Guest Joe90 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Well after getting thoroughly fed up with the completely useless bottle gauge on my refillable,( are we allowed to name names I wonder ) has anyone found the ones now touted with accurate mechanical content gauges being exactly that. There are one or two on the market now, so any heads up would be very useful, the advice from the manufacturer of my current one being hit the neck of the bottle with a hammer has never resulted in the gauge showing bugger all, other than full, but they don't want to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejkay Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 The gauge on my Stako bottle from Gas-It seemed to work quite well during the summer. The contents indication dropped steadily with use and when I filled the bottle it was roughly what I expected from the size of the bottle and the indicated contents. That being said, I wouldn't put too much reliance on any gauge :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 can't help really with the gauge, but as an alternative can you fit another bottle in ? then do as i do only open one bottle all the time then when it is empty turn on the other bottle then you know to fill up the first bottle :-) even if the 2nd bottle is a small one say 4litre jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Not a gauge but would one of those Truma "pen type" detectors be worth a go..? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Truma-Gas-Level-Check-Gas-Bottles-Propane-Butane-Caravan-Camping-/151423207942?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item234186ca06 I know the Gaslow "gauge" that I fitted to our previous van , could fall from 3/4 full to empty during the boiling of a kettle (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Silverbacks method works fine for me. I have a manual change over tap so its easy. The less gadgets to go wrong the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Mmmmm, Not for refillable gas cylinders states Truma, but thanks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Oh!...although I suppose it'd be due to the float/linkage etc that's within a refillable...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Joe90 - 2014-10-09 9:08 PM Well after getting thoroughly fed up with the completely useless bottle gauge on my refillable,( are we allowed to name names I wonder ) has anyone found the ones now touted with accurate mechanical content gauges being exactly that. There are one or two on the market now, so any heads up would be very useful, the advice from the manufacturer of my current one being hit the neck of the bottle with a hammer has never resulted in the gauge showing bugger all, other than full, but they don't want to know. The guages on my pair of re-fillables (unknown make, dusky red colour) seem to work reasonably reliably but I have an automatic changeover which shows when the second cylinder has come into use, which gives plenty of time to fill up when next convenient. Experience has suggested to me that buying a single re-fillable with a standard small bottle as the second one would have been adequate, but the weight saving would have been modest and being able to top up both bottles every time at the pumps is a considerable advantage. So if you want to upgrade, buy a second small re-fillable and an automatic changeover device. Your guage problem will then become more or less irrelevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Providing you get cylinders with float gauges they are usually very good.The gauges were accurate on the Stako bottles in our last van, current van has Alugas bottles those too are accurate. The float gauges on the Stako & Alugas bottles can be replaced with an electronic sensor that connects to a remote meter inside the van. Remote Gauge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 The reason I posed the question is despite having an automatic changeover valve linking a standard 6 Kg Calor bottle, and a Gaslow refillable, on our last trip I discovered the automatic changeover did not work, only alerted to the fact in the middle of the night by the fridge led flashing ( sods law ) and of course the Gaslow gauge has been about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike from day one. Given this experience I'm loath to stick with my current setup, hence the question, I can usually gauge our usage, but on this occasion we had been parked up for a couple of weeks nowhere near a GPL outlet so a partial top up which I usually do was not an option, but thought the bottles would change over. Anyway thanks for the info from everyone, may take a trip up to Gasit and see what they can come up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 If you are off grid for a couple of weeks or more Alugas do 26Lt (13kg) re-fillable bottles, I have 2 of them in my van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 lennyhb - 2014-10-10 11:11 AM If you are off grid for a couple of weeks or more Alugas do 26Lt (13kg) re-fillable bottles, I have 2 of them in my van. Yes Lenny, might go up to two full size bottles, starting to find GPL places a bit thin on the ground to what they used to be, last trip going from Beynac towards Bordeaux the only one we found was at Liborne, some 200 miles away, this despite calling at outlets listed with my poi sets, and my smartphone app ( my gpl ) as having gpl pumps along the way, used to be one at a Leclerc along this route, that now has gone, one other outlet the pump was out of order, and looked as if it had been some time ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejkay Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Joe90 Sorry, I got it wrong in my earlier post. I got my refillable bottle from Autogas 2000 in Thirsk. Very pleased with the bottle etc and their service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Cheers for that, that Prakto bottle has the sort of gauge I'm trying to research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 My gas it bottles have gauges but I just disregard them I have one bottle connected,one on standby and simply connect the full one when the one in use empties,but have not yet had to do this as every now and then I just top up my system from a service point,I have two 11 kgs fitted,surely this is what refillables are for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 