Our gas if about to run out and we need to sort it before our first outing at Easter. Does anyone use the refillable bottles - are they worth the investment?
Depends on how much gas you use. Ours paid for itself in under 3 years. A lot of garages are removing the LPG pumps but it's still fairly easy to find filling points.
Big advantage you don't need to wait for it to be empty before topping up.
If you get a Safefill you can see how much gas is left.
Do you mean the Campin Gaz or Calor bottles that you just exchange?
We have Camping Gaz 907 as we use very little in a season, relying on EHU most of the time. As we camp in France most of the time, we find that camping gaz is ubiquitous, Calor gas non existent
Gaslow posts, and, Safefill posts. Have a look through them for some help.
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Very much depends on how much gas you use! I've used about 2/3 of a 6Kg propane in 3 years, never going to be economic for me. I did look into them when I first got van, but obviously not viable with my usage.
Seem to be 3 main things to consider:
Significant outlay on refillable cylinders, that needs offsetting by cheap refills. Do the sums on how many refills before you break even, and how long that would take! - Don't forget to take account of inflation, AND cost of getting to a refill site (see below for reasons).
LPG refilling sites are diminishing from fuel station forecourts at a significant rate as big name petrol companies are withdrawing from the market. Sources elsewhere are likely to continue for some time, but convenience may be an issue. Upside is you can 'top up' when you find a convenient source.
Cylinders do not have an infinite life. You will need to replace or re-certify the cylinder after a period (15 years for Gaslow) at a cost to you.
..... bit of a variable this one, not all garage forecourts are prepared to let you refill a stand alone cylinder, refill via vehicle mounted refill inlet only, means you've got to drag the caravan onto the forecourt! Think that's a bit of a hangover from earlier days, but can be a coverall policy to stop (potentially dangerous) refilling of ordinary Calor type cylinders via an adaptor. True refillable cylinders have an inbuilt shutoff valve to ensure they are not overfilled (about 80% liquid, with 20% gas head to ensure NO liquid is expelled in use), Calor types can be filled to brim and risk expelling liquid into users equipment and creating a HUGE fire risk!
I'm sure you must have become aware of the current issues with supply and demand for Calor cylinders, but Flogas are a viable alternative, BUT you will need a different cylinder coupling. Plus, you can use the commonly available Flogas lightweight Gaslight cylinders.
IMHO, with the decreasing availability of LPG outlets, the refillable cylinder option needs a lot more consideration than it did a few years ago. Think you also need to do some research into WHERE you can get refills, and how that works with your home base and destinations to see how it fits in, not much saving if you have to drive 50 miles or whatever to get a refill!
Just got back from filling my safefill 10kg £14.00. But we go off grid a lot. If you always have electric I can’t see how a refillable would make economic sense.
You can weigh it somewhere on the bottle there will be a tare wt this is the weight of the empty cylinder. So with bathroom or luggage scales you can work out the amount of gas you are using.
Refillable definitely wouldn't work for me as I use far too little gas, and I will use even less in future as I now have an electric water heater instead of gas. We only ever go on sites with EHU and we pay through the nose for that, so it makes sense to me to make as much use of it as possible.
I just rely on always having a full cylinder. At the moment I have one full 7kg Calor bottle and one around 3 quarters full. As soon as the "in use" one runs out I replace it.
Great posts above covering all the issues.
We considered Safefill some years ago but, due to lack of fill points, decided against. We use BP, now FloGas Gaslight so can see when we need to exchange.
Price now is £49.95 so not cheap but, as nearest LPG is 25 miles away and it’s 90p/litre, makes more sense to stick than change.
We always carried a 6kg for the BBQ so had a spare just in case and there are lots of sources to get a S/H one and then exchange.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 09/3/2022
Doesn't anyone use their gas ovens in their caravans or motorhomes? we do, a lot. Need to find a swap soon.
We certainly do. The oven and hob is all we do use on gas now. Partly because of the ridiculous price we pay for an electric pitch we try to use electricity rather than gas wherever we can now. Very few sites have metered electricity in my experience. We'd always opt for that if we could.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 09/3/2022
Doesn't anyone use their gas ovens in their caravans or motorhomes? we do, a lot. Need to find a swap soon.
All the time, Mrs H tends to use the electric hob most of the time , but with new costs maybe the gas will work out cheaper,BBQ most days if possible, so a mix of hob , oven and BBQ. Also lots of non EHU sites around.
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Topic: gas options
via mobile 08/3/2022 at 8:24am
