Refillable gas bottles

[Jonboymentalhealth]

Hi all

What's everyone's feelings on the refillable gas cylinders ie gas low

Pros and cons?

I just. Estimated 6 quid to fill a 6kg one by me at 0.48p a litre seems they would pay for themselves pretty quick, what does everyone think about them?

[hallii]

It's not just the costs, it's the convenience. If you go abroad you have different cylinders and connectors in every country, with a refillable system you just fill up anywhere they sell it, and there are plenty of places that sell it.

 

If you just stay in the UK refillables wouldn't repay the outlay (unless you use a lot of gas) and various cylinders are easily available and exchanged.

 

H

[Charles]

Ours were fitted by the dealer from new. It's cheaper running the fridge on gas than paying for hook up.

[Guest Joe90]

Gaslow have become the new Hoovers, a generic name for refillable gas bottles, people seem not to realise there are other players in the market, a 11Kg bottle with remote filling kit can be had for approx £165 delivered.

 

Without doubt the single best after market thing I've ever bought for the van, when I think back to the "bad old days" of mauling bottles, and paying way over the odds for the gas, not to mention the whole thing taking on a whole new load of hassles if going over the channel and I certainly simply cannot see any downsides. No need for a twin bottle system, or paying the silly prices quoted for some of the players in the market, the only caveat is the so called gauges are useless, but once you've established a pattern of usage then topping up your bottle becomes second nature, rather than waiting for it to become empty........................... get one, you won't regret it ;-)

 

And as this seems to crop up fairly regularly, three way fridges are primarily designed to run most efficiently on gas. ;-)

[Matrix Meanderer]

Agree with all the above posts.

Best accessory we have ever bought and simply transferred through three vans, the dealers did not charge me for any of the transfers.

 

The cost of bottled gas in the UK is extortionate well over £3.50 a litre compared to 70 pence in the UK or anything from 50 pence a litre over the channel. By my records I have paid for the installation after 5 years, but the simplicity and convenience is priceless.

 

We have a single Gaslow large size cylinder and despite the quirky clip on gauge have never run out.

 

Filling is simple in most countries and ignore all the folklore tales about garages refusing to allow refilling, in seven years of using our Gaslow we have never had a single issue with refilling. Apart from my error of pressing the red emergency button on a French garage pump instead of the green fill button *-) I used the word "désolé" a lot whilst backing out of the pay booth!

 

If you motorhome outside the UK a refillable is essential.

[Keithl]

Matrix Meanderer - 2015-08-12 8:09 PM

 

The cost of bottled gas in the UK is extortionate well over £3.50 a litre

 

 

Sorry Ian but I have to disagree with you here.

 

We use Calor 13 kg Propane and pay a little over £21 at Go Outdoors after the C&CC discount so this works out to around 85 pence per litre. How do you buy bottled gas to arrive at £3.50 per litre?

 

At this price it would take me many, many years to recoup the cost of refillables and as I only normally change one cylinder a year I really can't see the handling benefit either.

 

Sorry to disagree :-(

 

Keith.

[yoko8pups]

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 7:51 PM

 

Gaslow have become the new Hoovers, a generic name for refillable gas bottles, people seem not to realise there are other players in the market, a 11Kg bottle with remote filling kit can be had for approx £165 delivered.

 

Without doubt the single best after market thing I've ever bought for the van, when I think back to the "bad old days" of mauling bottles, and paying way over the odds for the gas, not to mention the whole thing taking on a whole new load of hassles if going over the channel and I certainly simply cannot see any downsides. No need for a twin bottle system, or paying the silly prices quoted for some of the players in the market, the only caveat is the so called gauges are useless, but once you've established a pattern of usage then topping up your bottle becomes second nature, rather than waiting for it to become empty........................... get one, you won't regret it ;-)

 

And as this seems to crop up fairly regularly, three way fridges are primarily designed to run most efficiently on gas. ;-)

 

Could you name some, please?

