re fillable gas bottles.

[tonyg3nwl]

Hi, I am considering refillable gas bottles. Any suggestions . advantages, disadvantages .?????

 

tonyg3nwl

[ips]

No experience with refillable so cant help but if you use as little gas as us then I cant see the point. Currently use less than 2 of the middle size (7 somethings ish I think :-D ) but we have diesel heating and usually go on hook up so only really using hob.

[Guest JudgeMental]

I have refillable bottles £650 with external BBQ and filler. while convenient I have only filled it 3 times in 3 years :-| so like IPS said only really worth it if you use the van a lot.....Or have more money then sense like me

[Porky]

I have Gaslow with auto changeover. I would not have anything else for convenience, never worked out if it makes sense financially. France have plenty of refill garages, Spain and Portugal much less so although there are some good web sites which will tell you where they are.

 

Roy Fuller

[rupert123]

Same setup as Porky, would not have anything else. Europe is the main advantage though when you do not have to bother about getting gas if you need it. Many do without but since refillables became available I did not hesitate to get some, no more messing about changing bottles or trying to get new ones in europe if you run short. If you can afford it a 'no brainer, in my opinion.

[Corky 8]

Same here Gaslow 2x 11kg cylinder ,auto changeover, The initial Cost is the Bitter Pill, but you can do it piecemeal, and remember it belongs to you ,so you can Take it out when you change vans,just remember that when choosing where to put a filling point,try and keep it in the gas locker, found it a lot lot cheaper than exchanging cylinders as your only buying the gas and there are plenty of Petrol stations stocking Auto gas for Cars,and there is a web site if only I could find the Link, 

[Mel B]

There are quite a few thread on the forum about this, here are just a couple:

 

NO 1

 

NO 2

 

If you do a search with 'Gaslow', then 'Mel B' and 'all posts' you'll get loads more to wade through!

 

We have a single Gaslow bottle with filler and have not regretted the decision at all.

[scramblers]

I have two 11kg Gaslow bottles with manual changeover. I prefer the manual changeover because I like to know when one bottle has emptied.

 

I chose to change from Calor for two reasons:

 

1) The gas locker on my first motorhome was so awkward to use that I pulled a back muscle on one occasion when changing bottles.

2) We tend to travel through France and Spain twice a year, each trip lasting for about two months. Most of the time we use aires or wildcamp, refillable gas bottles are essential along with a solar panel.

 

I don’t think I will ever recover the initial cost of the installation but it is very satisfying to pay about 50% of Calor’s price for gas.

 

[Corky 8]

tonyg3nwl - 2010-11-25 3:01 PM Hi, I am considering refillable gas bottles. Any suggestions . advantages, disadvantages .????? tonyg3nwl

Here is the Link for where to get gas from ,

 http://www.autogas.ltd.uk/whereToBuyMap.htm

[Mel B]

Tony - do you actually NEED to have TWO refillable bottles? The beauty of a refillable bottle is that you can top it up every now and then before you run out of gas - as there's a gauge you can see when it's getting low, and use your experience of 'normal' gas bottles as to when you need to top up. All you have to do is check the level occasionally.

 

We've had our Gaslow system for a while now and have never needed a second bottle which is just as well as our current van only has space for one bottle anyway! *-)

 

Don't feel you have to go to the expense of 2 bottles with a changeover valve, you can always opt for one bottle and then, if you find the need for a second bottle, 'expand' your system to a second bottle.

[Mel B]

In case you're interested, there's a Gaslow cylinder for sale in the 'Buy and Sell' section:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/classifieds/popout.asp?class=88307

[Keithl]

Hi Tony,

 

But at £650 (Judges figure from above) do you need 2 or even 1 refillable?

 

How much gas do you use on your longest trip and how much can your gas locker accommodate?

 

Our AT carries 2 x 13 kg Propane cylinders and one of these will last us around 18 months (we mainly use sites with EHU) and costs £24 to get a refill.

So at less than £20 per year there is no way I can justify the cost based on our current usage but you need to do the sums based on your usage.

 

HTH,

Keith.

[sshortcircuit]

Keith its not all about cost. With re-fillables you do not need to hump them out when they are empty, which is a big bonus. With respect to the amount of gas it all depends on how you use gas, very little in the warm months(?), but quite a bit when cold. I use my MH nearly every weekend from March through to October and with the refills I have certainly recovered my initial cost, which was a lot lower than that described, but that was a few years ago and is all relative i.e. fuel costs rise. Benefits abroad as you can refill rather than have to purchase a "local" cylinder.

[Brian Kirby]

We do as Keith, so don't use much gas either.  We have tended to do two trips per year, 8 - 12 weeks each, and  travel quite widely in Europe.  We have one 13kg French cylinder and one 13kg Calor, on autochangeover.  As we use gas, one cylinder lasts us more than one trip.  Since almost all trips touch France at some point, replacing the French cylinder is easy en route, coming or going, and the Calor is replaced when at home.  Yes, you do have to hump cylinders, but that has not proved a problem yet.  It is just another way round the same island.  :-)

[Tony Jones]

We have a single Gaslow cylinder, but carry a tiny CampingGaz 901 as backup in case we can't get to a filling point. We've only used the 901 once in nearly 3 years, including 6 continental trips.

