DIY Gaslow refillable. worth doing it yourself?

[kevandali]

Hi All

Anyone fitted their own Gaslow System?

Thinking of buying the kit second hand and then either fitting myself or getting an expert to fit them (probably the second option)

Is it worth going down this route as brand new you are talking £500+

Any advice much appreciated, at the moment have seen a second hand 11kg bottle for £50 so thinking as there is no rush to fit it I could keep an eye out for another one then get all the other kit required.

Cheers All :-)

[mgnbuk]

I fitted my own to my last van, but why £500+ ?

 

Hamilton Gas Products do an 11kg cylinder for £150 & 1.5 meter fill kit for £76 with free delivery. That is all I have & it works fine for me. On the last van (Combi 4) I typically used around 12 litres over 3 weeks in Summer & a similar amount in 2 weeks in Autumn. 11kg is around 21 litres, so plenty in reserve & plenty of fill opportunities in Germany, Belgium & Holland anyway (though not so many in Austria, don't know about Italy & rarely go to France). On the current van (gas water heater & diesel heating) I have currently had 30 nights away on this fill. As you suggested that your new van (glad to hear it went well for you on your recent trip) might be "payload challenged", just using one cylinder should help with that ?

 

Only "interesting" bit when fitting was drilling the filler port hole in the skirt - very much case of measure several times before drilling ! The Roller Team skirts were plastic, so I made up an aluminium plate bracket that screwed to the floor & supported the fill port. The filler hose assemblies are quite heavy & unyeilding, so the fill port needs to be well supported. The bracket was Sikaflexed to both floor & skirt on final assembly. IIRC a different connection hose is required from the cylinder to the regulator - I think the refillables use a butane hose fitting, not the usual propane type.

 

HTH

 

Nigel B

[mildi]

I Fitted mine, not a problem but before I cut the hole in the skirt for the filler I must have measured and checked half a dozen times just to be sure.

Depends on how you are going to use the MH as to weather or not you will save money or maybe you just don't want to bother change bottles when they are empty. You could have one refillable and one Calor as a spare and reduce the cost.

If you plan on traveling around Europe for weeks/months like we did, I think it's a good idea.

 

[StuartO]

There is no single right answer to whether you should seek professional fitting because although in most cases DIY fitting is perfectly possible for a handy person, some of us will want the assurance of professional fitting and proper testing of the installation afterwards and think it's worth paying for.

 

[Derek Uzzell]

kevandali

 

Plenty of Gaslow-related information in this recent forum discussion, including links to Gaslow guidance on installation

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Installation-of-refillable-gas-bottle/47549/

 

A secondhand Gaslow canister for £50 will almost certainly be the original design of bottle with the well-known limited-range and unreliable magnetically-operated contents gauge.

 

Unless a motorcaravanner is going to use a LOT of gas, a user-refillable system comprising 2 x 11kg bottles has always struck me as overkill. Rather than have two old-design Gaslow bottles, you’d be wiser to follow mgnbuk’s approach and obtain a single new Gaslow 11kg “R67” container that has improved safety features and an accurate ‘mechanical’ contents gauge.

 

As mgnbuk has said, the high-pressure gas hose to connect a user-refillable bottle to a bulkhead-mounted 30mbar gas regulator employs a 21.8LH connector (as used with Calor 4.5kg butane bottles). Gaslow markets stainless-steel versions as shown here

 

http://www.gaslowdirect.com/epages/cyujrhdmmu67.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/cyujrhdmmu67/Products/01-6020-SS/SubProducts/01-6020-SS

[sshortcircuit]

If you are buying second hand check the test date on cylinder. Cylinders "should" be tested every 10 years.

[Tracker]

When I first used a refillable I placed the filler inlet just inside the gas locker in case I decided against after trialling it.

At no time did anyone ever question me opening the door to refill so I never did make the hole on the outside.

[kevandali]

Thanks again everyone for all the help,I think a Gaslow refillable and our normal calor bottle will be more than enough for our needs.

Will be buying new and getting it fitted as (er in doors) won't let me anywhere near the van, can't blame her really :-)

 

Will look at other threads and see where to buy, already got someone local who can fit it.

[Billggski]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182705446220

[Keithl]

Billggski - 2017-08-10 6:45 PM

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182705446220

 

All very well Bill but...

