO !!


Once you add a tank you loose municipal pressure. Now you need a pump set to provide pressure to the house ... and ELECTRICITY ....

Once again, think about: Low pressure or no water?

Chris, how well is the water infrastructure in the Cape managed? Up in Gauteng it is pretty shoddy to put it mildly. I am a plumber by trade and see what is happening. On top of that, an old school mate is quite a senior at DWAF. The picture he paints is not very rosy!

The potable hot and cold water installations forms part of my scope of works on larger projects.


Let's just say that the Cape aint far behind the rest of the country !! Look at Paarl, for instance. One part, has less than 3 bar pressure .... you know what this means in terms of all the services, not to mention the Fire water installations. Then less than 2km away, stil in Paarl, the pressure is TOO HIGH ! At night the old pipes keep on bursting, thus they switch OFF some of the supply pumps ... infrastructure pre-dates variable speed pumps.


We live in Oakglen Bellville. Last year I kept on fixing the ball valve in the main bath room ... Finally got a plumber in. He checked the water pressure, at 16:00 on a weekday - 13 bar !!!!! I had to fit a main PRV for the house.


Thus we now fit fresh water tanks at all our sites. With the x3 pump set and variable speed yada yada ... $$$$$



Maybe you can do what Family-Dog does - tank T'd off the main supply. Mains for day to day use. Then use the tank for toilet and bath when the municipality pulls an eksdom ..... Think Eric has one of those agricultural pumps and pressure vessels for these times. DO REMEMBER that this stagnant water should not be used for drinking water (for those not in this game)


ALTERNATIVELY .... you can always do this at HOME -
Two Big Blue filters with auto back wash, and a UV filter for the bugs. This client had a tank some 45 m above the house (mountain side)