LPG Maintenance & Safety Check Schedule for Mobile Caterers (2026): Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annual
Last updated: July 2026
In 30 seconds:
- Mobile catering LPG kit needs four maintenance rhythms: daily (leak and flame checks), weekly (clean burners and jets), monthly (hoses, thermocouples, dates) and annual (a CP44 by a Gas Safe registered engineer).
- The daily routine takes about 10 minutes. Most LPG incidents in food trailers trace back to something that routine would have caught.
- Budget from £150 to £250 a year for the whole propane side — the CP44 plus rolling hose and regulator replacement.
- Hoses get replaced 5 years from the date stamped on them. Regulators get replaced at 10 years. Not from the day you bought them.
- Generators are the odd one out. They are serviced on engine hours, not calendar days.
Planning cylinder swaps around a trading week? Our LPG cylinder run-time calculator works out how long a 19 kg or 47 kg cylinder lasts on your setup.
Every mobile caterer knows they should check the propane system. Very few have an actual schedule for it, and that is where trouble starts.
A written maintenance and safety check schedule is the accepted standard for UK mobile catering LPG systems. It is what a Gas Safe registered engineer expects to see, and what an environmental health officer or event organiser will ask about first.
Why bother writing it down? Because “I check it regularly” is not a defence. A dated logbook is. It also spreads the work out, so nothing lands on you the week before a big event.
Why four intervals and not one? Different failures happen on different timescales. A loose fitting can appear overnight. Hose perishing takes years. One checklist cannot catch both.
Why does this matter more for mobile than static kitchens? Your kitchen gets towed, vibrated, loaded and rained on. A fixed kitchen does not move. Vibration is what works fittings loose and abrades hoses.
The honest summary: the mistake that catches most traders is treating the annual CP44 as the whole job. The certificate is a snapshot of one day. It says nothing about the 364 days after it, which is exactly when hoses chafe, jets block and thermocouples drift.
The Whole LPG Maintenance Schedule at a Glance
| Interval | What you check | Roughly how long | Who does it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every trading day | Leak test, hose condition, flame quality, ventilation, shut-down at the cylinder | 10 minutes | You |
| Every week | Burner and jet cleaning, drip trays, flame failure devices, cylinder storage | 30 minutes | You |
| Every month | Hose and regulator date stamps, thermocouples, clearances, carbon monoxide alarm test | 30 minutes | You |
| Every year | CP44 inspection and certificate for the whole installation | Half a day | Gas Safe registered engineer (CP44 qualified) |
| By hours run | Generator oil, air filter, spark plug | Varies | You, then a dealer at 1,000 hours |
Print this table and tape it inside a cupboard door. A schedule you cannot see is a schedule you will not follow.
Every Trading Day: The 10-Minute Open and Close Routine
This is the routine that earns its keep. Do it before you light anything, every single trading day.
Step 1 — Look and smell before you touch anything
Open up and let the unit air for a minute. If you can smell propane, stop. Do not switch anything on, including lights.
Why: propane is heavier than air and pools in low spaces. A spark from a light switch is enough.
Step 2 — Check the cylinder is upright and secured
Propane cylinders must stand upright and be strapped so they cannot topple in transit or in a crowd.
Why: a cylinder on its side can feed liquid propane into the regulator instead of vapour. That damages appliances and creates a far bigger flame than intended.
Step 3 — Run your eye along every hose
Look for cracking, kinking, stiffness, abrasion and anything resting against a hot surface or a sharp edge.
Why: hoses fail where they rub or bake, not in the middle where they look fine. Our LPG hose and regulator guide covers the standards and the replacement rules in full.
Step 4 — Leak-test every joint you disturbed
Open the cylinder valve with all appliances off. Brush approved leak detection fluid, or plain soapy water, onto each connection. Bubbles mean a leak.
Why: every cylinder change breaks and remakes a joint. Never test with a naked flame, and never use household detergent containing ammonia on brass fittings.
Step 5 — Light each appliance and read the flame
A healthy propane flame is crisp and blue with a small inner cone. Yellow, lazy or lifting flames mean a problem.
Why: yellow flames mean incomplete combustion, which produces carbon monoxide. The usual causes are a blocked jet, a dirty burner or not enough air.