 

'Collection only' from Seascale in Cumbria! Not exactly local unless you're visiting the Lakes!

 

Keith.

[Robbo]

Gaslow sell refurbished cylinders if you don't mind putting up with the inaccurate magnetic contents gauge.

 

Less than £100 for the 11Kg cylinder but you'll need to ring for latest prices.

 

I have the one with the magnetic gauge and just let it run out then swop to my reserve calor bottle. Then fill up the Gaslow at the earliest opportunity.

 

My changeover valve is the Gaslow manual with pressure gauge - also good for checking for gas leaks between cylinder and appliances.

[Derek Uzzell]

As mbnbuk advised above, it’s possible to purchase a brand-new Gaslow R67 11kg canister from Hamilton Gas Products for £149.99 including delivery.

 

https://gasproducts.co.uk/caravan-marine/gaslow-refillable-gas-cylinder-systems.html?limit=24

 

Tracker mentions fitting a ‘remote’ filling-point within the motorhome’s gas-locker prior to deciding whether or not to install the filling-point externally. A cheaper/simpler alternative would be to either opt for a Gaslow R67 “Direct Fill” kit

 

http://www.gaslowdirect.com/epages/cyujrhdmmu67.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/cyujrhdmmu67/Categories/Cylinders/Buy_Now

 

or buy the bottle and Direct Fill adapter separately.

 

I can’t see any overwhelming argument for opting for a remote filling-point set-up unless there’s a very strong possibility the filling-point will be fitted externally. The Direct Fill approach reduces the installation procedure to screwing the filling adapter to the bottle (it needs to be tight) and screwing to the bottle the gas hose (‘pigtail’) that connects the bottle to the bulkhead-mounted gas regulator (assuming that’s the type of regulator the motorhome has).

 

If Kev’s wife is prepared to trust him to swap over Calor bottles ;-) it should be easy enough to convince her that screwing an adapter and gas-hose to a Gaslow bottle requires minimal additional technical expertise. In principle, Direct Fill bottle installation is a simpler procedure (and probably less vulnerable to user error) than subsequently refilling it.

[AndyLou]

If it is any use

We had a GAS-IT 11kg bottle fitted with external filler and EU adapters all for £250.

We had it done at the Newbury show.

 

 

[vindiboy]

http://s358.photobucket.com/user/vindiboy1/library/GAS  Definitely worth doing, I fitted mine myself but I used GASIT, very good to deal with, ordered the kit one day and delivered the next, easy enough to fit if you are reasonably competent , gas is so much cheaper to buy and the system pays for itself  quickly depending on your gas usage.

[lancepar]

sshortcircuit - 2017-08-10 9:08 AM

 

If you are buying second hand check the test date on cylinder. Cylinders "should" be tested every 10 years.

 

This is true of the new Gaslow R67 cylinders, older type are 15 year jobbies.

 

BTW

My 2 x 11kg Gaslow came used and I fitted them with an external filler. However if doing it again I would go for 2 x 6kg.

 

B-)

[kevandali]

Thanks for all the info, had seen the 2 x 6kg set up for sale on Ebay and going up to Coniston August Bank Holiday, so that is a possibility, just not sure wether to go for the two refillable or a one refillable and one calor 6kg non refillable?

We have an empty french bottle and gas connection that I bought (just in case) we got stuck while in France *-)

[Derek Uzzell]

Kev

 

Bear in mind that the Gaslow 2 x 6kg canister system being advertised on ebay is based on a pair of old-style bottles having (as I said earlier) “...the well-known limited-range and unreliable magnetically-operated contents gauge”.

 

OK, you’d be getting two user-refillable bottles, a Truma “Duocomfort” automatic changeover valve/regulator and a set of stainless-steel gas hoses and a remote filling-point, but all of those items are secondhand and there’s no knowing the ‘cleanliness’ of the autogas that has been run through the system in past years.

 

An 11kg Gaslow R67 canister costs about £20 more than a 6kg R67 one, so if your Auto-Trail Apache’s gas-locker can accommodate the 11kg canister, there seems little point in having (or paying for) two 6kg bottles as the latter’s overall capacity of LPG is only 1kg more than that of the larger single bottle. There is some justification for opting for a 2 x 6kg bottle system when a motorhome’s gas-locker cannot accommodate an 11kg bottle, but it’s not easy to see why one might choose that approach otherwise.

