Gas puzzle.

[Tracker]

I too used to note the purchase date and empty date and from that the duration of the gas bottles in order to ensure that we did not run out somewhere inconvenient and looking back I too see a huge variation in bottle duration.

We never used ehu and only ever used Calor Propane 6kg for many years so it was pretty consistent but one van we had used Eberspacher diesel for space and water heating and the gas duration was much longer, as expected, but still varied widely.

Sometimes a shorter bottle duration could be justified by weather conditions but often there was no obvious corellation or explanation and I always assumed it was down to the way we used the gas.

I have not heard of variations in either quantity or quality of Calor Gas and I never check weighed a full bottle to see if Calor had been more, or less, generous so I guess it comes down to the heavy use items like heating, hot water and oven cooking making the difference?

That said, with Brian's use being very different to ours and predominantly sites and therefore presumaby ehu would it be fair to say that the heavier consumption items like heating and hot water would be mainly electric and not gas.

So as we both experienced wide variations in Calor consumption over several years I can only assume that what we consider to be minor variations in our respective gas use do in fact add up to make quite a difference?

Unless anyone knows differently?

 

PS. Our records stand at 6 days in winter (it was flippin cold) to 30 days in late summer but mostly it was 15 to 20 days!

[monique.hubrechtsgm]

I find out that the Wobbe of propane or butane is close and use the same injectors. But if the bottle is real empty is not clarified yet. In a bp light versus steel thre a differerence of what is left in the bp light more Did you use a bottle up to a point that cooker flame is oot?

[Brian Kirby]

Tracker - 2018-02-04 12:16 PM............................That said, with Brian's use being very different to ours and predominantly sites and therefore presumaby ehu would it be fair to say that the heavier consumption items like heating and hot water would be mainly electric and not gas.................

Thanks Rich.

 

No, no water heating on electricity, because we always use the site facilities for washing and washing up. So, just space heating when cold which, as our trips are spring and autumn is generally infrequent; as we travel out in spring and back in autumn. Not that often overall, just a few days on most trips. Once on a site, gas is usually just for cooking, as the fridge will be on mains.

[Guest pelmetman]

Brian Kirby - 2018-02-01 7:17 PM

 

We bought our first van in 2005. Since then we have owned three vans (including the first). All vans have carried one 13kg Calor propane cylinder, and one 13kg Butagaz (French) propane cylinder. All three vans have had automatic changeover valves, the last two being Truma Secumotion type.

 

We have generally done one longish (9 weeks ave) trip in the spring, leaving early/mid April, and another, shorter (6.5 weeks ave), trip in the autumn, arriving back late October.

 

The furthest North we have been is Lubeck, the furthest South Vatheia (Peloponnese), the furthest East Tokaj (Hungary) the furthest West Lisbon. So quite a wide range of spring/autumn climates.

 

Over that time we have consumed 7 Calor, and 7 Butagaz, cylinders. On average each Calor cylinder has lasted 73 days, while each Butagaz has lasted 87 days.

 

So, three different vans, three different sets of pigtails, all cylinders used on both spring and autumn trips, throughout a range of countries and spring/autumn conditions. Yet, with only two exceptions, the Butagaz cylinders have consistently lasted longer than the Calor.

 

Is it possibly a difference in the gas, or is it that Butagaz are more generous in filling their cylinders? Any ideas/suggestions?

 

8-) ........You deffo need to get out more Brian :D .......

 

 

[aandncaravan]

Some one has emailed to point out that while my earlier statement that Butane has a higher heat value per litre is true, there is less gas per 13kg bottle of Butane than a 13kg bottle of Propane.

 

In the UK we buy our gas by the kilogram and because Propane has less density, you get more Propane litres per kilogram, with the difference more than offsetting the lower MJ/L energy content value.

In fact a similar weight bottle of Propane has about 10% more energy overall than Butane.

 

So even if a Butane flame burns hotter in an Oven and the Oven uses less gas because it spends less time with a 'full' flame due to thermostat control, the advantage is still in favour of Propane because you get so many more litres of gas for that weight.

 

I always thought you paid more for a 13kg Propane versus 13kg of Butane, has that changed?

 

However, the emailer, thank you Ron, has found a Calor retailer with pretty much the same cost,. 13kg of Propane at £25 and 15kg of Butane at £28. Roughly £1.90 per kilo for both types of Gas.

 

That seems to indicate that Propane will last about 10% longer for the same cost/weight of Butane, and a real surprise to me.

 

See this link for a fuller explanation : http://www.elgas.com.au/blog/1688-butane-vs-propane-vs-lpg-isobutane-liquefied-petroleum-gas

 

and this link for the comparable cost supplier : LINK

 

 

[Keithl]

aandncaravan - 2018-02-04 9:30 PM

 

I always thought you paid more for a 13kg Propane versus 13kg of Butane, has that changed?

 

However, the emailer, thank you Ron, has found a Calor retailer with pretty much the same cost,. 13kg of Propane at £25 and 15kg of Butane at £28. Roughly £1.90 per kilo for both types of Gas.

 

 

Allan,

 

If you look on Go Outdoors website the pricing of Calor refills is actually the other way around, 13 kg of propane is considerable cheaper than 15 kg of Butane!

 

13 kg of propane is £26.79

 

15 kg of Butane is £34.19

 

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/search/search?w=calor%20gas%20refill

 

And if you use the C&CC discount you get an additional 10% off these prices!

 

I think I am sticking with my 13 kg Propane cylinders for the time being.

 

Keith.

[monique.hubrechtsgm]

Very clever to put the density factor in the puzzle. So in a propane bottle is more residu when empty than in butane. At the time when motorhomers change their bottles or refill means that they are afriaid that the flame goes out in their systems The rest is emperial gas tech. Or take the square root out of your calculatons as the wobbe index do and your result equals

[monique.hubrechtsgm]

As Brian said and is very important that your cooker is always on gas. sofar not a cooker or an oven in mobile or micro oven can run on gas. The same for airco in the roof except some on water which run on 12 volts.