berti Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 hi everyone better late than never as promised on our post ...hi from berti in the rhone alps here is the info on our refillable gas system it is ALUGAS we first saw it at the dusseldorf show in 2007 but it was rather expensive and we didn't have the spare cash so we carried on being ripped off by calor !! this year, after very careful consideration , we concluded that we couldn't afford to change our van in the forseeable future so we decided to spend a bit of money on upgrades to 1) make life a bit easier 2) make our trips cheaper in the long run ( hopefully ) 3) make the van a bit lighter !! we went to the pickering show intending to get a gaslow (we had not seen the alugas advertised in uk ) having had a quote and felt the weight of the gaslow cylinders, we were unsure whether gaslow provided the solution to 2 & 3 and decided to sleep on it wandering around the next day we spotted AUTOGAS 2000..and they were selling the alugas cylinders !! quite a bit cheaper than gaslow ...and more importantly for us ..the cylinder is much lighter..empty weight only 6.3kg it has the german tuv approval and the european PI mark the company is based in thirsk so we arranged to go to the premises on monday after the show finished chris was very helpful and spent quite some time giving us advice on the installation i was very impressed ...as i was fitting it myself ... it was quite easy to fit in our van (but i must admit i was a bit nervous drilling the hole in the skirt !!) i also purchased a book ...THE EUROPEAN FILLING GUIDE ..to be on the safe side the system has been a great success ...especially as our genny packed up and we were reliant on the gas for everything no problems filling in italy..although mostly the attendant fills it up...may possibly be a problem if they see it's a bottle ? we reckon to have saved quite a bit already, as we would have had to buy another bottle and regulator for italy and then find out where to exchange it ( unlike france the supermarkets don't sell them ) we didn't see anywhere selling bottles in the whole of our trip last year in portugal we were charged €20.50 by the chap at quelfes to refill a 13kg calor bottle !!! it was almost the same price as uk £21.50 !!! so we will be saving on our winter trip as well website www.autogas.co.uk contact cwise@autogas.co.uk i hope the post isn't removed for 'advertising' i don't have any connection with the company other than as a 'satisfied customer' as good customer service is becoming something of a rarity these days i feel that it may be useful for others to know so thanks tracey and chris cheers berti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Berti, you didn't say how much it cost you chuck! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smifee Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Another very satisfied Autogas 2000 customer here. When I wanted a refillable system I looked at Gaslow and the installer TOLD me where he was going to fit everything. I had been impressed by Autogas 2000 when I had stopped there to fill an LPG tank on a MH. They spent time explaining things to me after filling the tank ( I'm a practical numpty and it takes ages for me to understand how things work ). Autogas 2000 discussed a refillable system and gave more advice. The result was a 2 bottle refillable system with the filler in a tiny and easily replaced piece of trim. It cost more than the Gaslow system but I ended up with what I wanted & not what was easier for the installer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tdmer Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I also have a Alugas system fitted by Autogas 2000, they fitted it for me, excellent service took time to explain everything. Better than Gaslow in my opinion as they are lighter and probably less expensive. It was worth the journey and had a tour of the Moors afterwards. Contact them 01845 523213 Rick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 It's just a shame that only Gaslow make a bottle that will fit into a locker designed to take to 6/7 kg Calor bottles as my locker is only 275mm deep and it would be so good to get a bottle, or two with greater capacity than 6kg in it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinfrier Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I fitted 1 12kg Alugas last year to save weight took less than 2 hours to fit cant remember how much it was about £175 I think that was with various european connectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Unless things have changed since I last saw ALUGAS user-refillable cylinders, a downside of this container is that it has no integrated means of showing how much LPG is contained within. It is possible to obtain an external system to 'read' the bottle's contents, but this is pretty expensive. I'm sure people will argue that, for them, the lack of any sort of contents gauge presents little or no problem: nevertheless, it's something that current Gaslow containers have and ALUGAS containers haven't. Tracker - 2009-11-22 3:49 PM It's just a shame that only Gaslow make a bottle that will fit into a locker designed to take to 6/7 kg Calor bottles as my locker is only 275mm deep and it would be so good to get a bottle, or two with greater capacity than 6kg in it! An oldish leaflet I have for STAKO refillable LPG bottles advertises a cylinder 230mm in diameter x 440mm in height. This would easily fit in a 'Calor 7kg/6kg' gas-locker, but would offer even less capacity than the smaller Gaslow bottle. STAKO-made bottled offered an accurate contents-gauge when the Gaslow containers had none and (in my opinion) superior build quality. However, their significantly higher cost told against them. My leaflet details 5 bottle sizes, ranging from 9.6litres to 33.6 litres capacity at 80% fill. The following UK company markets various makes/types of gas containers including ALUGAS and STAKO http://www.autogastanks.