 

With a single user-refillable canister system, carrying a ‘back-up’ bottle makes sense. I have always carried a (full) Calor 6kg propane bottle as a back-up to my user-refillable canister, but I’ve yet to need to bring the Calor bottle into play. In your case, you might choose to carry the Calor bottle in the UK and the French bottle while in France.

 

For around £260 you should be able to source a brand new Gaslow system comprising an 11kg R67 canister, a remote filling-point + stainless-steel hose and a stainless-steel ‘pigtail’, with (say) a further £20 for filling adapters for the UK and abroad. You could certainly obtain a new user-refillable system for a fair bit less, but the canister would be less sophisticated than the R67 bottle and the hoses would not be stainless-steel.

 

And, if you want to go REALLY cheap, there’s always this option...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/lpg-gas-bottle-filling-adapter-with-non-return-valve-for-added-safety-autogas-/171769930688?hash=item27fe4923c0:g:8v4AAOSwrklVPnxQ

[kevandali]

Cheers Derek, Our locker will take an 11kg bottle so it looks like a new Gaslow bottle and all the fittings and then carry a spare 6kg Calor/French bottle as required.

As always, thanks for all the info :-)

[nosbod]

I have a 11kg Gasit. cylinder valid until 2014 surplus to requirements as my new van only takes one cylinder.

No sensible offer refused and can be picked up at Malvern next week.

John

[paul2]

nosbod - 2017-08-13 10:00 AM

 

I have a 11kg Gasit. cylinder valid until 2014 surplus to requirements as my new van only takes one cylinder.

No sensible offer refused and can be picked up at Malvern next week.

John

 

 

HI

Un sure of the valid to 2014!!

I have sent you a PM

 

Paul

[ColinM50]

I fitted the 11Kg Gaslite cylinder plus a Calor 11kg one earlier this spring. Bought everything from Tektanks in Coventry and found them very helpful and I think it all came to around £150 for everything. Was dead easy to fit though to actually get the cylinders in the locker I had to take out the regulator and move it and so needed to get a new bit of copper pipe, but it's all fairly easy.

 

I didn't fit the filling valve permanently, I want to be able to take it with me for the next van so don't want to leave a hole in the van. Only filled up once in Belgium in May and there was no issue. In fact the other way. I didn't know what to do but the v. nice attendant in the paybooth could see I was struggling so she came out with the right adaptor, and showed me how to do it. Oooer missus. BTW she told me all the LPG filling stations keep a selection of adaptors for people to borrow

 

Not used all the GasIt gas yet so not needed to refill but the "plan" is that when the Gasit tank runs out I'll switch to Calor then refill at the first opportunity but that's not happened yet. Apparanlty there is a way I can fill the Calor from the Gasit but not tried it and to be honest one Calor cylinder every three or four years going by current usage, won't break the bank

[Derek Uzzell]

ColinM50 - 2017-08-13 5:13 PM

 

I fitted the 11Kg Gaslite cylinder plus a Calor 11kg one earlier this spring. Bought everything from Tektanks in Coventry and found them very helpful and I think it all came to around £150 for everything...

 

I’m unsure what system you have and where you sourced it from *-)

 

There is a “Gaslight” gas bottle (5kg and 10kg propane) and Calor has marketed a “CalorLite” canister (6kg propane) but those cylinders are not intended to be user-refillable. A Calor 11kg (propane) bottle exists, but (as far as I’m aware) it is not marketed in the UK where the nearest Calor size to 11kg is a 13kg (propane) bottle.

 

I can’t find any reference to Tektanks in Coventry. There is a Tek-Tanks firm near Aldershot that specialises in custom-building plastic water and waste tanks for boats and vehicles, and there’s CAK Tanks at Kenilworth near Coventry that does market Gaslow user-refillable cylinders. There is also the GAS IT company that sells user-refillable bottles, but they are based in Caernavon. £150 seems remarkably cheap for a complete system that includes a brand-new 11kg gas bottle and remote refilling-point, though it will be possible to buy the bottle alone for that sum.

