How do you re fill these gas bottles? Do you still exchange them? Or are they re filled?
At the price of the bottle I was looking at just getting one, we currently carry two gas bottles, but thinking if we can see the gas we would just need one. However thus would only work if they are refilled and you pay for the cost of gas going in.
I guess what I am asking is, if I had a half full one and wanted to top it up. Is that an option? Or do you still exchange the bottle?
I keep hearing good things about them but just really sure I understand how they work.
you buy the bottle, then take it one of the many places around the uk, morrisons have them on their forecourts. you fill the bottle to the correct amount from the pump and then pay for it, our first bottle cost us £8 to fill! its more than paid for itself in the savings we have made since then, you can top the bottle up at any time, we normally do that on our return home so its ready for us going. we still carry the lightweight calor bottle so that if we need to refill while away we can just swap onto that and when we go out for the day take the safefill bottle with us to refill, and then swap back over once we get back to the caravan, they are so easy to use and we kick ourselves as to why we didnt make the switch to them far sooner than we did
Yes, they are a DIY refill cylinder, not an exchange cylinder, you BUY and OWN the cylinder, rather than rent it as with Calor and the like. You can 'top up' a partly used cylinder. You need to find a LPG refill station, but they are becoming more difficult to find now most petrol stations have discontinued LPG through lack of demand for car use, but many Morrisons supermarkets have a LPG station with their petrol stations. Some parts of the country are better served than others, BUT, you can also use them on the continent with the correct filling adaptors.
Whilst the refill of LPG is ridiculously cheap compared to say a Calor exchange refill, the original purchase cost for a cylinder is pretty high, so you need to do your sums on when/if you ever break even on the cylinder investment, that of course depends on how much gas you use. Safefill cylinders should also be periodically safety checked, and that is at your expense too, I believe every 10 years, so you need to consider that in your costings. I did look into them, but personally, with my gas usage I'd NEVER live long enough to break even, let alone be in pocket!
If you are simply seeking a 'see through' cylinder, then Flogas have their 'Gaslight' plastic cylinders in 5Kg and 10Kg Propane sizes, which are very similar to Safefill, but conventional exchange empty for a full one purchase. They are widely available at many Flogas stockists. https://www.flogas.co.uk/gaslight
I've got both 5Kg and 10Kg Gaslight cylinders, and TBH, seeing the gas level, which would be similar with a Safefill, is not that obvious, you need to rock the cylinder to see the movement of the fluid, and in poor light sometimes need to shine a torch through the cylinder.
Checking precisely the remaining gas in a steel cylinder (or Safefill/Gaslight for that matter) is easy enough, just use luggage scales. You do of course need to disconnect and remove cylinder from the locker, weigh the cylinder, deduct the 'Tare' (weight of empty cylinder) marked usually near the valve, from the overall weight and you've got an accurate measurement of remaining gas content. Calor complicate things slightly, as the Tare weight is marked in Pounds and Ounces, and needs converting to Kg (your phone calculator can do that for you) to use. I do it before every trip, so I can be sure I've enough gas for my stay.
The initial cost is quite high but every time you refill it the saving gradually erodes the cost until you are only paying for the gas which is very cheap compared. You do have to use it enou
gh to make it worth the investment so use a bottle a year and you are still better sticking to exchanges. You also need a supplier fairly locally to where you often go to fill it when needed. Luckily I have a few near me.
It pained me as a scotsman to exchange my half filled bottle to get a full one to go abroad as calor is not avalable there.
Dave.
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
Our last fill in early August cost 79p litre (Harry Tuffins Churstoke near Welshpool Powys)
Morrisons charge �1 litre, and there is a farm just off the A5 near Telford that charges �1 litre.
At �1 litre it's far cheaper than what Calor charge.
We've had our 19 kg 18.5 litre bottle for 7 years now and it's paid for itself many times over.
They are also a lot lighter than Calor bottles.
We have also refilled in Spain using an adapter from ebay.
We're greedy and have 2 Safefill bottles, a 10kg and a 7.5kg. We are off grid for 99% of our vanning and the bottles have more than paid for themselves.
From empty it costs around £34 to fill both of them. That's roughly what it would cost for a 6kg Calor.
If it is a Safefill bottle which is refillable at any time, I have never been able to understand why some people buy two Safefill bottles unless they go off grid a lot? We have only had one for many years and it has been more than adequate for going off grid, being used in France and Spain and also the UK.
Autosleeper (and other) MHs have an underslung tank for autogas (its forecourt name). It’s supposed to be replaced at x years old - I need to check when that is. The number of outlets selling it in our area has reduced over the 6 years we’ve had the vehicle, as parts for the pump become unavailable or not economical to repair: at least 3 independent garages within an hour’s travel. We can now only get it at some Morrisons, and we can’t shop around for the cheapest.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 26/9/2024
We will stick with Calor, no outlets around us.
they dont have to be around you, they just need to be near the place your camping at, which in your case could be anywhere in the uk, and are you telling me that there is never a morrisons? or any of the other places listed on the other posts links?
Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 26/9/2024
If it is a Safefill bottle which is refillable at any time, I have never been able to understand why some people buy two Safefill bottles unless they go off grid a lot? We have only had one for many years and it has been more than adequate for going off grid, being used in France and Spain and also the UK.
Quite correct. I estimate around 98% of our trips are off-grid and often for 3 or 4 weeks or more.
We went with one for a few years using a small Calor as a backup then got offered a brand new 7.5kg bottle at such a good price it would have been rude to say no.
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Topic: Safe fill gas bottle
via mobile 25/9/2024 at 11:17am