The Gaslow lasts at least a week with no hook-up (cooking all our meals and both having showers every morning, but the space-heating is diesel).

 

Pumped LGP is MUCH cheaper than even the cheapest exchangeable cylinders, plus you don't need different bottles for different countries (the only truly international exchangeables are CampingGaz, and they're the dearest of all!).

 

[MandyAndy]

We have a 7 and an 11, we refill around 5 times a year but do have all heating and cooking on gas, cannot remember the last time we had hook up.

 

We have external BBQ point and use the Cadac for cooking as often as possible (no oven)

 

Had it nearly 4 years and had it put in the van as part of the deal.

 

We love it and wouldn't want a van without it so glad it can move, always wonder why people are bothered about an external filler when the side of the van is full of panels, grids and holes anyway, garages a are a lot less suspicious than when you come along and open the gas door to fill up.

 

Mandy

[tonyg3nwl]

Hi, Thanks guys for all the responses. As my better half pointed out, the cost for us is difficult to justify, we only use the van mainly during summer, and rarely during winter. We already have one calor lightweight, one normal calor, both 6 k size,, and we have 3 Camping gas 907 for use in france, leftovers from our caravan days. At our age,(wrong side of 70) she points out that our motorhome days must be limited, and we would have to have the van for over 10 years to even stand a chance of recovering the installation costs.

 

France ( or other European near countries)usually occupies us for 6 weeks, and other outings are mainly to cc rallies or similar, with hookup if available.

 

I guess the decision is made for me. As you are !

 

tonyg3nwl

 

[Brian Kirby]

In that case I would suggest you investigate one of the compact French cylinders in lieu of your Camping Gaz.  Look, for example, for a "Twiny" or "Le Cube".  Readily available throughout France (supermarkets), and to the best of my knowledge, far cheaper than Camping Gaz.  You may need to buy a "pigtail", or a clamp on regulator, depending on the age of your installation, but still a reasonably cheap, and readily available, solution. 

In fact, if you're spending most of your time in France, so France is where you'd be most likely to run out, I'd even be inclined to dump the Calors as well as the Camping Gaz, and just go over to French cylinders.

[PJay]

Sound idea Brian re having French gas bottles. we spend all our camping time over the water, BUT unfortunatley we can not fit any of the French bottles in our locker, they are all to wide. We have tried to get one that would fit, looked often in the supermarkets. We have a swift Sindance and the locker is just not deep enough

PJay

[Derek Uzzell]

Brian Kirby - 2010-11-26 11:14 AM

In that case I would suggest you investigate one of the compact French cylinders in lieu of your Camping Gaz.  Look, for example, for a "Twiny" or "Le Cube".  Readily available throughout France (supermarkets), and to the best of my knowledge, far cheaper than Camping Gaz.  You may need to buy a "pigtail", or a clamp on regulator, depending on the age of your installation, but still a reasonably cheap, and readily available, solution. 

In fact, if you're spending most of your time in France, so France is where you'd be most likely to run out, I'd even be inclined to dump the Calors as well as the Camping Gaz, and just go over to French cylinders.

Could be tricky...I think Tony's Stargazer may not be able to accommodate gas bottles with a larger cross-section than Calor 6kg propane. Might get away with a pair of "Le Cube" containers, but would need careful measurement of the locker.

[Brian Kirby]

Accepted: I don't know the details of his locker.  I wonder if there is the height to take one, or other, type stacked?

[mike 202]

Sounds like a good idea but because of weight limitations I now use Calor Lite 6kg. How do the refillables compare weight wise ?

Thanks mike

 

[Derek Uzzell]

mike 202 - 2010-11-26 1:31 PM

 

Sounds like a good idea but because of weight limitations I now use Calor Lite 6kg. How do the refillables compare weight wise ?

Thanks mike

 

A 6kg-capacity Alugas refillable bottle is roughly the same weight as a Calor Lite cylinder, but the show-stopper is that many UK-built motorhomes that have gas-lockers designed with Calor 6kg/7kg canisters in mind won't be able to accommodate Alugas containers (6kg or 11kg) due to the latter's larger 300mm diameter (256mm for Calor).

 

Gaslow or Stako refillable bottles are available with similar dimensions to those of a Calor Lite canister, but the former are made from normal 'thick' steel and weigh much the same as a standard Calor 6kg bottle.

 

So, if you were desperate to keep weight down and your Windsor's locker couldn't house Alugas bottles, you'd probably have to opt for a refillable system comprising a single Gaslow or Stako 6kg container.

[mike 202]

Thanks brian, weight limit is a problem, so will get the tape measure out and see what is possible.

 

Regards Mike