I’ve done some experimenting on what I would need to do if my main tank ran out and whether it was worth tanking a spare gas cylinder with me. I've run my fixed tank down to empty and tried two methods.
1. Regulated from calor bottle into BBQ point
Fitted a requlator to the calor 6kg lightweight bottle and connected this to a bullfinch adaptor which my BBQ point needs. Making sure the fixed tank was fully empty and the calor cylinder was turned off. Made the connections and turned the calor bottle on. Went into the van and tried all the gas appliances. The hob worked, the oven worked and the boiler worked on gas. Unfortunately for some reason the fridge wouldn’t work. I’ll investigate this further, I suspect this is an issue with the fridge though.
2. Gaslow fitting into LPG refill point
I bought Gaslow EasyFit Adaptor UK and a Gaslow Reserve Connection Hose. Adaptor needed in order to connect to a Calor bottle. Connected the bottle to the screw threaded connector on the LPG refill point. Turned the bottle on and got a very audible continuous whooshing noise. I turned the bottle off after about a minute. My assumption on this is that due to the difference in pressure between my empty fixed tank and the full bottle, the LPG was being pushed into the fixed tank and would continue until the pressures equalised. Hopefully somebody with more knowledge can explain it better than me. After I’d disconnected the calor bottle I was able to use gas from the fixed tank for a couple of hours so it had definitely part filled it.
So in summary it is possible to use a spare cylinder if you’re off grid for a period of time and if I was doing that I would prefer to use the BBQ point method. In practise though it’s probably far easier just to run me gas BBQ and gas generator off the calor bottle and leave the tank for consumption by appliances in the van. If you’re not off grid just fill up as the opportunities arise.
Question, are my assumptions correct on method 2?
Many thanks Alan
1. Regulated from calor bottle into BBQ point
Fitted a requlator to the calor 6kg lightweight bottle and connected this to a bullfinch adaptor which my BBQ point needs. Making sure the fixed tank was fully empty and the calor cylinder was turned off. Made the connections and turned the calor bottle on. Went into the van and tried all the gas appliances. The hob worked, the oven worked and the boiler worked on gas. Unfortunately for some reason the fridge wouldn’t work. I’ll investigate this further, I suspect this is an issue with the fridge though.
2. Gaslow fitting into LPG refill point
I bought Gaslow EasyFit Adaptor UK and a Gaslow Reserve Connection Hose. Adaptor needed in order to connect to a Calor bottle. Connected the bottle to the screw threaded connector on the LPG refill point. Turned the bottle on and got a very audible continuous whooshing noise. I turned the bottle off after about a minute. My assumption on this is that due to the difference in pressure between my empty fixed tank and the full bottle, the LPG was being pushed into the fixed tank and would continue until the pressures equalised. Hopefully somebody with more knowledge can explain it better than me. After I’d disconnected the calor bottle I was able to use gas from the fixed tank for a couple of hours so it had definitely part filled it.
So in summary it is possible to use a spare cylinder if you’re off grid for a period of time and if I was doing that I would prefer to use the BBQ point method. In practise though it’s probably far easier just to run me gas BBQ and gas generator off the calor bottle and leave the tank for consumption by appliances in the van. If you’re not off grid just fill up as the opportunities arise.
Question, are my assumptions correct on method 2?
Many thanks Alan