Quote: Originally posted by Jack+Jon on 03/10/2013
Look carefully around rim of bottle, you should find 'tare weight' stamped into the metal, this is weight of empty bottle. Gas contents will be tare+whatever weight of gas is left in bottle, ie tare+3kg in a 6kg bottle means bottle is half full.
Might involve a bit more arithmetic, though!
Unless things have changed recently, Calor mark the tare weight in pounds and ounces.
Quote: Originally posted by Sproz on 03/10/2013Did you know that many small garages that sell lpg will fill your red bottle, I think my 7kg? bottle costs about a fiver to fill.
Which is also highly dangerous, how would you know when to stop filling at 80% full? to allow the gas to expand.
Safefill and Gaslow cylinders are safe, they have the means to stop filling at 80% full.
What can happen when a cylinder is overfilled?
An overfilled cylinder may not have enough space left if the liquid propane expands when exposed to warmer temperatures. This can cause an increase in cylinder pressure and create potentially hazardous conditions such as:
The pressure relief valve may open, discharging propane from the cylinder
Propane liquid could enter the piping system, resulting in higher than normal pressure to appliances.
Quote: Originally posted by Sproz on 04/10/2013
They will only fill an empty cylinder and they put the exact amount of litres in.
So what you are saying is that you have found a small garage willing to refill Calor bottles from their autogas pump, a practise which is forbidden by Calor for reasons stated above, using an unauthourised adaptor sometimes available on ebay & you just have to trust them not to overfill bottle, yes?
Did I say Calor?
Of course Calor will not like it, it's taking away their extortionate profit.
I know many people who rely on bottled gas that do it, it saves them a fortune.
But..I agree that safety should come first,if you fill one it's your responsibility if things go bang!
Calor & other exchangeable bottles are not intended to be refilled by users. The empty bottles are returned to Calor, degassed, inspected & refilled, any that are not up to standard are scrapped. Calor claim on ther website that user refilling of ther bottles contravenes UK health & saftey regs. If you fill your bottles from an autogas pump you could well be filling with Calor supplied gas anyway so possibly Calor's warnings might just have a grain of truth in them.
Despite the above, a competant person can indeed refill a Calor bottle safely provided they know what they are doing.
But what responsible folk should not be doing is making random posts on internet forums recommending the practise to all & sundry including those who will have no clue.
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Topic: Gas bottles over winter
