What size gas bottles?

[fesspark]

I carry 2 spannish lightweight bottles11 k each, propane in the u.k. scottish gas propane x 2,11 k ea.Rarely use campsite Elec too expensive, run Fridge freezer cooker and boiler off gas, How do people with 1, 6 k bottles such as in the Chausson motorhomes manage, ? observations welcome.By the way I have 180 solar panel for my T.V. and other electric. Fesspark

[StuartO]

I also use predominantly gas for fridge and cooking. Using rental bottles constrains you to refilling by replacing whole bottles, even if they are not quite empty, so I prefer the flexibility of refillables.

 

I have 2 X 11kg refillables but if I was starting again I would get one 11kg and one 6kg because _{I always look to refuel as soon as the switchover to the second bottle has taken place.}

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Although the gas-locker of some Chausson models may only be able to accommodate one gas bottle, this would be a French 13kg canister. So a 13kg Calor propane bottle should fit in OK.

 

As 'one bottle' Chaussons will have diesel-fuelled heating, gas usage should not be excessive.

[pepe63xnotuse]

The Chausson we had (a 2008 Allegro 83) could take a 13kg Calor and still have room to properly stand and strap our 3.9k Calor "spare" beside it.

 

For the vans that may only have room for one 6kg bottle, one would assume that their owners would "manage" by a mix of, changing the bottle more frequently and/or EHU and/or a refillable gas bottle...

 

 

[Derek Uzzell]

It is to be expected that the gas-locker of a motorhome will be sized to accommodate gas-bottles that are the norm for the major marketplace of the country where the vehicle is built. So a UK-built motorhome’s gas-locker will be sized to accept Calor’s range of canisters, a French-built motorhome’s locker will be sized to accommodate 13kg metal French canisters, a German-built motorhome’s locker will be sized to accomodate 11kg and 5kg German canisters, etc.

 

Recent Chaussons with diesel-fuelled heating have tended to have a gas-locker sized to accommodate a single French 13kg metal canister. For French motorcaravanners who might prefer having a ‘back-up’ bottle, this design limitation does not present much of a problem as it’s possible to obtain in France smaller-capacity bottles (Twiny, Elfi, Malice) that can be ’stacked’ vertically, with a pair of those bottles occupying no more space than a single 13kg canister.

 

The UK does not have similar gas-bottles, so the only realistic option for carrying a back-up gas-bottle in a ‘one-bottle’ Chausson may be to carry the back-up outside the locker. The last time I looked at a Chausson motorhome was at a 2016 NEC show and I noticed that the vehicle being exhibited had a couple of ‘straps’ in one corner of the rear garage. I asked the salesman what these were for and was told that the straps were to retain a 2nd gas-canister to address a UK preference for carrying two bottles. Obviously to utilise the 2nd bottle would involve swapping it with the (presumably empty) one in the gas-locker, but the arrangement would satisfy many people’s requirements.

[Alanb]

The gas locker in our first MH, a Pilote R390, had a floor area sufficient for two 13kg cylinders, however tests proved that it was not possible to get the second one through the door, A full 13kg propane cylinder takes some effort to handle. I settled for one 13kg propane with a 3.9kg backup which we already had. With cylinder mounted regulators, an LP changeover valve completed the installation.

 

Our current IH Tio R was originally equipped for 2 x 3.9kg propane cylinders, which were inconvenient (one was difficult to change), inadequate and expensive. Fitting 6kg Gaslow bottles would have involved trepanning recesses in the thick plywood base. We ended up with two 5kg Stako bottles which are a well engineered product, and which we use alternately. With our level of gas consumption, the modification was not expected to save money, but it's a lot more convenient.

On a recent 2 week trip to Scotland with minimal use of EHU, and some space heating we used about 10 litres of autogas, approximately half of our capacity.

 

If I may digress slightly , the only time that we have run out of gas was in NZ. Not normally a problem as in NZ the single cylinder of perhaps 4kg capacity can be topped up at many filling stations. The only trouble was that we were at Gunn's Camp in the Hollyford Valley, not very far from Milford Sound, but a long way from a filling point! Joyce was half way through cooking our evening meal, but the problem was easily solved. NZ campgrounds frequently provide fully equipped camp kitchens, so we just moved our pans into the kitchen, which was nearby.. (On previous trips the cylinder had been supplied full, but not this time.)

 

Alan

 

 

[bigparkie]

We own a chausson 728 manual says it holds 2 ,. 13kg bottles, it came with 1 calor 6kg, I had a spare so went to go outdoors and swapped it for a 13 kg, (they swap any size ) when the 6 ran out swapped that for a 13 , it would not go through the door aperture :'( when the 13 ran out back to go outdoors to swap it for a 6 ,so all sorted now with one 6 and one 13.

[fesspark]

The Chausson 2018, model 640 does not take 2 gas bottles and is designed for 6 kl only so the salesman at Highbridge told me and I believe him looking at the size of the locker. Fesspark

[Derek Uzzell]

The Chausson 640’s gas-locker will NOT have been designed for a UK Calor 6kg bottle - it will (for reasons that should be self-evident) have been sized to accommodate a French-norm metal 13kg canister and that’s what is stated in French reviews of the 640 model.