[yoko8pups]

Jonboymentalhealth - 2015-08-12 6:42 PM

 

Hi all

What's everyone's feelings on the refillable gas cylinders ie gas low

Pros and cons?

I just. Estimated 6 quid to fill a 6kg one by me at 0.48p a litre seems they would pay for themselves pretty quick, what does everyone think about them?

 

Have I got this wrong? could it be £3 to fill at 48p a litre? I am inetrested in this and thinking of buying a system so I need to be sure.

 

[lancepar]

Hi Keith,

Are you mixing Kgs with litres, reason I ask is because there's 10lts of gas in my 6k Calor-lite and at £23.00 a refill that's £2.30 per litre, compared to garage/pump prices that's a lot more .

 

BTW off thread I've got another light I need to ask you how it comes to pieces, I'll send you a PM.

Lance

B-)

[Guest Joe90]

yoko8pups - 2015-08-12 8:36 PM

 

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 7:51 PM

 

Gaslow have become the new Hoovers, a generic name for refillable gas bottles, people seem not to realise there are other players in the market, a 11Kg bottle with remote filling kit can be had for approx £165 delivered.

 

Without doubt the single best after market thing I've ever bought for the van, when I think back to the "bad old days" of mauling bottles, and paying way over the odds for the gas, not to mention the whole thing taking on a whole new load of hassles if going over the channel and I certainly simply cannot see any downsides. No need for a twin bottle system, or paying the silly prices quoted for some of the players in the market, the only caveat is the so called gauges are useless, but once you've established a pattern of usage then topping up your bottle becomes second nature, rather than waiting for it to become empty........................... get one, you won't regret it ;-)

 

And as this seems to crop up fairly regularly, three way fridges are primarily designed to run most efficiently on gas. ;-)

 

Could you name some, please?

 

Sorry, name what exactly ? ;-)

[mgnbuk]

I fitted a single 11kg Gaslow cylinder+ external fill point to my Roller Team T-Line shortly after buying it, mainly for convenience when abroad. The lower refill cost is a bonus, but the van is well insulated & the appliances frugal so I don't use much (7.2 litres over 16 nights recently - a whole £3.88 to fill up !), but it is nice to know that if,say, the heating has to be used a bit more "over there" I won't have to worry about running out and having to faff changing bottles or trying to source a local bottle and fittings to keep going.

 

I got mine from Hamilton Gas Products & fitted it myself, with the only scary bit being marking out & drilling for the fill point in the skirt below the gas locker door (measure several times, pilot drill, check again & then out with the holesaw - no problem !).

 

The level gauge is pretty useless, as it goes straight from showing "Full" to showing "Empty" - but filling up shortly afterwards the first time it happened only put just over half a tank full in to fill up (12 litres in a 22 litre tank) - so now I know when it drops to "empty" I have still around half a tank left & get some more when convenient.

 

I have yet to find a "con". Some suggest that Autogas is not "clean", but in 7 years of operating LPG converted cars over 130,000 miles I have yet to change a gas filter (70K on the first car, 60K & counting on the current car). My Gaslow cylinder has been on the van for coming up on 2 1/2 years & approx. 120 nights away so far & no issues to date with the Dometic fridge/freezer, Combi 4, Smev hob or Thetford Duplex oven/grill.

 

I wouldn't want to go back to exchanging pre-filled bottles.

[candapack]

I also fitted a single (11kg) cylinder refillable system. Same positive feedback as above, with the additional benefit of freeing up half of the gas locker (which takes 2 x 13kg cylinders) for extra storage - currently a 25m and a 10m EHU lead, assorted adapters for Europe, a "scrunchy" 15m hose, assorted hose/tap connectors, and 2 bicycle helmets. Amazing really how much space one of these big cylinders takes up.

