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gas supplies in france


Guest Brian Gilbert

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Guest Brian Gilbert
We have been motorhomeing for just a year and a half and have just returned from a month (November) in france mainly down south. Towards the end we were getting low on gas there seem to be no Calor suppliers anywhere. e have a new Burstner with two 6kg calor bottles what do more experienced campers do for long stays in france suggestions please, are special connectors required
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Guest Derek Uzzell
This is a subject that has been regularly aired on the forum. In fact there's been so much discussion it's not easy to select the postings likely to to most useful to you. Try using the forum search facility with the keyword character-string "gas in france" (omitting the quotes). This will retrieve a relatively small number of postings that I think should answer your questions pretty well. If they don't you can always ask about anything that's been overlooked.
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Brian To save all the confusion that Derek refers to, I suggest having a fixed lpg tank fitted. There! You're sorted anywhere in Europe. Regards Neal
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Neal Not everyone can afford, or wants, a fixed tank. I'd suggest trying to get a larger bottle in the Burstner gas cupboard if possible as only having two 6kg seems rather small for a motorhome. Failing that it may be possible to carry a further 6kg bottle somewhere in the van so long as it is properly sealed and a drop out vent is cut into the bottom of where ever it is kept. We did this on our last trip to France/Germany by putting a spare bottle in the 'garage' of our loan van. Other than that, stay on sites where you have the option of using electricity some of the time for cooking and buy an electric ring - you can pick them up quite cheaply now.
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Hi Brian, Derek is right there have been many references to "gas in Europe" over the years. Basically Calor Gas is unobtainable in Europe. There are several solutions, ours is to take Camping Gaz - to the best of my knowledge it is available in most of Europe. Camping Gaz is more expensive than Calor, except in Spain. Regards Cattwg
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Guest Will Redfearn,Wirral Motorhome Club
May I suggest a refillable cylinder(which can be filled like a tank) or buying a local cylinder either Le Cube or Antar gas. Camping gas is a very expensive way of buying gas.
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Guest Brian Ramsden
If the gas locker on the Burstner is like the one on my Talisman, in which the 6kg Calor cylinder is a tight fit, then none of the french cylinders will fit. As for Camping Gaz, it is butane and can't be relied upon in the late/early season, even in the South. I take a 6kg Calor gas cylinder and twi Camping Gaz cylinders and only use the Calor in an emergency. Brian
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Brian If you don't fancy the idea of a fixed gas tank the next best thing is refillable cylinders but be aware that some Uk garages will not allow the filling of some cylinders outside the vehicle for "safety" reasons (but it may be more to do with LPG companies frightening them off). Have a look at www.gaslow.co.uk - they do refillable cylinders and also a simple external filler point that gives you the best of both worlds and will allow you to fill up anywhere in Europe with cheaper gas than the bottled variety. Happy Camping, David
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If the gas locker on the Tailsman is the same as the Executive (93) it is possible to fit one cube and one camping gas 907. we have done this for years using the cube as the main supply and the 907 just until we have obtained replacement cube. Cubes are also available in Portugal. Must agree about the high price of Gaz in France but cheaper in Portugal.
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Guest peter goddard
We spent six weeks in France earlier this year and used less than one 11 kilo calor propane. We also have a Burstner (T615) and can easily fit two 11 kilo cylinders in the gas locker. Remember you can now exchange any Calor cylinder for any other size when you need a refill.
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Guest Brian Kirby
Almost all French supermarkets sell propane or butane cylinders. We got a Butagaz propane one from our French motorhome dealer in April. It is rated as 13Kg and cost 19 Euros. (Yes, it was full) You can then exchange that almosy anywhere in France. Check if your locker will take it first, though! Its about the same size as a Calor 13Kg cylinder. Our locker will take 2x13Kg, so I bought a Calor 13Kg propane as well, as UK available back up. Now, that cost me £40.21, £24.99 of which was for the bottle (refundable on return, but the longer I keep it the less I get back). Doubtless, in view of all the excitement over natural gas prices and availability, these prices will have risen since! Of course, having read this, and if you intend regularly spending time in France, you may decide to buy a couple of bottles at 19 Euros in France and give Calor their pricey bottle back. And who could blame you! Brian
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Guest Derek Uzzell
All good stuff, but I'm not sure about some of the information. To the best of my knowledge there is (and never has been) an 11kg Calor bottle - they are either 13kg(propane) or 15kg(butane). When it comes to gas storage, motorhomes are normally designed for their home market. So the gas-lockers of German-built 'vans will be designed to take their 11kg or 5kg bottles, French 'vans will take their 13kg containers and UK-built motorhomes will take some combination of Calor bottles. If a motorhome will take a big Calor bottle it will take a (slightly smaller dimensionally) 13kg French or an (even smaller) 11kg German container, but there's absolutely no guarantee this sequence will work in the opposite direction. There's also little point in guessing what lockers in different motorhomes can carry. Different models from the same manufacturer can have significantly different locker capacities - sometimes even the same models' lockers can have different capacities (eg. my 2005 Hobby T600 FC was designed to take 1x11kg + 1x5kg German bottles, while the 2006 version can carry 2x11kg bottles). You might be able to shoe-horn a French 13kg bottle into my Hobby, but you definitely can't insert a 13kg Calor. Is it worth me trying to summarise this subject via a new posting to include all the old forum information plus later developments?
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Guest BRIAN GILBERT
Dear all many thanks for your helpfull sugestions I am currently mulling them over and measuring the gas locker door,and various large cylinders yes Derek I for one would like to see an updated posting on the subject perhaps a spread sheet with sizes wheights availability gas type coupling or thread type would be very much appreciated
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