 

The diameter of a 13kg French canister is around 310mm (the same diameter as a Flogas 11kg propane bottle). The diameter of a Calor 13kg bottle is 315mm and thisi slight increase may be critical where the Chausson 640 is concerned. It may be that a Calor 13kg bottle won’t go in, but a smaller canister (eg. a Flogas 11kg) might, or a Gaslow 11kg refillable (diameter 304mm).

 

If you’ve asked a Highbridge salesman whether a Calor 13kg bottle can be accommodated in a Chausson 640’s gas-locker and been told that it cannot, that may well be correct. But that does not automatically mean the 640’s locker is limited to UK 6kg cylinders. What you need to establish is which reasonably large capacity UK non-Calor bottles will go in the 640’s locker.

[paws]

 

 

Can't fit Calor 13kg propane in my Pilote gas locker . but I can fit 2 x Flogas 11kg propane bottles

 

Patrick

[Derek Uzzell]

Chausson’s 2018 English-language catalogue has a section on “Fuel heating” (ie heating using the motorhome’s diesel fuel) that includes the statement

 

"Less loaded weight and additional space

Choosing gas oil heating also means lightening the loaded weight of the motorhome. Two 13 kg gas cylinders really weigh 52 kg (13 kg corresponds to contents only).

Not having to bring them along represents a significant reduction in weight.

By using just one gas cylinder, you have less weight and more storage space.”

 

The impllcation is that only one 13kg gas cylinder needs to be carried. However, this statement is a straight translation of the "Le chauffage sur carburant” section in Chausson’s French-language catalogue where the 13kg gas cylinders being referred to will be French-norm ones.

 

Reviews in UK motorhome magazines of non-UK-built motorhomes will often include data on the capacity of the gas bottles that the motorhome’s gas-locker can accommodate, but that information will almost always rely on what is in the converter’s brochure. But it’s always struck me as being of dubious/misleading value in saying (for example) that a particular Hymer model’s gas-locker can accommodate two 11kg cylinders when those cylinders will be German-norm and not available in the UK.

 

My Rapido’s gas-locker can (apparently) accept two French-norm 13kg gas cylinders, but (as Patrick says about his Pilote) the Rapido’s locker may not be deep enough for a Calor 13kg bottle. I haven’t checked as it’s not something that concerns me.

 

Fesspark’s “scottish gas propane” (Flogas?) 11kg botte might well fit in a Chausson 640’s gas-locker, but I’ve no idea if his Spanish lightweight 11kg bottle would. If being able to carry a particular make/size of gas bottle is to be a 'deal-breaker’ when choosing a motorhome model, the sensible thing to do before committing to buying the vehicle would be to take a gas-bottle to a dealership that has the model on their forecourt and see if the bottle will fit in the locker.

[colin]

Our Globecar was listed as being able to carry 2x11kg bottle, I assume german ones. 2 13kg Calor propane fit, although they do have to be loaded/removed in the correct sequence, i,e, the rear cylinder can be changed on its own, but to change the front cylinder the rear has to be removed first.

But one cylinder! to me that's plain stupid, you are half way throu cooking a meal and the cylinder runs out, what do you do?

[Derek Uzzell]

France is a major marketplace for Possl/Globecar panel-van conversions, so although the Globecar brochure says that 2 x 11kg (German-norm) canisters will go in the gas-locker, it should be anticipated that 13kg French-norm canisters would also go in otherwise French motorcaravanners would not buy Possl/Globecar PVCs. And if 13kg French-norm gas-bottles will fit, there’s a reasonable chance that UK Calor 13kg bottles can also be shoehorned in.

 

For quite a few years Chausson has chosen to fit heating appliances that are fuelled from the motorhome’s diesel tank. The system usually comprises a diesel-fuelled air-heater and a gas-fuelled water-heater or (more recently) a Truma Combi D that heats water as well as air. But in either case (as Chausson’s brochure mentions) this policy will reduce gas usage significantly as it’s the heating system that’s most ‘gas greedy’.

 

If a Chausson’s gas-locker can accommodate a 13kg French-norm cylinder, that’s 26 litres of gas which might last many motorcaravanners well over a month if gas is not being used for heating. And, as I mentioned earlier, there’s no real difficulty in France carrying a pair of gas-bottles in a Chausson’s 1 x 13kg gas-locker as the French have ‘half-height’ gas-bottles that can be stacked. As lots and lots of Chaussons are sold in France, it must be assumed that French motorcaravanners do not consider a Chausson’s reduced-size gas-locker a huge drawback.

[mgnbuk]

My 610 easily takes a Gaslow 11kg bottle of the earlier design & the 640 gas locker appears to be the same as the 610.

 

Main gas usage is for the Truma Ultrastore water heater. The Welcome 610 has a gas/electric heater, but I have mainly been using it on gas, as a lot of German, Austria & Northern Italian sites were charging electricity at €0.60 per KWh this summer. My first 30 nights consumed 14 litres of Autogas for water heating (heater turned on on arrival on site & left on until departure), a couple of 24 hour periods of fridge operation & cooking.

 

Nigel B