gas,light v heavy

[peacock312]

Just been to local caravan centre for 6kg refill of propane for Spain next week,remembered seeing on here recently that you can exchange heavy cylinder for lightweight for free,[calor] but i didnt realise it costs £2.oo

extra to change and for every refill from now on,is this normal? i payed £19.99 for heavy cylinder as payload isnot a prob. for me.

Regards Dave.

[Guest JudgeMental]

local CC site exchanged my heavy steel bootle for new lightweight.....no charge. Even if there was a £2 charge worth it as once you have one surely that is it... *-)

[Derek Uzzell]

Calor's recommended price for a refill for a "Calor Lite" canister has always been more than for the standard 6kg 'heavy' bottle refill. This 2008 forum thread refers:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Calor-Cylinder-weight/12823/#M129439

 

As you say, the current premium seems to be £2, though Calor agents don't have to follow Calor's pricing recommendations if they choose not to.

 

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/product-search/calor

[kelly58]

£19.99 for a Calor Heavy 6k of gas " WOW " my supplier of Energas £13.50  6k heavy no charge for cylinders.

[myshell]

JudgeMental - 2013-01-25 2:02 PM

 

local CC site exchanged my heavy steel bootle for new lightweight.....no charge. Even if there was a £2 charge worth it as once you have one surely that is it... *-)

 

 

No Judge! once you have one that is not it, every time you exchange your empty cylinder for a full one, Calor will charge you £2:00 more for 6kg of gas in a lightweight cylinder than they do for 6kg of gas in a heavy cylinder.

Regards

Phil

[Syd]

 

Re-fillable 13kg bottle, if I remember correctly, was about £7.50 last time we filled it

[Guest JudgeMental]

Syd - 2013-01-25 2:46 PM

 

 

Re-fillable 13kg bottle, if I remember correctly, was about £7.50 last time we filled it

 

I only use the calor for domestic BBQ as have refillable system also.. all that hassle? no thanks! :-D

[Derek Uzzell]

kelly58 - 2013-01-25 2:27 PM

 

£19.99 for a Calor Heavy 6k of gas " WOW " my supplier of Energas £13.50  6k heavy no charge for cylinders.

 

Geographically, Energas availability is pretty limited

 

http://www.energas.co.uk/location.html

 

If you ran out of gas (or your Energas bottle developed a fault) and you were far distant from an Energas agent, I'm doubtful that agents of other bottled-gas suppliers (eg. Calor agents) would provide you with a bottle without insisting that you pay a hefty hire-agreement charge.

 

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/forum-printtopic-1-111277-0-0-asc-viewresult-1.html

 

Flogas can be cheaper than Calor (and their 11kg propane canister will sometimes fit in a gas-locker too small to accept a Calor 13kg propane bottle)

 

http://www.flogas.co.uk/cat/21/flogas-gas-cylinders

 

But the network of Flogas suppliers is still smaller than Calor's.

[pepe63xnotuse]

No offence to peacock/Dave..but as the 2 quid "premium" for the lightweights, was deemed enough to prompt starting a new a thread,forking out 150 odd quid for a refillable set-up may not be a viable option.. (lol)

(Dave,bit late now but if you can squeeze a13kg into the locker,they're only about 25quid..but they're bl**dy heavy..) ;-)

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

I have been using the Gas light cylinders since they came out, one thing I like is the built in gauge that takes some of the guess work out of bottle level, I do think it's a bit rich for calor to charge a premium, but given my dodgy back and the weight difference being so great £2 is a price I'm willing to pay. Can't do refillables as the nearest place for a refill is 60/70 miles away. Payload does come in to it for us as when we go to France we take 4 !

[mirage]

I can`t believe I`ve just read all that, £40/50K + for a van and you are discussing £2 for a Gas Cylinder, it reminds me of the discussion whether or not you should take sandwiches to eat in a Cabin of a Brittany Ferry to avoid the cost of a meal on board.

[pepe63xnotuse]

mirage - 2013-01-25 8:12 PM

 

I can`t believe I`ve just read all that, £40/50K + for a van and you are discussing £2 for a Gas Cylinder, it reminds me of the discussion whether or not you should take sandwiches to eat in a Cabin of a Brittany Ferry to avoid the cost of a meal on board.

 

(lol) ...and if anyone does take their own sarnies,I'd recommend cutting the crusts off and using low fat spread,as it'd all helps with the payload! (lol)

[David Dwight]

pepe63 - 2013-01-25 8:16 PM

 

mirage - 2013-01-25 8:12 PM

 

I can`t believe I`ve just read all that, £40/50K + for a van and you are discussing £2 for a Gas Cylinder, it reminds me of the discussion whether or not you should take sandwiches to eat in a Cabin of a Brittany Ferry to avoid the cost of a meal on board.