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Thanks Berti, will look in to this system as well. Has anyone experience of filling in other countries other than those mentioned? Caroline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berti Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 hi mel b the package was on a special offer at the show and included bottle, adaptors, hose and filler cap i think i had a couple of extra bits i will be checking through my 2009 van expenses over xmas hols so can let you know ( if i haven't died of shock !!! ) tracker the diameter is 300mm height is 600mm (but this includes the shroud/cowling which is removable ) sounds as if it's a tad too big for you anything tecnical is beyond me i'm afraid best to contact chris i like to keep things as simple as poss i personally didn't feel the need for a guage but it's each to his/her own it was the weight issue that was my prime concern closely followed by the price difference !! caroline just checked in the book ...lpg filling stations in europe 2009 it's a dutch publication .... it has gps co-ordinates for france,spain,italy,portugal it will give you an idea of availability...but you may be better to put a post on asking for info on a specific country we are off to portugal/spain in jan so will be using our system for 1st time there.....will let you know how we get on COUNTRY / NO OF FILLING STATIONS luxemburg 6 austria 9 sweden 17 switzerland 21 greece 35 spain 41 norway 87 ireland 90 slovakia 152 portugal 233 balkans 334 hungary 480 belgium 500 chzech republic 700 uk 1200 france 1800 italy 2300 germany 4400 cheers berti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjmike Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 I have Alugas in my motorhome, it was fitted by the guys over in the forest of dean shortly before they upped sticks and went to Spain. I'm well pleased with it especially when filling up at Countrywide @37.4p a litre. I notice that Dave Newell has them listed on his web site http://www.davenewell.co.uk as well as Gaslow, if anyone is after a new system it may well be worth giving him a ring. He doesn't bite , he leaves that to Dexter :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 We have Alugas in our caravan, we carry one Alugas and one silver Spanish bottle, we have filled in France, Switzerland and Spain. From the excellent Thirsk based company I think the bottle was in the region of £113 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Syd - 2009-12-04 11:14 PM We have Alugas in our caravan, we carry one Alugas and one silver Spanish bottle, we have filled in France, Switzerland and Spain. From the excellent Thirsk based company I think the bottle was in the region of £113 Syd Presumably you refill your Alugas bottle via an adapter attached directly to the bottle, rather than via a 'remote filler' installed in your caravan's bodywork? For what it's worth, I've found an old leaflet produced by MTH Gas Systems that quoted £185 for a system comprising one Alugas bottle + a 'fill kit', and £370 for a 2-bottle set-up. Bottle size was given as 300mm diameter by 560mm height (including removable handles). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Derek Uzzell No Derek I once posted on here that I had made up a home made filler for the Calor Gas bottles and had fitted it to my car but I was no very happy with it as it was not a "Pucka" job, ie it did not look very safe even though it probably was. When I went to get the re-fillable bottle at Thirsk the gentleman sold me all the parts that I needed to again put the filler into the car but professionally this time and that is what I have. He did NOT sell me the parts for that purpose I simply asked for and bought them seperately and fitted them myself I have the ordinary gas filler conection at the tow bar on the rear of the car, and of course filler adaptions for the various European filler pumps, and a heavy braided black pipe running into the car through a handy rubber plug hole, with the correct end to fit the re-fillable bottle. I chose this method of filling the bottle in the car rather than filling on the caravan simply so that if I run out then I can put the bottle into the car, connect it up, and then go to the garage and fill the bottle as though I am filling the car, the bottle is out of sight. After filling you MUST remember to loosen the filler pipe off OUTSIDE the car as the pipe holds a suprising amount of gas that would seem to be a hell of a lot if you were to loosen it off inside the car, do this in a empty space for safety reasons. If anyone wants to know the various part numbers I will get them for you and post them later but mainly it is only the black pipe that is the bit that may not be available everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. I did wonder how you managed it, as it could be a real challenge getting a caravan within reach of an autogas pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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