spanish gas bottle wanted

[mrs p hancox]

Hi, We are off to Spain at start of Jan and would like to obtain a Spanish gas bottle before we go, does any one have one they are willing to sell, or know where I could get one. I have been told they are hard to obtain in Spain with out a postal address so would like to go prepared. We will be taking a 907, and leave Uk with full 2 english bottles but ours are only 6Kg ones, we have looked at Gas flo but due to size of locker can only get the same in!! We considered an underslung tank but because we have Alko Chassis have been told thats not an option either!

[Randonneur]

You can get Repsol gas bottles here in France complete with regulator with no problem at all at petrol stations that stock them (we got ours from Intermarche) and then they can be exchanged in Spain and Portugal. Unfortunately they are the large bottles, can't remember whether they are 11kg or 13 kg so won't fit in your locker.

[mrs p hancox]

Thank you I was not aware that I could exchange french bottles for Spanish!! I think we seriously have to look at seeing if there is any way we can amend the size of our gas locker. Son is a gas plumber so he can do all relevant checks. I am going to be a pain and ask what is the size of the french bottle is it the same as our English?

[wints]

Several ways of tackling this :-

 

Does your van use regulators on the gas bottle or is the regulator a bulkhead one ?

 

If the former then you can get an 11kg spanish bottle, butane or propane, with a regulator (the regulators are the same) and position the bottle outside the gas locker. Lots of brits do this. These bottles and regulators are available on most car boots sales in Spain for 10 to 15 eu. If you're around Benidorm you'll be tripping up over them on El Cisne market.

 

If the latter, then slightly less easy. You'll need an external bbq point. Turn the gas off at the bulkhead reg, and then just feed the gas in through the bbq point. You'll need a gas outlet nozzle (about £3, and a length of hp hose).

Alternatively, you can get a spanish plastic bottle, repsol 5 kg butane (I've got one), with the correct 'gas tail' and the adaptor which looks like a spanish regulator but isn't. You could use this method with the 11 kg bottle and a longer tail if outside the locker.

 

The 11 kg bottles, French and Spanish, are almost the same size. Smaller than a calor 13 / 15 kg, but a lot bigger than a 6 / 7 kg. Slight differences in valve guards, the French guard screws off and is less intrusive in the locker.

 

Also, on some spanish sites, you can 'hire' a bottle. This is through the site, nothing to do with a contract with the gas people.

 

Hope this helps

 

Allen

 

[Randonneur]

mrs p hancox - 2011-09-14 10:45 AM

 

Thank you I was not aware that I could exchange french bottles for Spanish!! I think we seriously have to look at seeing if there is any way we can amend the size of our gas locker. Son is a gas plumber so he can do all relevant checks. I am going to be a pain and ask what is the size of the french bottle is it the same as our English?

 

I think you misunderstood. The Repsol bottle that is sold in France is exactly the same as is sold in Spain/Portugal. The Repsol bottle is 55 cms high 60 cms with the regulator and 30 cms diameter.

 

 

[mrs p hancox]

Oh sorry, so you can exchange french repsol bottles in Spain, so my best bet is to buy french bottle connections etc here or France and just use that. Thanks for dimensions

[Randonneur]

They give you a regulator with the bottle when you sign up for it. If you need an address just say the nearest campsite.

[bolero boy]

If a larger bottle had fitted, could you just have the Repsol bottle connected from the bulkhead regulator with a seperate 'pigtail' with a 'Jumbo' adaptor??

I am looking for a gas solution for our trip to Spain in March.

Rgds,

[BGD]

bolero boy - 2011-09-14 8:44 PM

If a larger bottle had fitted, could you just have the Repsol bottle connected from the bulkhead regulator with a seperate 'pigtail' with a 'Jumbo' adaptor??

I am looking for a gas solution for our trip to Spain in March.

Rgds,

That's exactly what friends of ours, who spend time in the UK and Spain in their UK MH have done. Seems a brilliant solution. Separate valve, with long flexible pipe coming off it, and Spanish bottle top regulator attached to end of pipe.The simplest way to get hold of a Spanish bottle (the 13kg orange "butano" bottles from Repsol) is to buy one empty, secondhand, from any street market, "rastro" (sort of car boot sale) or secondhand shop once over here, if you haven't got one beforehand. Once you have an empty bottle to swop for a full one, just take it to any Repsol garage and swop it - no need for contract paperwork/address etc, they just charge you the swop amount at the till (about 13 euros).The going rate for an empty secondhand butano bottle is about 8 yo 10 euros.It's only if you turn up at a Repsol garage without a bottle, and say you want to start renting a bottle and gas for the first time that you then need to give home address and NIE number on a long contract form in Spanish. Don't bother - just get an empty one, like almost all Spanish people have done to get themsleves started, and thus avoiding all the hassle.Incidentally, the Spanish 30mbar bottle-top regulators are sold in every single DIY shop here, and in big supermarkets too - and secondhand for a couple of euros at any rastro - about 10 euros new, from memory. They simply attach to your MH flexible hose (that you had fitted as an extra "pigtail" before you left the UK) with a jubilee clip.

[vindiboy]

Randonneur - 2011-09-14 9:37 AM

 

You can get Repsol gas bottles here in France complete with regulator with no problem at all at petrol stations that stock them (we got ours from Intermarche) and then they can be exchanged in Spain and Portugal. Unfortunately they are the large bottles, can't remember whether they are 11kg or 13 kg so won't fit in your locker.

We have been going to Spain for many years and this is the first time I have heard that you can exchange French Repsol bottles in Spain, you live and learn, I often exchange Repsol in Portugal for Spanish and visa versa, The best place to get a Repsol bottle in Spain is at a car boot sale, if you try and get one direct from Repsol you have to get a safety certificate after having your gas system checked and it is not cheap to have this done, 150 euros now I would guess,then you pay a deposit on the new bottles and then the cost of the gas.but once you have the bottle you can exchange , them for full ones at all Repsol outlets with no hassle. and only pay for the gas.Repsol also do a smaller lightweight bottle 6 killos If I remember correctly and these strangely enough can be bought at most Repsol outlets easily as they are intended for Barbis I think and the regulators are the same as the one for bigger bottles.I had onefor a while but as they were new at the time a lot of Garages did not have them to start with so I went for the 13 kg which I bought from a car boot three quarters full for 10 euros.No help to you but at the Shepton Show the weekend I saw Spanish bottles for sale for £15 each,Spanish Regulators can be bought at most hardware shops and Chinese Todo shops and are cheap.

.

[vindiboy]

I should have read the previous post before I posted , he said it all DOH! another thought I have just had is that did you know that if you have a Barbi Point on your van you can put gas INTO your van via that from a free standing bottle from ANY Country as long as you have the correct bottle Regulator fitted to the said bottle . A simple way to use Foreign gas without modifying your system.

[Randonneur]

When we started motorhoming (caravanners in UK) in France we knew that we would want to go to Spain and Portugal so went for a French propane gas bottle and in our local Intermarche we decided to get a Repsol bottle, they gave us a regulator and the cost was just 10 euros over the normal price, can't remember what we paid originally. The last 2 years we have been to Portugal in the Winter months and have exchanged the Repsol bottle with no problems whatsoever.