redpen Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 At present my van, an Autosleeper Amethyst, carries 2X7Kg Butane bottles. My latest purchase shows that butane costs around 14% more per Kg than than Propane. but I am told Butane is more efficient than propane, but surely not by this margin? Putting aside the fact that Propane is essential for use in cold weather, is it worth the money for the extra capacity (7Kgs as opposed to 6Kgs for similar Propane bottles)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobalobs Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Another factor in the equation is what you are charged for the gas for I believe a cartel exist in a number of areas .We use 6kg Calor propane cylinders throughout the year and this year we have been charged between £16 and£21.99 per cylinder and unfortunately the top price is for all our immediate outlets. Presumably to an extent influenced by the profit the local Calor middle man wants to make. The lowest price was at a Caravan Club site in Devon and is the price on the Calor site when I last looked plus delivery.So in my view the difference in price between butane and propane is a minor element when there is such a massive difference in the margins of the suppliers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Propane has a higher calorific value than Butane Kg for Kg. It's about 2% so not a noticeable amount. I can't comment on using Propane in place of Butane as I have never done it. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tp002c784tp002c784tp Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 redpen - 2009-09-04 5:21 PM At present my van, an Autosleeper Amethyst, carries 2X7Kg Butane bottles. My latest purchase shows that butane costs around 14% more per Kg than than Propane. but I am told Butane is more efficient than propane, but surely not by this margin? Putting aside the fact that Propane is essential for use in cold weather, is it worth the money for the extra capacity (7Kgs as opposed to 6Kgs for similar Propane bottles)? Hi Redpen I don't know where your info. comes from that butane is more efficient than propane as I was always led to believe that propane is a hotter gas but can be dirtier than butane, so I would have thought if its hotter you cook quicker therefore save gas. But if you really want to save install Gaslow, for my fortnights holiday this year i filled my gas system up when I returned home and it cost me £2.95 to fill so not bad for a fortnights use. Granted I was on hook up but the gas was used a fair bit for cooking. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Redpen We use butane simply because in our Duetto we can carry 1 x 7kg and 1 x 4.5kg butane bottles, which equals 11.5kg of gas, if we used propane it would be 1 x 6kg and 1 x 3.9 kg, which equals 9.9 kg of gas. Travelling abroad, butane gives us a useful extra capacity without having to worry about running out of gas. For us butane has proved worthwhile and we have never had a problem with it not vaporising. Never tried using it in winter, but have been to the North Cape of Norway and over all the 9000ft passes in the Alps (always had a brew on top, but watch out for the huge ‘whoosh’ when turning the gas on! :-) ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 I have a 2008 A/S coachbuilt and yesterday my dealer told me that butane will not produce enough pressure to work the systems and that I must use Propane. He knows that we go to Spain so no freezing weather. Any comments please !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Butane has a significantly higher calorific value than propane, which means that it is a more efficient heat producer. It's also a good deal heavier than propane, which explains the weight difference between a 7kg(butane) Calor cylinder and a 6kg(propane) one - same volume of gas, just one gas is heavier than the other. See http://www.calor.co.uk/lpg/butane.htm http://www.calor.co.uk/lpg/propane.htm There is a long gas-related chapter in John Wickersham's "The Motorcaravan Manual" where this is all explained clearly. As I've said so many times before - every motorhome owner should have a copy of this book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dikyenfo Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Bearing in mind that it is only the difference in gas prices between fill-ups with Gaslow or any other system , it should only take about 500 years of camping to pay for the installation. Good con trick tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 I would think that the main consideration for motorhomes when it comes to gas is the calorific value of a Kg of gas rather than that of a cubic metre. The laws governing the conversion of a liquid into a gas mean that different liquid gases will give differing volumes when they evaporate into a gas. Hence, Propane will give 13.9 Kwh per Kg of liquid and Butane will give 13.7 Kwh per Kg of liquid. If we stored our gas in a gaseous state then Propane gives 25.9 Kwh per cubic metre and Butane gives 33.8 Kwh per cubic metre. But we store our gas as liquid (at least I do). Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 mike 202 It sounds like your dealer does not know much, or he is trying to sell you something expensive to boost his income! Butane can fail to deliver the goods when it is cold. I have poured butane in liquid form onto the ground when it has been well below freezing and watched it gently steam in the sun. If you are going somewhere, where the temperature is going to be below about 10 degrees centigrade for a prolonged period of time, then use propane; if not butane gives a greater capacity for the same size bottle. The usual figure quoted for the lower limit with butane is 4 degrees centigrade, but if you want to be able to draw a significant amount of energy from the bottle it is better to have a margin for safety, hence my suggestion of 10 degrees as a lower limit. Of to France and the Alps (with butane) next week. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Highe Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Hi On the subject of a Gaslow installation, it will take a long time to recover the installation costs, but I didn't have one installed just to save money. There is no need to manhandle cylinders and the relative concentrations of Propane and Butane are automatically adjusted by the supplier. In southern Spain (if you can find it!) Autogas is almost all Butane, and gives a higher calorific value whereas in Scotland it is almost all Propane and will work when its cold. With an automatic changeover valve I have to concentrate every month or so to check whether it has gone from green to red and then look , casually, for an Autogas supplier. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 dikyenfo - 2009-09-05 9:01 AM Bearing in mind that it is only the difference in gas prices between fill-ups with Gaslow or any other system , it should only take about 500 years of camping to pay for the installation. Good con trick tho. That may be true if you never turn your cylinders on. At current bottle refill prices we would get our money back on refillable bottles in about 3 - 4 years, allowing for price increases at the rate we have seen over the last couple of years much sooner. You can also transfer the bottles to the next van. Most us do not consider the cost when fitting just the convenience nowadays they make economic sense as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.