Refillable Gas Bottles (1 Viewer)

Lincolnshire Rover

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Having seen the pump price of LPG .56p ltr how doe's this work out per kilo I presently pay £11.25 for a 6kg cylinder of LPG I was contemplating having re-fillable cylinders the locker will hold 2x6kg bottles or 1x11kg so is the conversion cost really worth it I am aware of the convienience of being able to fill with gas at the pumps especially whilst in europe.
 

Munchie

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Having seen the pump price of LPG .56p ltr how doe's this work out per kilo I presently pay £11.25 for a 6kg cylinder of LPG I was contemplating having re-fillable cylinders the locker will hold 2x6kg bottles or 1x11kg so is the conversion cost really worth it I am aware of the convienience of being able to fill with gas at the pumps especially whilst in europe.

Approx £1.12, 2 ltrs = 1kg. :Smile:
 

Wildman

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why pay for an expencive conversion. Use ordinary propane bottles and refill them yourself, with a gas refill adapter (eBay) and save 50% on gas costs.

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Toffs-G

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I've got 2 Gaslow bottles had them put in when I bought the MH in September so far after a fair bit of use of the MH I have put £11 of Gas in and when travelling with my mother as she is 79 the heating is on all the time.

I checked the gauge because I was due to be going to Newark and 1 bottle is about 1/4 full the other is still full, I have not done the number crunching but i understand it is cheaper and certainly far more convenient than changing bottles, i also have the in motion valve thingy that means I can leave the gas on and heating running in the back when driving.

If you are going to travel to the continent then I believe having refillables and a few adaptors is the best way, that is why i chose to have the refillables although so far with the trips I havetakento France not yet had to fill up over there but certainy will in May with 2 weeks away.

Hope this helps:thumb:
 

JJ

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I have found with my Gaslow bottles (with which I am delighted) that the gauge only starts to go down after a third of the gas is used. So it continues to show full when it isn't! This affects any calculations made based on the gauge.

I usually top up little and often...

I am in my van fulltime and the refillable system makes sure you can refill where ever there is a supply. "The do it yourself" option as mentioned above certainly saves money (I have and use the adaptor) but A) you have to do it without the station people seeing you and more importantly B) you have, for complete safety, to wait until the bottle is empty before refilling so you know how much to put in. Not always convenient.



JJ

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lebesset

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May 31, 2009
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personally I do what the gas bottle companies do ..I refill standard bottles
as a long term LPG vehicle user I am aware that sometimes 80% cut off valves fail and allow the filling up to to 100% [ happened to me 3 times in 15 years , not a lot perhaps but too much for me
so I will only fill empty bottles , put in the rated amount and there is no danger ; if you want to buy a refillable type bottle [ ALL bottles are refillable of course ] to do that , fine ; but the only place that I go where you can save money by filling at the lpg pump is the UK , because there is still a monopoly situation due the the dominance of Calor

elsewhere it is not the case ; in france you can now get the same price in a bottle as at the lpg pump [ and bottles are available free or €1 ] ; in spain it is cheaper to change the bottle than go to the lpg pump [ where there is one ] , and you can pick it up at the garage or the truck will deliver for nothing

no problem changing bottles , I use the thread that is more or less standard in europe for butane or propane ..the one on the calor 4.5Kg dumpy butane

btw , you can't measure the volume in a gas bottle with a gauge ...anyone who sells one suggesting that this works should be charged with deception
 

Terry

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just beat me to it..

the only useful thing a gauge can tell you is that your out of gas .. but you know that already when the flame goes out :Doh:

:thumb: The only other advantage is you can use the gauge to test for leaks :thumb::winky:
terry

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JJ

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btw , you can't measure the volume in a gas bottle with a gauge ...anyone who sells one suggesting that this works should be charged with deception

So when the Gaslow people tell me that their gauges in their newer bottles (which I have) are operated by a float inside the bottle (and presumably floating on top on the the liquid)
they are not, in your opinion, telling me the truth?

Or do you mean that the measurement these float operated gauges give are inaccurate?

JJ
 

JJ

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just beat me to it..

the only useful thing a gauge can tell you is that your out of gas .. but you know that already when the flame goes out :Doh:

I am just wondering if you have checked the supposed new, float operated gauges yourself Jim or if your quote is based on older systems... 'cos my gauge (on the Gaslow bottle) lets me know when it is getting lower and lower (providing I bothered to look that is) and therefore I think I have some advanced warning... if you are right I am just fooling myself!!!