 

(lol) ...and if anyone does take their own sarnies,I'd recommend cutting the crusts off and using low fat spread,as it'd all helps with the payload! (lol)

 

Better still dont take any sarnies, cut the weight down even more

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

mirage - 2013-01-25 8:12 PM

 

I can`t believe I`ve just read all that, £40/50K + for a van and you are discussing £2 for a Gas Cylinder, it reminds me of the discussion whether or not you should take sandwiches to eat in a Cabin of a Brittany Ferry to avoid the cost of a meal on board.

 

Perhaps the original poster is just making a general point about the extra charge for the same quantity of gas in a different cylinder, stick around though and you'll find a lot of similar barmy examples,and don't get Henry started on the free Aire or wild camping issue. :D

[747]

kelly58 - 2013-01-25 2:27 PM

 

£19.99 for a Calor Heavy 6k of gas " WOW " my supplier of Energas £13.50  6k heavy no charge for cylinders.

 

I use Energas as the standby bottle to go with my Alugas refillable.

 

Very good value for money if you change the bottle at a depot (as opposed to a third party seller).

 

I believe nowadays that ther is no charge for the first bottle from 11 Kg upwards. I am told that they have introduced a deposit for the first 6 Kg bottle.

[peacock312]

Thanks for all the sensible comments about gas cylinders, [and the sarky ones]

I still cannot understand why it costs £2.00 more to fill a lightweight cylinder than a heavyweight,maybe its obvious, but i cant see it. are the heavyweights being phased out? ,think of the scrap value, is it a hidden price hike?

Mirage,my van cost more than your suggestion, yes i do have a meal on ferry,plus a drink , but i dont chuck it away without question.

regards, Dave

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

peacock312 - 2013-01-26 10:43 AM

 

Thanks for all the sensible comments about gas cylinders, [and the sarky ones]

I still cannot understand why it costs £2.00 more to fill a lightweight cylinder than a heavyweight,maybe its obvious, but i cant see it. are the heavyweights being phased out? ,think of the scrap value, is it a hidden price hike?

Mirage,my van cost more than your suggestion, yes i do have a meal on ferry,plus a drink , but i dont chuck it away without question.

regards, Dave

 

You are quite right of course, but as I do use the £2 price premium ones, I'll never feel embarrassed at taking my own sandwiches on the ferry now. ;-) :D

[chas]

Wonder what the differance in wieght between a calor lite and steel bottle, mine are 6kg propanes, an if I find it difficult to lift a bottle 18" off the ground, I think I chuck up camping 8-) My 6kg Calors refills cost me £10 a time from a local supplier who looks after builders needs, they would not pay these silly prices thats charged at some caravan dealers.

 

Also if you pay this £2 extra for a calor light and you run out chances are some supplyers may only have the steel ones in darkest devon unless you spend time trawling round burning expensive fuel.

 

These points are my own personal opinions >:-)

[kelly58]

As often comments are made regarding the cost of a motorhome and the want to save money. Motorhome £50k use Aires because they are mostly Free. If like us and retired the motorhome is bought from well earned savings and a spin off from the pension fund agree or disagree. Being retired you are on a fixed income which has to cover all your living expenses including running and maintaining a motorhome , so this is where you have to often ecconomise and as they say " every little helps " we often say some people can manage on as an example £100 p-week and some cannot manage on £1000 p-week its just how you like to manage your own finances . People say I am tight with my money I just say I am extreamly carefull like my old mum used to say watch the pennies the pounds will look after themselves. Everyone has their own income  and spend accordingly , but do not knock us who are carefull with theirs.

Back to the subject of Gas Bottles I have just done a little exersize Standard 6kg bottle full approx 13.8kgs standard 11kg bottle full approx 23.5kgs Gas-It 11kg refillable bottle full 22.9kgs you therefore can have 1 bottle 11kgs of Gas for less weight than 2 x 6kg ones if weight is an issue and not have the worry of not knowing how much gas you have left , because the re-fillable bottle has a float gauge installed and gas at the pumps is also cheaper.

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

Many vans can't accommodate larger bottles, that's the problem, mine can only fit two 6 Kg bottles due to the height of the gas locker, but for those that are interested the calor light bottle is half the weight of the old bottle which are being replaced over time in any event.

