propane gas

[Guest henry]

is propane gas available in France in 6kg bottles? regards Henry

[Guest Ray]

Propane and butane are both available in Le Cube throughout France. Butane is 6kg so assume same size propane cube is slightly less.

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

Essentially, there are 3 French species of exchangeable LPG container. The first is a large steel bottle 31cm in diameter and 58cm in height, holding 13kg of butane or 12kg of propane. A standardised French 20 x 150 threaded hose-connection is used irrespective of whether the bottle contains butane or propane. The second type of bottle is a smaller capacity 'stackable' type. These are also 31cm in diameter but only 31cm in height. When one bottle is stacked on another the total height of the piggy-backed pair is 58cm, thus 2 of these bottles will fit in the same space as one large steel bottle. (This feature can be useful in certain motorhomes where the gas-locker design only permits a single big bottle to be accommodated.) The LPG contents are 6kg butane or 5.1kg propane and the containers are available under the trade-names of ELFI, MALICE or TWINY according to which oil company markets them. They all use the same type of clip-on 20mm bottle-top connector. The third type is (as Ray mentions) "Le Cube", marketed by Butagaz. This is a plastic-bodied square-section container 28.2cm per side and 35.5cm in height, holding 6kg of butane or 5kg of propane and using a clip-on 27mm bottle-top connector. As all of these containers are exchangeable, to obtain any of them you would need to enter into a hire-contract with the supplier that involves an initial deposit (exactly as you do with Calor, or other LPG suppliers, in the UK). However, there are regular promotional offers relating to the smaller-size bottles, so the deposit can be quite small and a suitable regulator (or full-pressure connector) normally comes as part of the deal. Sometimes you can even get a second bottle for almost nothing. My understanding is that, as long as you have the hire-contract paperwork, you can get a full refund of your initial deposit if you hand in a bottle (unlike with Calor). I also understand that, even without the paperwork, LPG bottles have a small 'trade-in' value of a couple of euros, so you won't find them being dumped at recycling centres as happens in the UK. Needless to say, you can't exchange UK bottles for French ones (or vice versa) and you'll have to make some changes to your motorhome's gas system to employ French LPG containers. How extensive these changes will be will depend on your present system - if you've got a 30mbar 'fixed regulator' set-up and you want to prepare your system in advance, then you'd need a UK Calor-type butane 4.5kg hose + a 20mm clip-on connector for ELFI, MALICE or TWINY bottles, or the same hose + a 27mm clip-on connector for Le Cube. If your current system is the UK-traditional type using a low-pressure hose and on-bottle regulator, then you'll need to obtain (most probably in France) the correct propane regulator for the appropriate French bottle and replace your existing regulator. When I researched this I noticed that French propane regulators were sold without a 'nipple fitting' that would allow push-in connection to a flexible hose. However, this fitting is available separately (it normally comes free with butane regulators) and can be used to adapt a French propane regulator. One final caveat - all French LPG containers are wider than UK 7kg/6kg bottles. So watch out if your motorhome is UK-built and its gas-locker door or the locker itself has been 'tailored' to our 7kg/6kg containers. (By the way, it's well worth getting hold of a Gaslow product leaflet (www.gaslow.co.uk) as this describes the LPG hoses/adapters needed for various European countries.)

[Guest Ray]

As Derek points out, the important thing is to check the size of your gas locker. We used to rely on two Gaz 907 bottles which are easy to exchange at garages and Supermarkets but very expensive if you self-cater or need to use the heater.(cheaper in Spain or Portugal). We found that we could get one Cube and a Gaz 907 in the locker of out Autosleeper Executive. The 907 being the standby when the Cube runs out, usually at about 5am when it is raining. Unfortunately most UK manufactures seem to think that we all stay in this country and only use Calor. enjoy your trip Thelma and Ray Wolverhampton.

[Guest henry]

gulp!!!!! I think I understand and my van being a Hymer will take some of said bottles!!! thanks for all the comments, if you see someone looking helpless and English, do stop and sort us out!!!!! regards Henry

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

Henry: I'm not absolutely sure whether you are concerned about what to do if your (presumably 6kg propane) UK gas bottles run out during your forthcoming French trip, or whether you plan to go to France very regularly and deliberately wish to change your motorhome's present gas system to use French bottles. In either case, your Hymer's gas-locker will be able to accommodate a pair of the large French steel bottles (normally referred to 'over there' as 13kg-capacity no matter what gas they contain) and, obviously, a pair of any of the other smaller bottle-types. If you think the amount of gas in your present 6kg bottles may be insufficient for the duration of your trip abroad, you might consider switching to larger capacity UK bottles before heading off to France. German 'vans will rarely accommodate 2 x 13kg Calor propane bottles, but they will sometimes take 1 x 13kg + 1 x 6kg Calor containers. If neither of these options is practical for your Hymer, I'm sure you'll find that a pair of 11kg propane bottles of the type marketed by Flogas, BG Supergas and other regional suppliers will fit in your motorhome's gas-locker. 22kg of propane should last you a long time in August/September even if you don't use campsites and it might be better to start off knowing you've got sufficient gas on board for your complete trip than chance your luck and perhaps have to swap to 'foreign' bottles part way through your holiday.