Gas Locker

[chenn101]

The paperwork for my new CI says the gas locker holds a 15kg and a 7kg bottle, we have bought a 13kg and a 6kg and can`t get them both in, does anybody have any ideas?

[Derek Uzzell]

Comparing MMM's test-reports of two CI motorhomes (Cipro 55 in June 2005 and Cusona 594 in December 2005) suggests some ambiguity over CI gas-locker sizing. MMM said that the Cipro 55's locker could accommodate 2 x 7kg cylinders, but added that CI states the locker capacity to be 1 x 5kg + 1 x 7kg. (Possibly a misprint in the CI documentation for 1 x 15kg + 1 x 7kg?) The Cusona 594 was said by MMM to have a locker capable of holding 1 x 13kg + 1 x 7kg bottles. However, when one compares gas-locker and locker-door aperture dimensions, an intriguing anomaly arises. Apparently the Cipro's locker has the same floor dimensions as the Cusona's but is 20mm taller, while the Cipro's locker-door aperture is the same height as the Cusona's but 80mm wider. Logically, if it's possible to insert 1 x 13kg + 1 x 7kg gas bottles into a Cusona's locker, it should be equally (or even more) easy to put them into a Cipro's locker. It's extremely unwise to trust motorcaravan gas-locker data whatever their source and this is particularly true for imported motorhomes where the lockers will invariably be sized to carry 'home market' bottles. It might be thought that an imported French motorhome with a gas-locker designed to hold 2 x 13kg standard French bottles could carry 2 x 13kg UK Calor cylinders. Well it might, but, as French 13kg bottles are slightly slimmer than Calor's equivalents, if the locker dimensions prove to be critical it might only be possible to carry 2 x 6kg Calor canisters. Gas-lockers on German motorhomes are usually sized to accept standard 11kg German cylinders easily. Because the vehicles also target motorhome markets outside Germany there is normally sufficient 'slack' in the locker dimensions to take two big gas-bottles from other Continental European countries. However, the UK's 13kg Calor bottles often present a problem because they are just that little bit wider. My 2005 Hobby T600 FC's locker is designed to accept 1 x 11kg + 1 x 5kg German bottles, but a UK Calor 13kg won't go through the door aperture so the UK Calor 'load' is effectively restricted to 2 x 6kg cylinders. (Significantly perhaps, a 2006 T600 FC's locker can take 2 x 11kg German bottles, which must help sales in countries like France where the norm is still a large 13kg steel gas-bottle.) If you browse through the MMM Buyers' Guide pages you'll see a wide variety of bottle capacities being quoted, some of which (eg 5kg and 11kg) clearly aren't UK sizes, while others are a doubtful pot-luck mixture of propane and butane sizes. Frankly, if you're buying a motorhome, the only certain way to be sure of a gas-locker's ultimate capacity is to insist that the vendor demonstrates to you what combination of bottles will go in that locker. The floor dimensions of the Cipro's and Cusona's lockers suggest that 2 large (13kg/15kg) UK Calor bottles might be carried if they could somehow be shoehorned through the locker-door aperture. This is the usual fly in the ointment - it's not that the locker can't theoretically hold the bottles, it's that, once one bottle is in the locker, the position or size of the door aperture makes it impossible to insert the second bottle. Assuming you've tried all possible combinations of loading your 13kg and 6kg Calor bottles (presumably they ARE Calor bottles of course?) then I offer the following suggestions: 1. Remove all gas-bottle securing straps/brackets from within the locker. See if your bottles will now fit and, if they will, then reposition the straps/brackets accordingly. 2. If it's the location of the regulator that is preventing your bottles fitting then consider having it repositioned. 3. If (as I suspect) neither of these suggestions prove viable then swap your 13kg Calor bottle for a 6kg Calor one. This is the course of action most people would take and, although it will reduce your overall gas-carrying capability, it will free up useful space in the gas-locker and facilitate changing bottles. A full Calor 13kg cylinder weighs almost 29kg (more than twice the weight of a full 6kg bottle) and will be a swine to manoeuvre in or out of a locker with an offset, relatively narrow door. 4. If you are really insistent on maximising how much gas you carry, then you could check out the sizes of bottles obtainable from suppliers other than Calor just in case (say) 1 x 6kg + 1 x 11kg Flogas bottles will fit. (The downside of this choice is that Calor bottles are available UK-nationwide and bottles from other suppliers aren't.) More radically, you could replace the current locker-door with a wider one spanning the full width of the locker and allowing large bottles to be inserted/removed with a simple lateral movement rather than being angled through a narrow gap. (Admittedly a solution few owners of new motorhomes would contemplate, but you did ask for ideas!) If you plan to tour abroad for any length of time, you might consider converting to a refillable gas-bottle system. Gaslow's system is probably the best known in the UK and, as the cylinders involved have a smaller diameter than Calor near-equivalent sizes, you ought to be able to obtain an optimum combination of bottles dependent on whether you wanted an 'all autogas' system or a mix of exchangeable/refillable bottles.

[chenn101]

Thankyou for your most comprehensive reply, we will try your suggestions.