In a huge blow to customers, after months of shortages, Calor Gas have officially confirmed that some smaller size gas bottles will be discontinued, including the very popular 4.5kg Butane and 3.9kg Propane sized cylinders.
Our Bailey Pursuit, only 7 years old, takes 1 x 6kg and 1 x 3.9kg. The gas locker is central over the axle which is great for interior van space especially length and for weight distribution.
So no point changing existing small bottles free of charge as they won't fit. Will have to shell out for new bottles from another supplier instead.
Quote: Originally posted by navver on 21/1/2023
.... Will have to shell out for new bottles from another supplier instead.
If you're quick before demand strips the market bare, there are quite a few s/h 3.9kg Flogas cylinders around on various market places for a lot less than the official new cylinder rental agreement price!
Take a look at Flowgas website for the huge range of brands that they will accept for a refill exchange, it's not just Flowgas branded cylinders. Over the years, they've taken over numerous competitors!
Might be worth checking your locker dimensions to see if the slightly larger 5Kg Flowgas Gaslight cylinder fits, that'd widen your options on a replacement cylinder.
Thanks for nothing Calor, we'll have to carry an extra 5kg of gas now. Since we're having to change the connection anyway, I think we'll see what non Calor alternatives there are.
Further to the above, from Calors own site, the weight of a filled 4.5kg bottle is 10kg, but the weight of a filled 7kg bottle is 17kg. So 2 small bottles are 20kg, but 2 larger bottles are 34kg, thtas a whopping 14kg out of the payload. Brutal.
Quote: Originally posted by arthurdent on 26/1/2023
Further to the above, from Calors own site, the weight of a filled 4.5kg bottle is 10kg, but the weight of a filled 7kg bottle is 17kg. So 2 small bottles are 20kg, but 2 larger bottles are 34kg, thtas a whopping 14kg out of the payload. Brutal.
My caravan is exceptionally nose heavy in it's bare (MIRA) state (actually exceeds the caravan chassis limit by about 10Kg!), I struggle to get my nose weight down to the car/towbar figure with a single steel 6Kg, absolutely no scope for multiple or larger cylinders, I've gone over to the Flogas Gaslight 5Kg which eases the task. With some judicious loading I could possibly push to 2 of those with a little 'stretching' of actual nose weight when the cylinders were full. Nose weight is a far bigger issue for me than losing payload, meagre as that is!
Can I suggest we use the Calor complaints form to get them to reconsider, stating the reasons why this is A Bad Thing https://www.calor.co.uk/complaints
Quote: Originally posted by arthurdent on 26/1/2023
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 26/1/2023
I've gone over to the Flogas Gaslight 5Kg which eases the task.
Monty - can I ask what was involved in moving to Flogas, eg regulator, etc ?
I've got a bulkhead regulator, so all I needed was a 27mm clip on (unregulated) coupling (£10 or so off ebay) for cylinder to mate with the 'Butane' pigtail I already had (at one point I'd used a 4.5Kg Calor Butane on my van, left over from my tenting days).
You can get adaptors to fit the 27mm clip on coupling (with 'Butane' outlet thread) so you can use your existing Propane pigtail. Personally, I'd rather just buy a new compatible Butane pigtail, that reduces the number of potential leak points and gets you a fresh hose good for 5-7 years safe use.
If you've got a cylinder regulator rather than a bulkhead one, then just buy a 27mm clip on regulator.
It's all straightforward stuff, no different to swapping a full for empty cylinder in terms of competency required.
Quote: Originally posted by arthurdent on 26/1/2023
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 26/1/2023
I've gone over to the Flogas Gaslight 5Kg which eases the task.
Monty - can I ask what was involved in moving to Flogas, eg regulator, etc ?
I've got a bulkhead regulator, so all I needed was a 27mm clip on (unregulated) coupling (£10 or so off ebay) for cylinder to mate with the 'Butane' pigtail I already had (at one point I'd used a 4.5Kg Calor Butane on my van, left over from my tenting days).
You can get adaptors to fit the 27mm clip on coupling (with 'Butane' outlet thread) so you can use your existing Propane pigtail. Personally, I'd rather just buy a new compatible Butane pigtail, that reduces the number of potential leak points and gets you a fresh hose good for 5-7 years safe use.