 

As for your comments about thriftiness, I could not agree more, it's folks choice how they spend their money. ;-)

[peacock312]

whilst at dealers,i did a very unscientific weight test,holding & swinging one type of cylinder [full] in each hand,to me there seemed very little difference in gross weight, i suppose the difference is only in the cylinders anyway,i guessed the difference to be about 3 bottles of Rioco max, think i will dump cylinders

before i leave Spain & replace with Rioco,!!

Dave

 

[Tracker]

I don't often defend Calor as mostly their prices seem to be overly expensive, but bearing in mind the wide availability in the UK and their consistent reliability (only ever had one bottle that the regulator would not seal and the local Calor depot exchanged it without question) I guess convenience is everything when touring?

 

Calor will say that the lite bottles cost more to make and to maintain as they use thinner but higher grade steel, have a built in guage (of sorts) and are more prone to mishanding damage - not that I have ever in almost 60 years of camping and boating in various formats seen a user or a retailer mishandle any gas bottles? But I have seen lots of dented ones? Must be those pesky Calorfalarious wee Trolls I guess?

 

I have several bottles both 6kg and 13kg collected over the years and we take enough to last however long we go away for so not only do we never run out but I don't have to play hunt the refill point in a far away land! One thing less to worry about!

 

If we went for longer than about 6 weeks and if I were starting from new I would probably opt for a refillable - but with a Calor backup.

 

 

[Derek Uzzell]

chas - 2013-01-26 11:29 AM

 

Wonder what the differance in wieght between a calor lite and steel bottle, mine are 6kg propanes, an if I find it difficult to lift a bottle 18" off the ground, I think I chuck up camping 8-) My 6kg Calors refills cost me £10 a time from a local supplier who looks after builders needs, they would not pay these silly prices thats charged at some caravan dealers.

 

Also if you pay this £2 extra for a calor light and you run out chances are some supplyers may only have the steel ones in darkest devon unless you spend time trawling round burning expensive fuel.

 

These points are my own personal opinions >:-)

 

Comparative data on UK-available LPG cylinders are provided on Page 11 of this file:

 

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022892/liquefied-petroleum-gas-mo.pdf

 

(The information is also on Page 652 of the 2013/2014 Caravan Club handbook.)

 

As Calor's recommended price for a 6kg propane-bottle refill is £19.99, I'm startled that a Calor agent only charges you £10. 12 litres of autogas (roughly 6kg) would currently cost me just under £9, so, at £10 for a 6kg exchange-bottle, I'd expect your Calor agent to be selling at a loss.

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

Derek Uzzell - 2013-01-26 6:25 PM

 

chas - 2013-01-26 11:29 AM

 

Wonder what the differance in wieght between a calor lite and steel bottle, mine are 6kg propanes, an if I find it difficult to lift a bottle 18" off the ground, I think I chuck up camping 8-) My 6kg Calors refills cost me £10 a time from a local supplier who looks after builders needs, they would not pay these silly prices thats charged at some caravan dealers.

 

Also if you pay this £2 extra for a calor light and you run out chances are some supplyers may only have the steel ones in darkest devon unless you spend time trawling round burning expensive fuel.

 

These points are my own personal opinions >:-)

 

Comparative data on UK-available LPG cylinders are provided on Page 11 of this file:

 

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022892/liquefied-petroleum-gas-mo.pdf

 

(The information is also on Page 652 of the 2013/2014 Caravan Club handbook.)

 

As Calor's recommended price for a 6kg propane-bottle refill is £19.99, I'm startled that a Calor agent only charges you £10. 12 litres of autogas (roughly 6kg) would currently cost me just under £9, so, at £10 for a 6kg exchange-bottle, I'd expect your Calor agent to be selling at a loss.

 

Or filling the bottles himself from a bulk tank maybe ?

[Colin Leake]

This is going to hit us very hard. We use the light cylinders and being away in the motorhome for around 120 days a year need at least one refill every three years! I do find one of the advantages is the gauge. Using the old heavy cylinders we used to carry two In case one ran out. Now unless the gauge is low we only carry one leaving the spare at home for use with the BBQ we have there. Having an AutoTrail with their traditional heavy construction the weight saving of having to carry only one light cylinder as opposed to two heavy ones is handy.

 

How do we use so little gas. Simple being poor pensioners we cook meat on the Cadac on alternate days eating it hot one day and cold the next or if the weather is cold the wife chucks the meat with some sauce in a saucepan and heats it up. With the meat we usually have a salad and spuds cooked in the microwave . If want vegetables they are cooked on the one electric ring on the cooker.