We are seriously considering changing to the Safefill system for our caravan.
Apart from the cost of the initial outlay for the cylinder, are there any negatives to using this system?
Also, will a 7.5kg cylinder fit in a caravan front locker (Coachman VIP 520), as they are greater in diameter than a Calor bottle?
Not sure there is a universal answer as to will it fit locker, that depends on your gas locker and they vary with van make and model to some degree. May need someone with the same van and a Safefill to give a confirmed answer.
Older vans I believe had a smaller cylinder locating well in the locker floor, which fitted 6Kg Calor OK but not anything much bigger in Dia. May be necessary to use an adaptor to get a suitably secure location for a bigger dia cylinder if an older van.
In my 2016 Lunar van, I can fit a 10Kg Flogas Gaslight cylinder, fits in the well OK with space to spare, but a tight fit height wise. Gaslights are similar plastic cylinders to a Safefill, but about 5mm smaller in Dia, and the 10Kg is around 100mm taller than a 7.5Kg Safefill. You may find the locker door aperture is the restricting factor in manipulating the cylinder into place, rather than the actual locker space!
LPG is not as widely available as it used to be, most fuel station forecourts stopped supplying it a few years back as the road vehicle usage near stopped, but Morrisons is an exception. There is a network of non-forecourt LPG supplies, and a couple of sources of lists of their locations. LPG is also not as cheap as it used to be, and prices rose much faster than petrol/diesel in past few years, so calculating your payback time on a new cylinder needs doing with current pricing rather than historic figures. It is possible to find refill sites that are on a near par with Calor in terms of £/Kg, so shopping around necessary to find the best prices and reap real benefit from a Safefill!
2009 Bailey Pageant S7 and the gas locker accommodates 2 Safefill bottles, a 10kg + a 7.5kg.
Fill points are still around but you may have to travel a bit to find one.
Our nearest one is 12 miles away and LPG is currently 99p a litre. Both bottles filled from empty costs around £32.
Have a look at the map and you will find plenty of sites to fill up, they should say if Safefill bottles are allowed. There are other maps out there, but this one seems most up to date.
We have inherited Gaslow in our moho and it is handy, we can plan fill ups around trips away and there are still some under a £1/L. Ours is 11kg so almost like carrying 2 calor bottles.
Would be handy especially if going to Europe as Monty said with the right adaptor.
A lot depends how much gas you use, may well be useful if alot of sites are going to metered EHU and you want to run off gas instead.
I have the same van as Dave and Cyn, however we only use the one Safefill bottle as it holds almost twice the amount of gas, (10Kgs). It is similar in size to a 6Kg Calor bottle but even full weighs less than one full Calor one.
Dave.
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
Quote: Originally posted by George-Mildred on 27/2/2025
https://www.mylpg.eu/stations/united-kingdom/#map
......
A lot depends how much gas you use, may well be useful if alot of sites are going to metered EHU and you want to run off gas instead.
You certainly need to be a heavy gas user to justify the cylinder cost and start to benefit on cheaper LPG/Kg prices, but with metered EHU that is becoming more and more likely if you have a gas option for general heating, water heating, fridge etc.!
I buy discounted 10Kg Flogas Gaslight cylinder refills from Costco, and even they can be cheaper per kWh than some site EHU metered rates! Even the more reasonable EHU rates it's somewhat on a par - Much bigger potential savings with Safefill/LPG, and justification for investing in a cylinder.
You need to do a bit of arithmetic to work out the costings based on Litre-Kg-kWh conversions.
1 Litre of propane/LPG = 7.08 kWh (kilowatt hours), 1kg of propane/LPG = 14.019 kWh (kilowatt hours)
I suppose you should factor in that gas appliances sometimes need periodic maintenance, like de-sooting burners and flues etc. which may be an additional cost to normal van running costs. My Dometic fridge advises cleaning the burner 2-3 times a year when running on LPG!
Of course, nothing stands still very long when it comes to how much anything costs! So what may be economic today may be costly tomorrow and vice versa!
I bought 2 7.5kg Safefills 3 years ago as I spend 3 months in Spain. The sites I use charge for electric, I usually pay about €9.60 a month for electric, I refill my Safefills twice a month for on average €12 a time. If I was using a Spanish bottle to change that would cost €22.50 so that twice a month would be €45 and still paying the same for electric. At home a lot more sites are charging for electric.
Safefill to me is the best thing I have done.