vindiboy - 2014-10-11 9:49 AM My gas it bottles have gauges but I just disregard them I have one bottle connected,one on standby and simply connect the full one when the one in use empties,but have not yet had to do this as every now and then I just top up my system from a service point,I have two 11 kgs fitted,surely this is what refillables are for? That's fine if you have a gas locker that will take two 11Kg bottles, many vans don't. My bone of contention is and always has been that a product that states it has a gauge to give you an approximate contents level that in fact in reality is completely useless,mine has always just read full, then the best advice from the supplier was bang the neck with a hammer still without result, I'm trying to imagine the same advice to get a reading from my diesel fuel gauge, yes right, we'd all think that was perfectly OK P.S. Seems they've admitted it was not fit for purpose after all. Please note, Gaslow no longer supply this cylinder with a contents gauge as pictured. If you choose to purchase, no contents gauge will be supplied with the cylinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Providing you have the gauges that mount in the top of the bottle which are float gauges they are fairly accurate, the ones in line with the gas outlet which I think are the ones Mike is referring to are totally useless. Although I have accurate gauges I rarely use them, once the system changes over to the 2nd bottle I know I have 2-3 weeks supply left and I make sure I top up within 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejkay Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 lennyhb - nope. Mine is mounted on top of the bottle. Pic attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 I'm confused, you said earlier that your gauges were accurate and you show a picture of a Prakto bottle with a float gauge, isn't that what I said "Float gauges are accurate". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Blimey, I'm causing a lot of confusion today.......the Gaslow gauge I'm referring to is that stupid clip on thing on the bottle neck, and the Gaslow bottle I purchased was touted as having a mechanical device that supposedly had a rod that moved up and down in the bottle neck, and somehow the gauge sensed it's position, never did bugger all from day one, despite them sending me another one, and as I said advice to clout the bottle neck, anyway it seems they don't supply it anymore kinda confirming that it was useless after all. Would be interesting how many folk have had their money back as it was obviously not fit for purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Even more confusing the one you show is a float gauge normally accurate the notoriously inaccurate one are the gas pressure type shown here . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Yes even tried one of those as well, and a thing that sticks on the side, but I think it speaks volumes that they have dropped the neck gauge, my own fault I guess, I should have insisted on the bottle being changed, oh well, life eh ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 To the best of my knowledge every user-refillable gas bottle fitted with a contents-level gauge and marketed until recently uses a ’swinging-float’ mechanism (of the type shown in the Gaslow advert) to operate the gauge. As far as a gauge’s ability to measure accurately the gas-contents is concerned, magnetically operated gauges have gained a poor reputation not just for being inaccurate but also for being unreliable (In fact, I think Gaslow have now ceased using this type of gauge on their cheaper canisters.) Because of a gas-bottle’s shape and its limited interior volume, using a swinging-float mechanism means that no gauge can measure across a complete full-to-empty range. As the Gaslow advert advises, the magnetically-operated gauge used with their bottles is only able to provide ‘measured’ readings across a 50%-full to 18%-full contents range. Mechanically-operated gauges are potentially accurate, but similar limitations will apply regarding the contents-percentage range that the gauge can measure when a swing-float mechanism is employed.. At the last Malvern Show examples of Alugas ‘3-hole’ refillable bottles were being exhibited with a cut-away in one bottle’s side that permitted the float mechanism to be viewed and moved by hand. I experimented with moving the float and seeing what effect this had on the (mechanically operated) gauge, concluding that it should measure accurately and linearly across at least a 50%-10% contents range. This would be good enough for me and, if I were in the market for a user-refillable bottle now, I’d probably choose an Alugas 3-hole container. Information about the Alugas 3-hole bottle can be found here http://www.alugas.co.uk/ but I note that a revised version was exhibited recently that claims to be able to measure across an 80% range. http://www.gasfachfrau.de/1eng_alugas-tankflasche.html (I don’t know what mechanism is used to operate the gauge, but the 80% ‘measuring range’ suggests that it’s something cleverer than a simple swinging-float.) If accurate, reliable contents-level readings are a priority, avoid bottles with a magnetically-operated gauge. All mechanically-operated gauges have the potential to be equally accurate, but the contents range may vary somewhat according to the shape of the bottle and the design and position of the swinging-float mechanism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest machra Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 I had the same problem with gaslow cylinders therefore when we changed our motorhome recently I bought a safefill bottle as they are clear and you can see the contents. - see: http://www.safefill.co.uk/our-cylinders.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 machra - 2014-10-11 6:04 PM I had the same problem with gaslow cylinders therefore when we changed our motorhome recently I bought a safefill bottle as they are clear and you can see the contents. - see: http://www.safefill.co.uk/our-cylinders.html Blimey, not my day ! !..............but thanks for the link. Dear Customer, Please accept our sincere apologies, due to the increase in demand for our products we are currently out of stock of the Safefill Cylinders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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