Bayonet valves or quick connect valves, as they are also known, give you the ability to plug in a portable appliance such as a room heater or a BBQ easily and safely.
While your Barbecue is primarily designed to be run from a single 9kg LPG cylinder, if you already have 2 x cylinders to say, supply your gas hot water unit or gas stove, then it's often more convenient to have a bayonet valve fitted next to your BBQ so that you can utilise the existing gas supplying your house and not have to worry about finding a spare cylinder when the gas runs out midway through cooking up a feast. If you know that you have a gas line running somewhere close to your BBQ point then teeing in and fitting a bayonet valve maybe worth considering.
Above: Twin gas cylinders installed below with changeover valve
It may also be the case that you have an outdoor kitchen setup with cooktop, possibly an oven and a built-in BBQ. In setups like this we can install a regulator (automatic or manual changeover) close by or even in the cupboards below. This minimises installation costs and allows you to very quickly changeover to the 2nd cylinder when the first cylinder runs out. Bear in mind that all gas cylinders that are part of a fixed gas installation need to have the correct clearances to ignition sources such as electrical sockets etc.
Room heaters on the Sunshine Coast may be in use for all of 2 months of the year but they are super quick to plug in and even quicker at heating the room. Popular models such as Rinnai, Omega and Bromic have a raft of safety measures built in to ensure comfort and convenience with no compromise. We have made good use of our Rinnai 516TR heater over the last decade. It has never failed to provide the heat to ensure no complaints during chilly school morning routines in June and July.
Bayonet valves to supply heater points can be either floor mounted chrome type or through the wall flush mounted type with external copper pipework. Of course, if you are building new or doing major renovation then the gas pipe can be run vertically up or down the wall to the valve so no pipe is seen on the outside. We have many years of experience at providing bayonet valves for heaters. Contact us for advice on what's best for you.
A word of caution. If you buy a second hand space heater for use on the Sunshine Coast, bear in mind that the heater needs to run on LPG. If you buy a natural gas heater from Brisbane, it will need to be converted before it can be used. Conversion kits can be purchased from the likes of Reece but they are expensive for what they are. A couple of jets and perhaps a spring. You could be looking at three to four hundred dollars in parts and labour to convert. Perhaps it's best just to ensure you get the correct one for the correct gas type.