And there is also of course an impressive weight saving - unfortunately, herself has realised this and snaffled it all. :D

[Keithl]

lancepar - 2015-08-12 8:44 PM

 

Hi Keith,

Are you mixing Kgs with litres, reason I ask is because there's 10lts of gas in my 6k Calor-lite and at £23.00 a refill that's £2.30 per litre, compared to garage/pump prices that's a lot more .

 

BTW off thread I've got another light I need to ask you how it comes to pieces, I'll send you a PM.

Lance

B-)

 

Hi Lance,

 

1 kg of Propane equals a volume of 1.95 litres so 13 kg is approx 25 litres.

 

At £21 for a refill this is obviously less than £1 per litre.

 

Your 6 kg actually holds 11.7 litres of gas so better than you thought. And is only £21 at Go Outdoors and you should also get 10% off this if a C&CC member! This would work out to £1.60 per litre so a lot better than your calculation :-)

 

Keith.

 

And send me a PM if you have a question.

[Guest Joe90]

£1.60 a litre for the cheapest exchange bottle then,

 

against the 48p a litre I paid last week in Wolverhampton to top up my bottle. ;-)

 

Or slightly less than £6 for the same amount of gas opposed to "only" £21 for an exchange bottle ;-)

[Keithl]

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 10:03 PM

 

£1.60 a litre for the cheapest exchange bottle then,

 

against the 48p a litre I paid last week in Wolverhampton to top up my bottle. ;-)

 

No. As I said in my earlier post 85 pence as we use 13 kg cylinders.

 

As we use approx 25 litres (one cylinder) per year that would save us less than £10 per year and hence take us many, many years to recoup the cost of even a single refillable. Sorry but not for me.

 

Keith.

[Keithl]

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 10:03 PM

 

Or slightly less than £6 for the same amount of gas opposed to "only" £21 for an exchange bottle ;-)

 

So on your figures a saving of £15 per refill compared to an outlay of let's say £165. That's 11 refills for a payback! How many years will that take some MH'ers?

[Guest Joe90]

Well of course they are not for everyone, site users that make use of all the facilities and EHU obviously will not benefit, but for the more adventurous that use Aires, wild camp, shun EHU, or use sites but do not care for site ablutions the pay back time is very short, ;-)

 

Edit, as for Payback, well that's not the whole story, but just one year for us, 14 weeks in France each year, mainly on Aires, and we use ALL our vans facilities, not some of them ;-)

 

And another factor that's left out of the equation if using Calor is the upfront cost of the initial bottle agreement .which will cost £66. :-S for roughly £10 worth of gas. :D

[Keithl]

Totally agree Joe, it's Horses for Courses :D

[yoko8pups]

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 8:56 PM

 

yoko8pups - 2015-08-12 8:36 PM

 

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 7:51 PM

 

Gaslow have become the new Hoovers, a generic name for refillable gas bottles, people seem not to realise there are other players in the market, a 11Kg bottle with remote filling kit can be had for approx £165 delivered.

 

Without doubt the single best after market thing I've ever bought for the van, when I think back to the "bad old days" of mauling bottles, and paying way over the odds for the gas, not to mention the whole thing taking on a whole new load of hassles if going over the channel and I certainly simply cannot see any downsides. No need for a twin bottle system, or paying the silly prices quoted for some of the players in the market, the only caveat is the so called gauges are useless, but once you've established a pattern of usage then topping up your bottle becomes second nature, rather than waiting for it to become empty........................... get one, you won't regret it ;-)

 

And as this seems to crop up fairly regularly, three way fridges are primarily designed to run most efficiently on gas. ;-)

 

Could you name some, please?

 

Sorry, name what exactly ? ;-)

 

Some makes of refillable gas bottles, sorry

[Guest Joe90]

yoko8pups - 2015-08-12 10:27 PM

 

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 8:56 PM

 

yoko8pups - 2015-08-12 8:36 PM

 

Joe90 - 2015-08-12 7:51 PM

 

Gaslow have become the new Hoovers, a generic name for refillable gas bottles, people seem not to realise there are other players in the market, a 11Kg bottle with remote filling kit can be had for approx £165 delivered.

