Hawcara Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I know there is BP light where you can see the amount of gas left in the bottle, but is there the same system for Calor in the orange bottles? If so, can they be exchanged for the old steel type? Thank you :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 The Calor-Lite 6kg Propane has an integrated pressure gauge (reputed to be not a great amount of use in assessing the remaining contents, as pressure remains reasonably linear until much of the content has been used).By Calor's rules, they can be issued in exchange for an ordinary 6kg Propane (or 7kg Butane) but not for others). Be aware, however, that not all stockists will exchange except on a like-for-like basis (despite Calor's rules), the refill charge is generally higher than a standard 6kg Propane, they have been known to be in short-supply, and as they were short of the gauges on launch, not all of the cylinders actually have a gauge :-S.As is implied, the cylinders themselves are somewhat lighter than the standard ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 The "Gas Trac" gauge-system fitted to Calor Lite bottles is similar in principle to that used on Gaslow bottles and does not involve gas pressure within the canister. Gas Trac operates mechanically, registering the level of liquified gas in the bottle via a simple swinging-arm + float arrangement. Space constraints within the Calor Lite container mean that the Gas Trac gauge can only measure 'gas fullness' from around 50% full down to about 10% full. From 100% full down to 50% full the gauge will just show "HI": from 10% down to 0% the gauge will just show "LO". As far as I'm aware Gaslow bottle-gauges are little better at measuring gas contents across the entire 100% to 0% range as the same space-within-bottle constraints apply. To the best of my knowledge, BP's "Gas Light" bottles are the only composite, translucent LPG containers marketed in the UK, though this type of gas bottle is becoming increasingly popular abroad. MTH Gas Systems used to market 'refillable' composite gas bottles in this country. These were manufactured in the Czech Republic by Komposit-Praha and were available in various capacities. Komposit-Praha-made 10kg-capacity bottles are marketed in France by Antargaz under the brand-name"Calypso". These are 'exchange only', but could easily be converted to be refillable if one had the inclination and ignored the illegality of doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Derek Uzzell - 2011-02-11 7:55 AM The "Gas Trac" gauge-system fitted to Calor Lite bottles is similar in principle to that used on Gaslow bottles and does not involve gas pressure within the canister. ....hmm - just shows the results of assumption doesn't it! :-SThe Calor site is less than forthcoming about the workings - and the non-linearity of the measurement led me to believe it was a pressure gauge (not that I've ever looked too closely, as I have 13kg bottles).In searching round, I find that similar debate has gone on elsewhere, so I'm not the only one to have assumed :-D.I'm not quite sure what underlying issue the OP was trying to address, but if it is the contents remaining in a part-used cylinder, then I find weighing (bathroom scales) the best option. (And then I only really need to do that before an overseas trip to maximise the amount of gas taken). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Robinhood - 2011-02-11 8:35 AMDerek Uzzell - 2011-02-11 7:55 AM The "Gas Trac" gauge-system fitted to Calor Lite bottles is similar in principle to that used on Gaslow bottles and does not involve gas pressure within the canister. ....hmm - just shows the results of assumption doesn't it! :-SThe Calor site is less than forthcoming about the workings - and the non-linearity of the measurement led me to believe it was a pressure gauge (not that I've ever looked too closely, as I have 13kg bottles).In searching round, I find that similar debate has gone on elsewhere, so I'm not the only one to have assumed :-D.I'm not quite sure what underlying issue the OP was trying to address, but if it is the contents remaining in a part-used cylinder, then I find weighing (bathroom scales) the best option. (And then I only really need to do that before an overseas trip to maximise the amount of gas taken).As you highlighted, a gauge based on the pressure within the gas-bottle would be next to useless. That's why the pressure-sensing gauges fitted to regulators, or marketed as add-ons, have minimal value for telling one how much LPG remains in the bottle (though the gauges are valuable for quick and easy gas-system leak testing).Although Calor's website doesn't specifically say that the Gas Trac system is 'mechanical', the description of its operation strongly suggests that it should be.Anyway, there's no need for speculation, as I've seen the 'guts' of a Calor Lite that had been removed from the steel surrounding canister and can confirm they had a similar design and functionality to that of the Gaslow arrangement shown on:http://www.gaslow.co.uk/pages/c_s2_4.htm(I presume that the OP wishes to know visually exactly how much LPG remains in his bottles. This is straightforward with a translucent container, but not with the type of gauge-system used by Calor or Gaslow.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knaus Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Hi We just weigh the propane 6kg bottle when we buy it and note how much is in it. Normally it weighs about 32 lbs. We use one of those weighing gauges which fishermen use, which are small enough to tuck away in the bottle compartment. A word of warning. When in France last year we went to change over to a full calor gas bottle and found it to be leaking, not from our regulator, but from the bottle screw itself. Now we check all is working correctly before we leave home. Calor did reimburse us when we got home, but we had no gas for the last couple of days in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawcara Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Thank you all for your replies. I have a gaslow type guage fitted to the Calor cylinder. Since it has been fitted it does not seem to have moved, thus I wished to see if there was a more accurate way. We will carry a spare bottle in any event. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Hawcara - 2011-02-12 8:18 PM Thank you all for your replies. I have a gaslow type guage fitted to the Calor cylinder. Since it has been fitted it does not seem to have moved, thus I wished to see if there was a more accurate way. We will carry a spare bottle in any event. :-D As I said earlier, pressure-gauges are no good for measuring how much LPG remains in a gas-bottle. They will tell you when the bottle's empty, but you don't really need a gauge to tell you that as your gas appliances will cease working? As far as I'm aware, the only system that would definitely provide accurate full to virtually-empty read-outs of the LPG contents of a standard Calor 7kg/6kg canister was Truma's UK-specific version of their "Sonatic" product. However, I believe that's not been marketed for several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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