Step 6 — Confirm ventilation is open and clear
Check that fixed vents are not blocked by stock, cardboard or a wind break. Low-level vents matter most.
Why: vents do two jobs — they supply air for combustion and let any leaked propane escape at floor level.
Step 7 — Shut down at the cylinder, not the appliance
At the end of trade, close the cylinder valve first and let the appliances burn off what is left in the line.
Why: it leaves the hose depressurised overnight. A hose with no pressure in it cannot leak while you sleep.
Every Week: The Deeper 30-Minute Check
- Clean burners and jets. Cooked-on grease and carbon are the number one cause of yellow flames and uneven heat.
- Empty and wash drip trays. Fat sitting under a burner is a fire waiting for a busy Saturday.
- Test every flame failure device. Light the burner, blow the flame out, and time how long until the propane cuts. It should stop within about a minute.
- Check appliance clearances. Most LPG catering appliances need at least 100 mm clear at the rear and sides. Stock creeps into that gap as the week goes on.
- Look at the cylinder locker. Drain holes clear, no stored rags or cardboard, nothing leaning on the regulator.
- Wipe control knobs and gauges. You cannot read a setting through a layer of grease, and guessed settings waste propane.
Every Month: The Checks People Forget
Monthly checks are about dates and safety devices. They take half an hour and prevent the expensive surprises.
- Read the date stamp on every hose. Commercial LPG hose gets replaced 5 years from its manufacture date, or sooner if it looks tired.
- Read the date stamp on the regulator. Propane regulators get replaced at 10 years from the date on the body.
- Inspect thermocouples. The Infernus single burner manual asks for a monthly thermocouple and hose inspection. Treat that as the standard for all your kit.
- Test the carbon monoxide alarm. Press the test button, and replace the unit at its own expiry date.
- Check the fire blanket and extinguisher. Gauge in the green, pin in place, blanket not gummed shut with grease.
- Update the logbook. Date, what you checked, what you found, what you did.
Every Year: The CP44 and the Paper Trail
Once a year the whole installation gets inspected by a Gas Safe registered engineer holding the mobile catering qualification. That inspection produces the CP44 certificate.
Most traders pay from £150 to £350 for a single-unit inspection, with each extra appliance adding roughly £25 to £40. Full detail, including what the engineer actually tests and what a failure looks like, is in our CP44 gas safety certificate guide.
Book it in a quiet month. Booking it the week before a festival is how traders end up trading without a valid certificate.
Appliance by Appliance: What Each Bit of Kit Needs
The schedule above covers the propane system. Each appliance then has its own care routine on top.
| Appliance | The one thing that kills them | Detailed guide |
|---|---|---|
| LPG fryer | Old oil and a blocked pilot assembly | LPG fryer maintenance and safety checks |
| LPG griddle | Carbon build-up on the plate and a full drip tray | LPG griddle maintenance guide |
| LPG bain marie | Running it dry, and washing the body with water | LPG bain marie maintenance |
| Water boiler | Limescale in the boiler | Fracino Atlantis Mini Gas servicing |
| LPG generator | Skipped oil changes | Greengear maintenance schedule |
Two appliance rules worth repeating. Never wash an LPG appliance body with water or a jet washer — damp wrecks the controls. And on a wet bain marie, water goes in the tank before the burner goes on, every time.
Generators Run on Hours, Not Days
This is the bit caterers get wrong most often. A generator does not care what month it is. It cares how many hours it has run.
- Every 8 hours (daily): check the oil level and top up. Clean the unit, check bolts and nuts.
- First 20 hours, then every 100 hours: change the engine oil.
- Every 50 hours: clean the air filter element.
- Every 100 hours: replace the air filter element and clean the spark arrester.
- Every 200 hours: clean and re-gap the spark plug.
- Every 500 hours: replace the spark plug.
- Every 1,000 hours: valve clearance and carburettor work — dealer job, not a roadside one.
A trader doing two 10-hour events a week hits 100 hours in about five weeks. Browse the range on our LPG generators pages if you are still choosing.