If you've got a cylinder regulator rather than a bulkhead one, then just buy a 27mm clip on regulator.
It's all straightforward stuff, no different to swapping a full for empty cylinder in terms of competency required.
Broke the news to a camping rally group I'm organising, and the lead balloon hitting the deck was tangible! They hadn't been aware, and it got a number of people scuttling around double checking what they used to be sure where they stood, and others with the certainty they had a problem, turns out 15% of our crowd are impacted by this. NOT HAPPY PEOPLE!
Amazed by the number of people who'd never heard of Flogas as an alternative to Calor (they've now been educated!), and some affected were thinking their only option was the Campingaz 907 cylinder (as recommended alternative by Calor!) which works out at a positively obscene £55/refill (that's £20/Kg!) (RRP) (as opposed to around £5/Kg for a Calor/Flogas larger cylinder) for the barely adequate 2.7Kg of gas it holds, reckon many would need 2 cylinders to cover a longer stay at a whopping £110 (refill x2 at RRP!), AND it's Butane so not really suitable for winter use (would you want to run your heating off a £20/Kg source anyway!)!
Calor are not alone in rationalising their cylinder range, Flowgas are withdrawing the 20mm clip on coupling cylinders, BUT at least they are continuing with the same size/capacity cylinders with a 21mm clip on coupling.
I know a few people with micro caravans and campers, trailer tents too IIRC, where the gas locker is small and can't accommodate say even a 6kg cylinder, you cant just increase the locker size for the convenience of Calor! Pretty sure I've seen in some site rules that 'loose' external gas cylinders are not permitted at all (I do remember the days of gas cylinders being a external fit on the A frame, but they were affixed rather than loose), CAMC 'discourages' such use, CCC prohibits larger than 15Kg, so their options are limited and Flogas may be their only reasonable choice.
Hope sufficient people change to Flogas to keep the market of the smaller cylinders viable for them, and they don't just disappear altogether! Even though I didn't have the constraints of a fixed locker, I've been tent camping with a 5Kg Gaslight cylinder in the car boot and it takes up a hell of a lot more precious space than a 3.9/4.5Kg cylinder!
I saw Camping Gaz 907 refill on sale in a French Super U for £23 !! Any one using those and travelling to Europe this summer it's worth buying there.
We have been using a Safefill refillable bottle for last five years, the initial outlay is high but it's paid for itself many times. The last fill cost £11.46 for 14 Lt at Morrisons. Other refillable bottles are available.
I've seen Campingaz 907s in French supermarkets MUCH cheaper than in UK for a number of years now, last year being no exception. What struck me was the huge UK price increase for a 907 over the past year! - from ridiculously expensive to obscenely so! Certainly looks more sensible to get your 907 refills in France if possible, if heading that way - found one today online at Mr. Bricolage for 30Euro/£26, that's HALF the UK price!
I've got several 907 cylinders from way back, and it was one of the options for our gas supply on our French tent camping trip last year, but calculated I'd either need to take/get two full cylinders, or go to the (great) inconvenience of driving out to a supermarket to get a refill for single cylinder part way through our stay to cover our needs, a 5Kg Flogas 'borrowed' from the caravan seemed to fit the bill as a better (and cheaper! - half the price/Kg of even a 'cheap' French 907 refill!) option, so that was the choice.
I can still get a Flogas 10Kg Gaslight refill from my local Costco for around £33, a very good price, that's £3.30/Kg compared with a Campingaz 907 refill even at best discount of around £19/Kg! I don't, neither do most of the people I know, use enough gas (for me, less than 10Kg over past 4 years!) to invest the notable sum in a refillable Safefill or the like, but if size wasn't an issue, changing from a Campingaz 907 to a Safefill would look far more viable even with my minimal usage!
So we found 3 of the 4.5kg Calor bottles left at our local caravan showroom, and swapped for 1 of those (our current cylinder was about 1/4 full), so we have 2 full cylinders which at our normal runrate should last us nearly 3 years. After that we'll likely convert to Flogas. Might also get one of those Campingaz converters for emergency use in Europe.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Some Calor Gas Bottles Discontinued
via mobile 25/1/2023 at 9:08pm
