What to do, empty gas bottles

belisha-beacon · 22 January 2011 at 7:01PM

We have recently bought a house and have moved in to find four or five large gas bottles/canisters in our garden. Obviously we could cause a stink and try and get the vendor to take them since they were not part of the house that we were buying but to be honest it's probably easier to sort it out ourselves. However, I have no idea how to go about this. Not even sure if this is the right bit of the forum!

I'm presuming that these are empty because they don't feel too heavy, but I'm not sure how to tell. There are no contact details that I can see on any of the canisters, some look fairly old. Since they are pretty substantial, I'm guessing that gas companies may collect these up for free, or would I have to contact someone (who?) and pay them to take them away safely? Any advice?

I'm happy for this to be moved to another forum if there is one that is better suited!

HappyMJ · 22 January 2011 at 7:06PM

Who are they owned by? The name should be on the cylinder. Return them to the nearest dealer maybe Calor Gas or FloGas...Could be anyone. They will pick them up for free if you wish. Or freecycle them. They are worth up to £30 to someone.

Poosmate · 22 January 2011 at 7:06PM

You could always sell them on Ebay. Some people make woodburners out of them. Search Gas Bottle Wood Burners on Ebay and see what comes up. There's a guy who makes them and sells regularly. Maybe he'd be interested in them - would be fab if he was local to you.

Otherwise, you could scrap them. May as well make a few bob out of them!

Poo

belisha-beacon · 22 January 2011 at 7:19PM

Thanks. One is a Calor cylinder but I can't see names on the others (they may have come off) and they are all different shapes and sizes, annoyingly!

Good idea about scrap value. I presume they'd need to be empty before I could sell them for scrap, do you know how I could check if they are?

Poosmate · 22 January 2011 at 7:31PM

No idea on that I'm afraid BB but I have seen somewhere on't intertweb how to check. It might have been on YouTube or Instructibles when I tried to find out how this guy was making the woodburners out of them. It struck me as rather dangerous to be cutting gas cylinders open with angle grinders and such!

Regarding scrapping them, not sure if it matters if they are empty or not. I'm sure most "scrappys" get these things all the time anyway so they should be well versed in dealing with them - same as dealing with potentially flammable/explosive liquids in cars when they're scrapped.

Hope that helps,

Poo

HappyMJ · 22 January 2011 at 8:02PM

The Calor cylinder is actually owned by Calor. The scrappy won't be able to destroy it he'll return it for credit. So you may as well return it yourself for credit or give it to someone who needs a cylinder as it will save them the £30 deposit that they'll need to pay if they don't already have a cylinder to swap when getting a refill.

You don't need to worry if they are empty they will always have a little gas in them. They can't be emptied completely.

DVardysShadow · 22 January 2011 at 10:06PM

belisha-beacon wrote: »

Thanks. One is a Calor cylinder but I can't see names on the others (they may have come off) and they are all different shapes and sizes, annoyingly!

Do take care to identify them. There is a small chance they could be something else - oxygen, acetylene, CO2, anaesthetic ... in which case you might need advice on disposal.

Pincher · 22 January 2011 at 11:20PM

Easiest is to ask the council. They might even collect.

We have a "Civic Amenity Site" for taking difficult stuff like car battteries.

welda · 22 January 2011 at 11:32PM

If one tank is tall and black, it is oxygene, tall and black with white pin stripe down length of each side, it is dissolved oxygene. Maroon = Actylene (small-ish dumpy, normally weld seam around middle) take great care with this one is so? Fire Brigade will be more than happy to advise what contains what, and best route to dispose of tanks.

:beer:

burnsguitarman · 22 January 2011 at 11:44PM

Calor, or their agents will only give refunds if you have the original receipt for hire of the bottle, but you can return the bottle to any of them. Alternatively take them to your local tip, they should have a safe disposal point.

jackieb · 22 January 2011 at 11:48PM

We have a bit at the council skip (aka recycling centre) for gas bottles. They're locked up. You just have to ask someone on site. Look on your local council website.

Just don't do what someone did here a while back and put it in your wheelie bin. :eek: http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/news/release.asp?newsID=1264

What to do, empty gas bottles

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