What It Costs to Stay on Top of It
| Item | Typical cost | How often |
|---|---|---|
| CP44 inspection, single unit | From £150 to £350 | Yearly |
| Each additional appliance on the certificate | From £25 to £40 | Yearly |
| Replacement commercial propane hose | From £25 | Every 5 years |
| Replacement 37 mbar propane regulator | From £20 | Every 10 years |
| Leak detection fluid, brushes, spare jets | From £15 | Yearly |
| Generator oil and filter consumables | From £20 | Per 100 hours |
Across a year the propane side of a typical single-unit trailer runs from £150 to £250. That is the cost of doing business, not an optional extra.
Keep a Logbook — It Is Your Defence
A cheap notebook in the unit beats a perfect system you never fill in. Record the date, the check, the result and the action.
Three moments make a logbook worth its weight: an event organiser asking for evidence, an insurance claim after an incident, and an engineer trying to diagnose an intermittent fault. In all three, dated history answers the question faster than memory.
Six Mistakes That Catch Caterers Out
- Treating the CP44 as the whole job. It is one day’s snapshot, not a year’s maintenance.
- Dating hoses from purchase. The clock is the manufacture stamp on the hose, which may already be two years old on the shelf.
- Ignoring a yellow flame because the food still cooks. Yellow means incomplete combustion and carbon monoxide.
- Servicing the generator by calendar. Fit an hour meter and work to hours.
- Storing anything in the cylinder locker. It is a ventilated space for cylinders, not a shelf.
- Using butane because it was cheaper that week. Butane stops vaporising around 2°C and leaves you dead in the water on a cold morning. Mobile catering runs on propane at 37 mbar.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I check my mobile catering LPG system?
Check it every trading day. A 10-minute routine covering leaks, hose condition, flame quality and ventilation catches almost everything that goes wrong. On top of that, run a deeper clean weekly, check hose and regulator dates monthly, and book a CP44 inspection once a year with a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Do I legally need a CP44 certificate every year?
Yes in practice. UK mobile caterers need their LPG installation inspected annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer holding the mobile catering qualification, and the CP44 is the resulting certificate. Event organisers, local authorities and insurers all ask to see a current one. Expect to pay from £150 to £350 for a single unit.
How often should LPG hoses be replaced on a catering trailer?
Replace commercial LPG hose 5 years from the manufacture date stamped on the hose itself, not from the day you bought it. Replace sooner if you see cracking, kinking, stiffness or abrasion. Propane regulators run to 10 years from the date on the body. A hose baked on a hot trailer floor ages faster than the calendar suggests.
Can I do my own LPG safety checks?
You can do the daily, weekly and monthly checks yourself — visual inspections, leak testing with soapy water, burner cleaning and flame checks are all owner tasks. What you cannot do is the annual inspection, any pipework alteration or any repair to an appliance LPG control. Those need a Gas Safe registered engineer with the mobile catering qualification.
What regulator pressure do UK catering appliances need?
Commercial mobile catering appliances run on propane at 37 mbar. That is the figure stamped on the correct regulator and the pressure every appliance in the range is rated for. A 28 mbar butane regulator is not interchangeable and will starve the burners. Check the regulator marking whenever you replace one.
Can I run my catering appliances on butane in summer?
No. Stick to propane all year round. Butane stops vaporising reliably at around 2°C, so a cold morning leaves you with a cylinder that feels full but delivers nothing. Butane also needs a different 28 mbar regulator. Propane vaporises down to about −42°C, which is why every commercial appliance is rated for it.
How do I leak-test an LPG connection safely?
Turn every appliance off, open the cylinder valve, then brush approved leak detection fluid or plain soapy water over each joint. Growing bubbles mean a leak. Close the cylinder valve, tighten or remake the joint, and test again. Never test with a naked flame, and never ignore a smell of propane.
Do I need a carbon monoxide alarm in a food trailer?
Yes. Any enclosed unit burning propane should have a working carbon monoxide alarm sited away from the burners and tested monthly. Alarms have their own expiry date, usually 7 to 10 years, printed on the back. Replace at that date rather than waiting for the low-battery chirp.
Next Steps
Print the schedule table, put a notebook in the unit, and book the CP44 for a quiet month. Then work through the appliance guides above, one per week, until each bit of kit has its own routine.
If you are still sizing a setup, our LPG cylinder sizes guide explains which cylinder suits which kind of trading pattern.