Hi All, family camping newbie here (although used to do some motorcycle rally camping so not totally unfamiliar) so I apologise in advance for any seemingly daft questions.
We have a bunch of kit to take the young family camping, amongst the cooking kit we have both a Weber Q1200 Portable BBQ, and a Campingaz Xcelerate 600 ST (which came with a R907) Dual Burner Stove.
The Weber Q1200 currently runs off Weber mini disposable cartridges, but I'd like to preserve them for BBQing whilst away from camp/home (expensive!), so I am looking to purchase the 3in1 adapter which screws directly into the regulator pre-attached to the Q1200 and then clips onto a Calor Patio Gas cylinder. I don't really want to then also have to take the Campingaz R907 (for reasons of weight and space, and I also understand for UK camping Calor is cheaper and easier to obtain than Campingaz), so can I run the 600ST off a Patio Gas Cylinder?
The Campingaz Stove blurb just says "Runs off R904, R907, Butane/Propane Cylinder", and I can't decide if this means Butane or Propane, or a Butane and Propane Mix Cylinder (like the gas mix used in some little 100g camping cylinders). The Patio Gaz (which I understand is Propane) Regulator says it outputs at 37mb, whereas the Campingaz (which I understand is Butane) Regulator at 29mb - so even if I can run the 600ST stove off Propane only, does the small pressure difference matter? If not then I guess I'm OK to purchase a PatioGas clip on regulator, a length of 8mm low pressure hose, and a pair of jubilee clips, and can then run either the Q1200 or the 600ST from the 5kg Patio Gas Cylinder is this right?
In this event, is there likely to be any performance considerations (burn time etc) to take into account? Propane will be better in colder weather (or at least for the potentially chilly mornings) than the campingaz anyway wouldn't it?
Sorry for waffling on! Any advice gratefully received!
I run a Campingaz Xcelerate stove off a Calor Gas propane cylinder (the smallest orange one they do). I had to go to the camping shop to buy an orange hose and appropriate regulator. The advantage of propane (orange) over butane (blue) is that it works in cold weather. This is actually a rather good stove.
Take your stove and gas cylinder into your local camping shop and ask for the correct regulator and hose. You will find someone local selling Calor Gas cylinders locally on Ebay.
Campingaz 901, 904 and 907 cylinders are all blue and contain butane, which is sluggish in cold weather and more expensive to refill than Calor Gas.
Propane and butane are interchangeable with the right regulators, you'll have to cut off the hose at the stove end to change regulators so continually swapping will shorten your hoses.
Once you have all the kit to connect your devices take into a large open area and set them up, use a gas lighter rather than matches or a cigarette lighter and stand well back. Let them run for a while listening to the hiss or roar of the burners. If all is well smile, if not switch off the gas at the cylinder or call the fire brigade if this is not possible.
At the end of this process you'll have a spare Campingaz 907 cylinder, consider getting a lantern to fit the cylinder for night use.
Camingaz S lantern or maybe:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Strength-Gas-Lamp-Favorita-500HK-Attachment-Lantern-for-Campingaz-R901-R904-R907/122924095776?hash=item1c9ed8d920:g:qHIAAOSw44BYfxW2
We also have a portable Weber like yours. Weber do a long extension hose to replace the short one that screws onto the cannisters.
Use whatever cylinder you prefer with its matching regulator by simply pushing on and adding a Jubilee clip. May be wrong but not seen caravanners use patio gas.
We can attach to the caravans BBQ point (propane), or more usually to a Camping Gaz 907 (butane). The latter is readily available in France, whereas Calor isn't, plus its portable.
When you have decided which gas to go for here's some advice...
You pay a deposit for the bottle the first time you 'buy' the bottle and then you pay for the full bottle of gas.
Look out on gumtree/ebay/freecycle or even at the shop at your local tip. You can pick up empty/ mostly empty/rusty bottles for free/£5/£10 or similar which will be then swapped out for a 'full' bottle of gas costing you the gas price only and not the deposit.
Calor gas is not usually available in Europe but Camping Gaz is. We have both bottles in the shed - Calor for here and Camping Gaz for France.
Thanks for the advice Frazzle. We had no joy at the local tips, but a shoutout on a local FB page bagged us a pair of 13kg propane cylinders, and we've managed to swap both over at local suppliers for what we were after. Worth noting that one of the suppliers did mention that Calor have changed their cylinder exchange groups, so technically the swaps we made shouldn't have been done as were to different groups, but they very kindly made the exchange for us anyway.
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: Gas Considerations for my Stove and BBQ