 

A Calor bottle has a single outlet valve and although it is practicable to refill a Calor bottle by connecting that valve to an autogas pump

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/lpg-gas-bottle-filling-adapter-with-non-return-valve-for-added-safety-autogas-/171769930688?hash=item27fe4923c0:g:8v4AAOSwrklVPnxQ

 

doing so would infringe Calor’s Hire Agreement conditions and there’s a very real risk of over-filling the Calor bottle that has no 80% cut-off valve.

 

By installing appropriate valves, I expect one could construct a gas system that would permit the Calor bottle to be refilled via the remote filling-point, but it’s difficult to see how one might remove the over-filling risk. It would be interesting to know what technique has been suggested that you might employ to “fill the Calor from the Gasit”.

[veletron]

If you are handy then its easy, just don't cut any holes without measuring several times, and drill a pilot hole 1st for the external filler as then you get to adjust the holes position by 35mm or so if you got it wrong!

 

Go for the 4-hole Gaslow or Gasit equiv cylinders. I have the older style 2-hole cyclinders (as they were cheap), but the level gauges are absolutely useless.

 

http://photos.veletron.com/index.php/album151/Van-Mods/14710362151116

 

http://photos.veletron.com/index.php/album151/Van-Mods/14710362147320

 

Nigel

[Derek Uzzell]

Nigel

 

It’s perhaps worth mentioning that - following the problems of gas regulators being damaged/blocked by ‘oily residues’ - it was advised that the high-pressure hose ('pigtail’) that connects the gas- bottle to the regulator should incline upwards throughout the hose’s full length. The thinking behind that approach is that it minimises the likelihood of liquid gas ‘pooling’ in the hose where it might attack the hose’s interior and/or be blown into the regulator’s internals.

 

It’s often not easy to achieve the upwards-inclination without modifying the motorhome’s original gas installation, and I’m not sure in your case if it would be possible to remove the downward ‘dips’ in your hoses without first moving the Truma Duocomfort changeover-device/regulator closer to the gas-locker’s ceiling.

 

I’ve attached a couple of examples that conform to that advice.

[mgnbuk]

" I have the older style 2-hole cyclinders (as they were cheap), but the level gauges are absolutely useless."

 

I, too, have an earlier type 11kg Gaslow cylinder, but would not describe the gauge as "absolutely useless", or "unreliable" as suggested in other posts.

 

True it does not show - at a glance - the instantaneous level in the cylinder & it could best be described as "binary" in it's operation. But over the past 4 1/2 years what mine has reliably indicated, at the point that the needle drops from showing "Full" to "Empty", is that the cylinder is half full. Filling up as soon as possible after the gauge "drop" gets less than 11 litres into a cylinder that took 21 1/2 litres from empty. That is a whole lot more advance notice than you get with an exchangeable cylinder ! And ample warning to top up - the minimum length of time I have used half a tank-full was 3 days in very low temperatures between Xmas & New Year, so getting 3 days notice of running out doesn't seem too bad to me.

 

I have not felt the need to carry a "back-up" exchangeable cylinder since I fitted the Gaslow. I could have in the last van, as there was space in the gas locker, but the Chausson only has space for one cylinder.

 

I could see a reason to carry one & that would be to have an alternative gas source if you happened to get a "bad" fill. Some would have you believe that UK Autogas is "100% propane" - after 150,000 miles in two LPG-converted cars I would suggest that is not the case. LPG cars (for which Autogas is primarily supplied) use heated vaporisers to convert the liquid fuel to vapour. It is not unkown for "other" gasses to be added to Autogas that will burn fine but which do not readily vapourise at ambient temperatures. Get a tank full of such a mix in your habitation gas & you may well have a full tank but no "gas". I seem to recall seeing a thread on one of the other forums where this had occurred & the only solution is to empty the cylinder & try again with a fresh fill.

 

On the Continent Autogas is more likely to be assumed to be a mix - on one pump in Germany (Aral IIRC) it was stated that the gas was a 70:30 mix that varied by season - warmer months 70 % butane : 30 % propane & cooler months 70% propane : 30% butane. If you filled up on a "Summer" mix at the end of a holiday & returned to use the van in the winter here, once the propane had vapourised you may end up with 70% of a tank-full of butane that would not readily vaporise at low ambient temperatures.

 

I should add that I have not had such issues & neither has my caravanning brother, who has been using Gaslow cylinders for around 10 years now, but it may be something else to consider.

 

Nigel B