Gas question.........and it’s not flatulance (1 Viewer)

[Podney]

Advice and comments please.

We are off to France in June for three weeks so I’ve been thinking about how much gas we’ll need.
Van has two 6kg flogas propane cylinders..........

Cylinder 1 weighs 13.5 kg and it has a tare weight of 7.9kg,take one from the other and you get 5.6,so although it’s never been used,I count that as full??

Cylinder 2 weighs 9.6kg,has a tare weight of 8.3kg,so I reckon it has 1.3kg of gas,which is just under quarter full??

Am I working it out right??

How much gas do you think we’ll need? Usage will be hob every day for kettle,and a saucepan,plus oven maybe 10 times. Plus gas to heat water for shower when we are not on hook up. Plus gas to run fridge when not on hook up. Problem is,we don’t know where we will be staying so we don’t know if the Aires we end up on will have ehu. We will be staying on a couple of sites with full facilities but only for about 4 nights. I’m assuming we won’t need to use any gas for heating in June.

Should I exchange my quarter full bottle before we go or am I worrying about nothing?

Am I right in saying you can’t get propane refills in France (we’ve the red 6kg ones)?

Thanks for any comments,thoughts and advice!

 

[Duck Truck]

why not ease the worry and exchange the part full bottle for the sake of a couple of quids worth of gas in it
then you should have enough for a summer 3 week trip

 

[dealornodeal]

I agree with DT

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[Podney]

why not ease the worry and exchange the part full bottle for the sake of a couple of quids worth of gas in it
then you should have enough for a summer 3 week trip

Well,only because I’m a tight fisted git.........but yes,that may prove to be a false economy. And I also have to remember that the Duchess would not be amused if we ran out! The duchess with no Yorkshire tea inside her is not a pleasant thought!

 

[Lenny HB]

I would go with 2 full cylinders. How much gas you use will depend on the weather and how much heating you use. We use around 14kg of gas in 15 - 18 days.

 

[Clickem]

We have 3 cylinders, so always go abroad with 2 full and use any small amounts left in cylinders up when in the U.K.

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[Two on Tour]

If your coming anywhere near the A1/A14 junction near Huntingdon anytime, then I have a couple of empty Flowgas cyinders your welcome to.

 

[Janine]

I use 2 x 6kg bottles a year - I have just replaced the one I changed last September.

All of my cooking on gas including the oven, when off grid fridge and occasional use of heating/ hot water.

It’s very much ‘how long is a piece of string’

 

[Riverbankannie]

We used to go away for 6 weeks with 2, 3.9kg calor bottles . Usage as you describe a mix of aires with no hookup and sites. 1 of the bottles lasted about 4 weeks

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[Guigsy]

In my experience, using the hob for tea and simple meals seems to use very little gas, I guess because it's just no on long enough. The fridge also only needs vapours, so not worth worrying about. Heating water for the shower and the oven for longer periods makes a larger dent. Running a gas powered heater pours it out!

We drove around Spain for 6 weeks earlier this year, only using EHU 1-2 nights per week. We went through about about 10kg gas... but we take short 'ship' showers every other day (wet wipes for the win!) and we did have a week where it was close to freezing so we used the heater for 30 mins each morning... so like @Janine said, how long is a piece of string.

If you run out when you're there, you'll be wasting time finding a new cylinder and then fitting a different connector. And you'll be carrying an empty Flogas cylinder the rest of the holiday or dumping it... As suggested, least stress is to just swap the quarter full cylinder before you go. Then use up the 3/4 full cylinder first.

 

[Podney]

I use 2 x 6kg bottles a year - I have just replaced the one I changed last September.

All of my cooking on gas including the oven, when off grid fridge and occasional use of heating/ hot water.

It’s very much ‘how long is a piece of string’

Twice the length it was before you cut it in half.

 

[Lazyboy]

Best thing as you have time is get refillable fitted with the relevant connectors. That way the Duchess can drink as much tea as she wants and shower as often as she wants/needs too and you will not be in the kennel!!

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[Guigsy]

Best thing as you have time is get refillable fitted with the relevant connectors. That way the Duchess can drink as much tea as she wants and shower as often as she wants/needs too and you will not be in the kennel!!

That was my solution. I've filled up in the UK, France, Spain and Germany without issues (except ones caused by me when I couldn't work out how the LPG machine worked!). My justification was it's saved me loads of space in a small van. I only need to carry one cylinder, and it's underslung... but it's not cheap. I think you'd have to full-time to justify the cost based on savings.

 

[TerryL]

I'm a refillable fan, but really your two bottles should be perfectly adequate for the use you state (unless you've got a leak - happened to me once!). If you're only going to France worse case scenario is buying a French cylinder and some connectors - any caravan place should be able to sort you out. Cheaper than UK too.

