Bottled Gas

[Deleted User]

iolanthe07 wrote: »

When I lived in California in the 1990's everyone with a propane BBQ would take propane cylinders to the petrol station to be refilled. It was ridiculously cheap too. I don't remember there being any safety issues if it is done correctly. I don't know why this doesn't happen here.

Safety and people not knowing what they are doing mainly. Plus the bottle likely doesn't belong to you so it's not yours to refill as you please. Also most fuel stations usually have an agency for Calor/FloGas where they will sell you a full bottle in exchange for your old bottle/deposit.

You might find an old independent place out in the sticks prepared to let you fill, like the place in the video above appears to be, but no major chain is going to allow it.

marlot

iolanthe07 wrote: »

When I lived in California in the 1990's everyone with a propane BBQ would take propane cylinders to the petrol station to be refilled. It was ridiculously cheap too. I don't remember there being any safety issues if it is done correctly. I don't know why this doesn't happen here.

And if you buy a proper refillable bottle, you can in the UK too.

Refillable bottles aren't cheap though - £150-200.



Get one of these and you can refill on UK forecourts - eg. Morrisons. http://www.safefill.co.uk/

Scrapit

Exchanged calor bottles aren't very expensive any way. A total non issue.

Undervalued

marlot wrote: »

If you do it properly, you'll likely have a setup that looks like this, and you can have the gas entry point on the side of vehicle.



Calor and similar bottles are not designed to be user refillable. They don't have a safety/excess pressure valve, so the bottle needs to be weighed to work out how much gas is already in there, and then the right amount added. No fuel station operator is going to help you do something so stupid and dangerous.

Even with a proper installation like this I think there is a legal requirement for it to be pressure tested every so often. So you need to factor that in too. I suspect you have got to use quite a lot to recoup the cost. Most camper vans / caravans are actually used very little.....

facade

Deleted_User wrote: »

Also most fuel stations usually have an agency for Calor/FloGas where they will sell you a full bottle in exchange for your old bottle/deposit.

Which is why they won't let you refill the bottle, plus, if something goes wrong and there is a leak, they get a load of hassle- they probably have to close for a bit, losing trade, and 'phone somebody, all for a couple of pounds profit, if that. So it isn't worth their while letting you anyway.




I looked at this years ago, the adaptor is about £30, but no-one will let you use it. When handpumps were all the rage, I thought about getting a large cylinder and pumping it into the little cylinder, but it is easier to just pay the exchange price.

AdrianC

Scrapit wrote: »

Exchanged calor bottles aren't very expensive any way. A total non issue.

They are for the volume of gas.

A big "7kg" 907 cylinder is 2.7kg of gas, and about £25 to refill. That's about 4.6 litres, which means £5.45/litre - compared to, what 60-odd pence at a pump?

So every fill saves £22. If you're using enough to worry about the cost relative to all the other costs of running a motorhome, then the RoI on a proper refillable isn't exactly ridiculous - 20 fills?

Even a 904 lasts me a year or three of summer weekend camping stove use.

Scrapit

AdrianC wrote: »

They are for the volume of gas.

A big "7kg" 907 cylinder is 2.7kg of gas, and about £25 to refill. That's about 4.6 litres, which means £5.45/litre - compared to, what 60-odd pence at a pump?

So every fill saves £22. If you're using enough to worry about the cost relative to all the other costs of running a motorhome, then the RoI on a proper refillable isn't exactly ridiculous - 20 fills?

Even a 904 lasts me a year or three of summer weekend camping stove use.

But thats comparing a vehicle fuel and gas. Yes they are exactly the same thing but in terms of use it's not expensive. A motor home will use the gas for cooking, central heating/blown air if you have it and maybe the fridge. Which isn't alot of use, especially in holiday season. The vehicle will use the fuel a lot quicker and therefore isn't viable in the use of bottles unless you are driving a fork lift.

marlot

AdrianC wrote: »

...A big "7kg" 907 cylinder is 2.7kg of gas, and about £25 to refill. That's about 4.6 litres, which means £5.45/litre - compared to, what 60-odd pence at a pump?
.

The gas is only a tiny amount of the cost of refilling, transporting, stocking, selling them.

If you really wanted to, you could save a load of money by buying a larger cylinder. About £23 for a 6Kg flogas propane - often cheaper if you have a local builder's merchant (roofers use them).

AdrianC

Scrapit wrote: »

But thats comparing a vehicle fuel and gas.

No, I never mentioned fuel.

Our 80s Westfalia has a 12l LPG tank for the fridge and hob, standard fit from new. It fills from any LPG pump, and lasts virtually forever. OK, it doesn't do hot water or heating (there's a petrol Eber for that), but...

Scrapit

AdrianC wrote: »

No, I never mentioned fuel.

Our 80s Westfalia has a 12l LPG tank for the fridge and hob, standard fit from new. It fills from any LPG pump, and lasts virtually forever. OK, it doesn't do hot water or heating (there's a petrol Eber for that), but...

Where are you getting your price per litre from then?