gas bottles in Europe

[petesue]

Can anyone advise on the best make of gas bottle for use in France and Spain. Can I buy an 11kg. bottle over there that is available in both countries? If so, how much are they? Cheers Pete. *-)

[Bill Ord]

It depends on where you are travelling in France as to which gas bottle to go for and to check for your self at supermarkets in France as to which ones are the most available where you go. I use Le Cube in France combined with a Calor bottle; the Le cube is the main bottle and I swing onto the Calor for the change over when Le Cube is empty. I did see Repsol gas which is Spanish for sale in Realmont in the Tarn and the good news was there was no deposit although I have this year seen French bottles with as little as 3 Euros deposit; the more normal is between 15-20 Euros. the botles in France are of the 11kg type which typically are sized for continental 'vans. In the past I've bought gas bottles in Spain in an emergency and given my pitch number on the campsite as an address without a problem and sold the bottle to a Brit on leaving but if you go to Spain regularly it's probably worth hanging on to it, the deposit on the Repsol bottle I bought was 25 Euros. If you're going to buy a bottle in Spain and you have the 2004 onwards 30mb regulator it's probably wise to buy the adaptor here as it will save the hassle of trying to source one there and I doubt it will be more expensive. In April this year I was trying to buy an adaptor at a caravan dealer in Murcia and found they didn't know what I meant; all their caravans including the new ones in the show rooms were still set up for the old system with on bottle regulators, so much for what i had been told about the 30mb system being Europe wide.

[Bill Ord]

Sorry about not adding the price; 11kg in France is about 16 euros depending on offers and supermarket etc. in Spain expect to pay about half that price. this price is for a refill after you've paid the deposit.

[Norma]

Buy a refillable bottle and save any hassle with having the correct connections. Gas is easily available throughout Europe

[Randonneur]

Latest 11kg propane prices are 21/23 Euros.

[Basil]

I agree with Norma, for travelling on the continent you can't beat refillables of whatever make, no po@@ing about with different regulators, bottles and pigtails fit them and forget just refill when you refuel at the fuel station. Wouldn't try to justify on price though Gaslows installed yourself are relatively inexpensive, but for convenience and low cost of refilling they take the weight off your mind. Bas

[Bill Ord]

Refilling in Spain can be difficult to impossible as very few places can do it.

[kelly58]

At my local Morrisons I asked yesterday out of interest if one could refill a gas cylinder at their gas filling point and the answer was no the nozzle will only fit vehicles as we have just purhased our 1st motorhome and intend to tour europe in the new year I was thinking about refills but this gas refill matter seems and endless minefield of problems, any advice will be greatly appreciated kelvyn

[Norma]

The fitting on refillable bottles is the same as that on a car. There are adapters available for other countries. The chances of someone in Morrisons or other filling station understanding refillable bottles is pretty unlikely. Calor say you cannot take the bottle out to fill on the forecourts and fill at stations for dear old H&SE reasons - or is it because we are not buying their bottles! There must be a safety cut off at 80% fill on refillables. If you have a filling point added to your van you are totally legal to fill your bottle in the same way as any car. The bottle becomes a fixed item and perectly within their demands.

[Basil]

hi Kelly 58, I would think that the person at Morrisons was thinking you meant an ordinary Calor type cylinder which clearly does not have the right type of fitting. As Norma quite correctly says if you install say Gaslows with a Gaslow filling point it is an identical filling fitting to that on vehicle LPG conversions so they wouldn't know you were filling up your domestic bottles anyway. I have refilled at a Morrisons with no problem at all, in fact on the several occasions I have filled now I have had no problem whatsoever, apart from the first time as I did a DIY install so had no one to explain how the filling connection worked, but that is no longer a problem for new users with Don Madges very informative information with pictures!! B-) B-) With regard to Spain, there are quite a few places now I notice from Don's filling website information, not as many as in other parts of Europe where they tend to be quite plentiful, though a lot concentrated in one area and two's and three's in others, however with a bit of forethought and planning there would never be anywhere you could not refill if you wanted to. So don't be put off you can fill anywhere even Spain if you want or need to, still MUCH more convenient than carrying additional spare unsatisfactorily located, or undersized expensive bottles and the assosiated adaptor/ regulators. I think its like a lot of things in life, initially do you want to pay a bit more now to invest in a better and more convenient life into the future? The additional rewards of cheaper and more cost effectiveness into the future, inevitably LPG will get dearer so an investment now will become even more cost effective into the future? Bas

[MandyAndy]

Just want to check if LPG is ok in the tunnel, somewhere I read they wont allow it, then I read the tanks can only be so full, then I read that they where all ok with it now. So thought I would check with the experts!!! We plan to use the tunnel when we want short trips over there and make the most of our Tesco vouchers, we dont yet have the van and been contemplating this very question of which gas?

[John H]

Hi Mandy, If you search the forum for "Eurotunnel & Lpg tanks" it will give you the information you are looking for. Regards, John.

[Brian Kirby]

Just re bottle sizes, the larger ones in France tend to be 13Kg, as are the large Calors in UK.  The larger German bottles are 11Kg, they seem to be about the same in height as the 13Kg jobs, but correspondingly smaller in diameter.  Whatever you decide upon, do test that it will go through the locker door, I know it sounds obvious but however nearly it fits, if it nearly fits, it don't! 

If contemplating two 13Kg jobs, also check the internals of the locker will accommodate both.  Not all will.

We have one 13Kg Calor propane and one French 13 Kg Butagaz propane.  For spring/summer/autumn use, staying mainly on sites with hook up, and with the electric water heater on the Truma Combi, with modest heating use (the pic was an exception!) one bottle gives us around 12 - 14 weeks of continuous use.

Consider also the newish PB gas in the lightweight see through cylinders.  PB are promoting these in a number of European countries and the advantage (I understand) is they can be swapped across frontiers.