 

[Reallyretired]

We have just been away for 7 weeks in France and Spain and have used 60+ litres of lpg. Mind you weather was bad at least half the time and if its cold heating on 24hours.Hot water is always on.
We would be stuffed without refillables.

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[peterc10]

If you are planning to use your moho for longer periods in the future, and especially in Europe I would recommend that you get a refillable system fitted. So much easier to use and saves money in the long run, both on the unit cost of gas but also because you will never need to trade in a cylinder with gas left in it again.

 

[Podney]

If you are planning to use your moho for longer periods in the future, and especially in Europe I would recommend that you get a refillable system fitted. So much easier to use and saves money in the long run, both on the unit cost of gas but also because you will never need to trade in a cylinder with gas left in it again.

Yes,that seems to be the way forward,long term. This time round Im going to suck it and see (Ooooo,missus),but the little bottles wouldn’t be much good long term or when its colder.

 

[Podney]

Well,thanks to all for your helpful replies.
I’m going to exchange the partly filled cylinder for a full one.
Common sense I suppose,but its good to know that those with more experience don’t think we are doing it completely wrong!.
Cheers!

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[PhilandMena]

We get 28 days from our 2 x 6 KG Gaslow bottles.

 

[Basildog]

Well,thanks to all for your helpful replies.
I’m going to exchange the partly filled cylinder for a full one.
Common sense I suppose,but its good to know that those with more experience don’t think we are doing it completely wrong!.
Cheers!

Just get another cylinder from eBay or Facebook for a few quid .
This talk of returning a cylinder with some gas left is making me ill

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Dont waste the quarter full bottle by swapping it keep hold of it and help yourself to one at your local tip thats what i do when i need another bottle

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[Lofty1]

Hi I have a 14 kg French bottle part full that you can have at the bring and buy today heading to Newark Monday

 

[wasp]

Thing is, if it gets a bit chilly you will use the heater and that gets through a fair bit of gas, it happened to us once and I had to buy a French bottle and regulator, it’s still in me garage

 

[Larby]

I discovered French gas bottles have a 21.8 LH thread identical to a Calor 4.5 kg butane.
For my 3 month stay in France I use French gas bottles (€1 deposit !! Netto and Intermarche) and the pigtail to that is 21.8 LH thread.
Your propane pigtails will be of no use in France, maybe carry a pigtail as shown as back-up?

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[Rob Su]

Seems easy enough to buy propane in France and a connector hose then fit? I watched video from wandering bird (only need to watch from 4mins 20 seconds) https://www.wandering-bird.com/how-to-get-gas-in-europe/

 

[Rob Su]

Seems easy enough to buy propane in France and a connector hose then fit? I watched video from wandering bird (only need to watch from 4mins 20 seconds) https://www.wandering-bird.com/how-to-get-gas-in-europe/

Need to scroll 2/3 of way down to find video

 

[Ian Bosman]

Advice and comments please.

We are off to France in June for three weeks so I’ve been thinking about how much gas we’ll need.
Van has two 6kg flogas propane cylinders..........

Cylinder 1 weighs 13.5 kg and it has a tare weight of 7.9kg,take one from the other and you get 5.6,so although it’s never been used,I count that as full??

Cylinder 2 weighs 9.6kg,has a tare weight of 8.3kg,so I reckon it has 1.3kg of gas,which is just under quarter full??

Am I working it out right??

How much gas do you think we’ll need? Usage will be hob every day for kettle,and a saucepan,plus oven maybe 10 times. Plus gas to heat water for shower when we are not on hook up. Plus gas to run fridge when not on hook up. Problem is,we don’t know where we will be staying so we don’t know if the Aires we end up on will have ehu. We will be staying on a couple of sites with full facilities but only for about 4 nights. I’m assuming we won’t need to use any gas for heating in June.

Should I exchange my quarter full bottle before we go or am I worrying about nothing?

Am I right in saying you can’t get propane refills in France (we’ve the red 6kg ones)?

Thanks for any comments,thoughts and advice!

Fridges gobble gas so always try to avoid it if possible. I generally allow for the fact the fridge will stay cold enough for most of the day if you do not open it so have found I can get away for around 12 hours off gas. I had four days away, no oven, hob and hot water but using EHU for the fridge and used 4kg of gas. most of there time we economise in not using the shower. Our water heater is gas only so I am careful too switch on for as short a time as possible.

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[Podney]

I was surprised to get another reply to my original query in 2019...............but I was even more surprised,and horrified,to see that I hadn’t responded to many folk who gave me several tips. I have now!!!!!

Slightly embarrassing as I have occasionally moaned about others who put a question on here and the disappear without a word of thanks! Just proves I’m not perfect,like you all thought

Our trip to France was a great success,and although it was very hot,toooooo hot,we used less than one 6kg gas cylinder in three weeks......thanks to ehu. Hope to go back next year.

So thanks again folks!