 

Without doubt the single best after market thing I've ever bought for the van, when I think back to the "bad old days" of mauling bottles, and paying way over the odds for the gas, not to mention the whole thing taking on a whole new load of hassles if going over the channel and I certainly simply cannot see any downsides. No need for a twin bottle system, or paying the silly prices quoted for some of the players in the market, the only caveat is the so called gauges are useless, but once you've established a pattern of usage then topping up your bottle becomes second nature, rather than waiting for it to become empty........................... get one, you won't regret it ;-)

 

And as this seems to crop up fairly regularly, three way fridges are primarily designed to run most efficiently on gas. ;-)

 

Could you name some, please?

 

Sorry, name what exactly ? ;-)

 

Some makes of refillable gas bottles, sorry

 

Well I've got an 11 Kg "Gasit" branded one, approx £165 with external filling kit, a google search will bring up more like Stako, or Safefill for example, hope that helps. ;-)

 

http://www.gasit.co.uk/

 

P.S, I don't think it can be overstated that a refillable isn't for everyone dependent on their style of "camping" or if they don't venture out of the UK and stay on formal sites, but if you venture over the channel and wish to forget obtaining gas hassles in mine and many others experiences, it is the only way to go.

 

 

 

[david lloyd]

As I never calculated to recoup the cost of my Motorhome over the years of use I didn't bother to do it with the gas tank either.

 

The outlay is simply an equation between overall cost against the benefits of not having to change cylinders, convenience of filling up at forecourts, availability in Europe and being able to transfer the system to any new vehicle we may purchase. The overall cost of the gas (although we do use quite a bit in a year) is just an aside for us.

 

David

[Archiesgrandad]

I think it only fair to point out that if you wish to use your refillable gas tank abroad you will need to purchase one or both of the filler adaptors used over there, I think I paid about £30 for ours, and because we opted to retain the old Calor bottle as a backup we also had to buy another adaptor to enable us to connect that in, it cost a few quid.

AGD

[Guest Joe90]

If you paid £30 you were done :-S

 

Gasit sell the Euro adaptor for £6

 

http://www.gasit.co.uk/index.php?_a=product&product_id=7

[peterjl]

Archiesgrandad - 2015-08-13 10:14 AM

 

I think it only fair to point out that if you wish to use your refillable gas tank abroad you will need to purchase one or both of the filler adaptors used over there, I think I paid about £30 for ours, and because we opted to retain the old Calor bottle as a backup we also had to buy another adaptor to enable us to connect that in, it cost a few quid.

AGD

 

Hi there are 3 different adapters used in Europe. When I first purchased 7 years ago it was a different adapter for different countries but these days I am seeing a range of adapters whitin one country.

 

I would add that I swopped my system from motorhome to motorhome over the years so once you have the equipment it has a long life to recover the cost if that's what turns you on. For me it was convenience, have refilled everywhere from Greece to Norway so never need to worry about running out.

 

Peter

 

[pepe63xnotuse]

We only ever MHd in the UK..and, like Keith we used a 13kg bottle ( also our gas consumption sounded similar to Keith's). So for us, changing a bottle once a year was no big deal...

 

However......

 

No matter how big an exchange bottle you can shoehorn in (and/or how much "cheaper" than a smaller cylinder it may work out), at some point you will still reach that annoying, "..will this be enough to last us...?.." splosh it about, weigh it, and guess stage! ...:-S (lol)

 

Okay, no problem, you've got a spare bottle......but the spare will run low as some stage..

So you can just end up carrying *two almost empty bottles..

 

If we were starting from scratch with a motorhome, as a complete kit can now be had £160+, although our consumption wouldn't justify it, I'd probably get it bought. ;-)

 

(I wouldn't mind something like a small Safefill bottle for our camping-van..but with them being "loose", I'm unsure of their "acceptably" when it comes to filling..).