cylinder or bulk tank? (1 Viewer)

Craig Smith

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Jun 28, 2011
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My wife and I will shortly be taking delivery of a long awaited new Autotrail Delaware.

Over the months, since we placed our order, I have been looking into the pro’s and con’s of different gas systems.

I can see the definite advantages of using a Gaslow refillable cylinder system but I can also see the advantages of using an Autogas Caratank bulk underfloor LPG tank.

Can anybody tell me if they have good or indeed bad experience of either system? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

Craig

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Jim

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Jul 19, 2007
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An underslung tank may well be cheaper than gaslow and when you throw the boottles you gain an nice wellington boot locker:thumb:
 
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vwalan

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Sep 23, 2008
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hi all depends where you might be going . i had a gas tank fitted at one time but as i spend alot of time in spain and morocco took it off .gas is far cheaper with exchange bottles in spain .plus filling points are not easily available .
maroc you cant fill the tank .bottles are about 4.50 quid a bottle so its cheap enough. i do have an lpg pump but its hardly worth the effort.
if staying in uk then either works .

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pappajohn

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Hi Craig and welcome.

while mine is a different make tank (american motorhome) to the one you point to i can recommend an underslung bulk tank.

only drawback is cost.

there is nothing wrong with a gaslow system except the quantity.

my tank can hold 30 gallons...135ltrs....whereas the gaslow will only hold a fraction of that.


the gaslow will really need an external filler kit, as many garages wont allow filling of bottles and you would need to open a locker door to fill otherwise, and it would be obvious when you insert the filler hose into a locker you are filling a free standing bottle.
 
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JeanLuc

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Nov 17, 2008
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I have a Gaslow system (fitted by the dealer when we bought the van in 2007) but if we were starting again, I would consider either an underslung tank or Alugas bottles as alternatives. Alugas is like Gaslow but the bottles are lighter, so helping with payload. I am not saying the Gaslow system is less good - I am very happy with it.
Two things to be aware of regarding an underslung tank. Firstly is there room under the van to instal it and run the filler and gas feed pipes sensibly? I know it might be a bit of a squeeze to get a decent sized tank under ours. Secondly, some ferry companies have a maximum limit on the amount of LPG that can be carried, however I have not heard of anyone being turned away as a result of exceeding this. You might want to check the T&Cs on websites such as P&O, Stena, DFDS, Le Shuttle etc.

A call to Chris at Autogas 2000 in Thirsk might help you decide. I have no connection with him, but he gave me helpful advice about a refillable issue last year. He is not that far away from you either. (I think he was answering questions on here a day or so ago.)
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Apr 27, 2008
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I think an advantage of the Gaslow or equivalent system is the flexibility.

1.You can use it with existing Secumotion system so you can use gas while travelling.
2. You can have a single bottle system so you can still use an interchangeable bottle, or indeed easily take it out altogether and have two interchangeable bottles if going somewhere where bottles are best.
3. Easily transferred from one vehicle to another
4. No problem on the channel tunnel as is a familiar article to them and can be turned off while they look.

Advantages of a underslung tank

1. May hold more gas, though depends on how much space you have.
2. Frees up your gas locker for other purposes.

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slobadoberbob

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Jun 1, 2009
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still a limit of gas on tunnel

I think an advantage of the Gaslow or equivalent system is the flexibility.

1.You can use it with existing Secumotion system so you can use gas while travelling.
2. You can have a single bottle system so you can still use an interchangeable bottle, or indeed easily take it out altogether and have two interchangeable bottles if going somewhere where bottles are best.
3. Easily transferred from one vehicle to another
4. No problem on the channel tunnel as is a familiar article to them and can be turned off while they look.

Advantages of a underslung tank

1. May hold more gas, though depends on how much space you have.
2. Frees up your gas locker for other purposes.

regardless of the system you have there is a limit of the gas you can take on the tunnel.. and they do check it is turned off and have had them board the RV to check the gauges to make sure they are below 3/4 mark.

Having an underslung tank on my RV, I can say that they work... easy to fill in a petrol station in Europe, plenty of them.. and even in the UK.

Cannot speak on the refillable bottles.. bad enough when I had a european motorhome and had the heavy gas bottles then. Always having to get them changed... the advantage of an underslung if you have the room is the amount you can take.. it does not have to be one single large tank you can have several inter connected... so I am sure a good fitter will work round any issues.

Bob
 
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spannermanwigan

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May 22, 2008
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ok for what its worth hears my penny's worth

With a Gaslow or similar its relatively easy to fit and remove.
Easy to start with one bottle and to add to later if found necessary,
simply by buying additional bottle and connecting pipes.
Also if you change vans you can easily move your system with
you.

Fixed tank you would need to choose initialy a tank big enough
for your present and future needs as adding a second tank, or
changing to a bigger one at a later date would cost almost as much
as the original instalation,certainly not as easy or cheap to change to
another vehicle.

Last but not least your unlikely with a European van to require,
have the space or spare weight available without sacrificing other things
to install a single tank that would hold more than two 11 kg bottles do.

Hope this helps
Have one 11kg Gaslow bottle myself, which I find fine for our needs.

regards
Steve:thumb:i
 
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