Quote: Originally posted by bofs on 28/2/2025
What is the expected "life span" of the cylinders?
If there is an issue, will Safefill replace the cylinder or do you have to buy a new one?
I think that a Safefill need to be re-certified as per their website when it gets to 10 years old and you can continue to use it.
Quote: Originally posted by bofs on 28/2/2025
What is the expected "life span" of the cylinders?
If there is an issue, will Safefill replace the cylinder or do you have to buy a new one?
I think that a Safefill need to be re-certified as per their website when it gets to 10 years old and you can continue to use it.
Yes, I believe it's a pressure test to see that it's construction integrity is still intact.
Dave.
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
Quote: Originally posted by bofs on 28/2/2025
What is the expected "life span" of the cylinders?
If there is an issue, will Safefill replace the cylinder or do you have to buy a new one?
I think that a Safefill need to be re-certified as per their website when it gets to 10 years old and you can continue to use it.
BOFS, some of your queries are answered directly on the Safefill web site. https://www.safefill.co.uk
Probably better to get some info direct rather than rely absolutely on some of our "I think" replies on here, which may not be current, although all appears OK so far. An email or phone call to them may be worthwhile on any undocumented queries you have, before splashing the cash.
The subject of Safefill and other user refillable cylinders being checked/recertified has come up for discussion from time to time, and the concern that Calor type cylinders get safety checked at every refill, but Safefill and the like seemingly never! CONSPICUOUS by it's absence is any mention of an in house service or recommendation for alternative suppliers of recertification ANYWHERE on Safefill blurb I can see, only that it should be recertified by persons unknown at 10 years old!!!!! - Think you maybe should read that as cylinder has a 10 year life, then cease use and dispose of! Most users don't seem to bother with the 10 year recertification from post responses I've seen! In fact I'm not sure a recertification is even possible for a single 'consumer' cylinder by commercial testers, normally only available for commercial cylinders/users in bulk, but if available, likely prohibitively expensive as all such testing is!
Not having a current certification may be foolish and false economy, in the event of a major fire insurance claim, I'd doubt that any insurer would overlook suitable cylinder certification being available! Provably fit for purpose, and in line with manufacturers usage terms and all that!
As to actual cylinder life, the plastic BP Gaslite/Flogas Gaslight cylinders are of similar construction, and Flogas took over the BP business back in 2012, yet there are still plenty of BP branded cylinders to be found when getting a replacement/refill, which rather by implication suggests they have a life somewhat in excess of the 10 year period that requires a Safefill recertification, so scope for continued use, but at your own risk (Flogas will be checking at refill and not allowing any faulty cylinders back into marketplace). Not a gamble I'd be happy with, burning leaking gaseous propane from above the liquid level is one thing, burning LIQUIFIED gas escaping from a rupture is a whole different ball game, you are talking massive fireballs of explosive scale!
According to Safefill blurb, "Your cylinder is warranted for 10 years from date of purchase", now that is for a new cylinder, I can see nothing about any warranty upon recertification of an old cylinder (If possible!)! I stand to be corrected if anyone knows better. Like all warranties, it'll have T&Cs which may exclude certain faults.
My interpretation is that a Safefill cylinder has an intended lifespan of 10 years with a manufacturers warranty covering that life. Beyond that, you're on your own in every way.
The subject of user refillable cylinder recalibration came up on another forum, with Gaslow cylinders being discussed.
It's pretty much as I surmised, the cylinders have an effective life of 10 years, then dispose of!
As with Safefill, Gaslow don't have a inhouse recalibration service either, but offer a rather paltry 10% discount off RRP on a new cylinder on surrender of a time expired old cylinder for scrap disposal, with the declaration that recalibration is not cost effective compared to obtaining a new cylinder! They will at least give you a 3rd party recalibration contact on application if you desire.
I wouldn't necessarily expect any relatively low volume cylinder retailer to have in house testing facilities, as they are just buying cylinders in from a specialist manufacturer and selling them on under their own brand name. Safefill cylinders are manufactured in the Czech Republic.
I know Gaslow is a different company to Safefill, but the principles behind the recalibration are industry standards!
So BOFS, your economy of refill calculations should really be on the basis of writing off the purchase price of the cylinder over UP TO 10 years use, expiry is from marked date of manufacture NOT date of purchase! .... or carrying on using a cylinder of unknown safety beyond 10 years!
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Topic: Safefill gas
via mobile 26/2/2025 at 9:56pm