JJ
 

Munchie

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If they are like mine then there is no float. They fasten around the neck of the bottle and I believe they read the difference in resistance between the liquid gas and empty space in the bottle. Totally inaccurate use purely as a guide. I do agree tho I think Gaslow are the bees knees. :thumb:

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dave jm

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I have just had to buy 2 calor bottles because the ones in the were hard to get re filled(more expense:ROFLMAO:)..can you buy the gaslow connectors seperate or buy the bottle aswell??...also will they fit normal red bottles...I will not be taking the m/h abroad so is it worh it...Dave
 

RichardnGill

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I use Gaslow and find them fine, although I did recently have a problem with a brass collar splitting recently, Gaslow changed the bottle FOC no problem though.

The Gauge on the new style bottles works on a float system and is very accurate IMHO

Here is a link to there sits which explains about the newer bottles

Link Removed


One thing to taking into consideration when comparing costs it the value of a used Gaslow system. On Ebay 5 year old systems still fetch well over 60% of there purchase price.

If you plan on keeping your van for a few years I would go the gastank route though. You get a gas-locker to keep a Genny in and more often a bigger gas capacity.

dave jm> You can not use a Gaslow re-filler on Calor bottles as the Gaslow bottles fill through a separate filler on the bottle and not through the normal gas connector.

Rich...
 

dave jm

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dave jm> You can not use a Gaslow re-filler on Calor bottles as the Gaslow bottles fill through a separate filler on the bottle and not through the normal gas connector.


Thanks for that.....another numnuts question answered:ROFLMAO:

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scotjimland

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I am just wondering if you have checked the supposed new, float operated gauges yourself Jim or if your quote is based on older systems... 'cos my gauge (on the Gaslow bottle) lets me know when it is getting lower and lower (providing I bothered to look that is) and therefore I think I have some advanced warning... if you are right I am just fooling myself!!!

JJ

Hi JJ

I thought you were referring to a pressure gauge.. no experience of Gaslow level gauges :Doh:

apologies all round.. must get foot out of mouth now :Blush:
 

kevathome

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Refilling gas bottles

Putting aside legalities, danger, H&S etc -:RollEyes:

Does anyone know where I can currentley get an adaptor to refill a German 13kg bottle.
I fulltime in Europe and have no prob exchanging German and Spanish bottles but am in the UK for summer and don't want to have to get a uk bottle and adaptor.
Thanks all
Kevin
 

lebesset

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they used to be available from most of the camping shops , but with the reduction of gas bottle exchange prices they seem to have gone off the market , just as cheap to swop your bottle in many places now [ ok , cheaper to swop in spain but you take my point ] ; as you will see the uk still has monopoly prices however

what has happened to german prices ? 11Kg propane used to be the popular size if I remember correctly , is that still the case and what do they cost ?

why don't you just come with a couple of spanish 13Kg butanes , that should see you through most of the summer ; if you get stuck you can always go to the municipal rubbish dump and see if you can find a 4.5 Kg calor dumpy butane , lots get thrown away , you could get an exchange on that and it would screw right on to the same thread as the german bottles

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iceni

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Dec 3, 2007
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So when the Gaslow people tell me that their gauges in their newer bottles (which I have) are operated by a float inside the bottle (and presumably floating on top on the the liquid)
they are not, in your opinion, telling me the truth?

Or do you mean that the measurement these float operated gauges give are inaccurate?

JJ

Hi JJ
Gaslows own info shows that the float will only register when down to about a third of a bottle. It would be impractical if not impossible to give a system that gave a consistent read out of the gas level. Its only to be used as a guide and the info it shows a guide to aprox how much gas is left, If you have 2 bottles its not really a problem.

I personally wouldnt fill standard bottles with an adaptor. They will do the job but you will be (most likely) messing about in a garage or similar with pump hoses and gas lockers open.
These adaptors are not approved devices and if you had an "occurence" or accident of an incendary nature your insurance comapny would tell you go sling your hook when they fond out.

This is just my opinion as i am one who cant sleep nights if i think theres a loop hole that insurers can have me on. Its a matter or personal preference at the end of the day of course.

I wouldnt be without my gaslow system the convieniene more than outweighs the initial cost. After all what other equipement we have in our vans has a pay back time.

Phill
 

vwalan

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if you need to fill german bottles there is adapters in the reimo catalogue .or gaslow i believe do them .or autogas. i had mine made in a machine shop. as to filling normal uk gas bottles gaslow do actually sell all you need to fill through a filler in the side of your van .yes you do have to make and break the connection .or it could be on an inline t piece . gas low only sell the same as many companies they put their name on stuff and up the price. reimo have been selling adapters for filling bottles for years .all with tuv in germany.
to fill german bottles elsewhere use part no.75136
to fill other bottles in germany use part no.75135
well that was t6he numbers in 2,000 cat ...cant find my new catalogue.
 

Jaws

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Just got back from the local BP having filled my two 6kg standard bottles for a total of £14.80
( LPG is 64.5p a ltr here :Angry: )

Well in to my 2nd year of using the same bottles and same filler :thumb:

Should think I have now saved in excess of a couple of hundred beer tokens ::bigsmile:

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