Has anyone bought/used the Cadac Trio Power Pak? Any thoughts/comments please on your experience (1 Viewer)

MisterB

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Feb 25, 2018
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enough to know i shouldnt touch things i know nothing about ....
Just to clarify, this isnt a post on your view on whether a cada is a bbq, whether a cadac is better than any other brand/make/model, its purely to get some first hand knowledge from anyone using the Cadac Trio Power Pak (yes, i know Bon Earnshaw has one - but he has lots of things i wouldnt want!)

it looks to be a neat solution to be able to use the cadac away from the motorhome (we have external gas outlet) - i am primarily thinking of for instance, when abroad and parked up on aire, to be able to go and wander over to the picnic benches and make breakfast/dinner/tea - yes i know some aires (if not most) dont 'allow' cooking/camping/awnings etc. so i dont need any advise on that please either!

looks like you can tun the power pak off the cheaper and perhaps better coleman cannisters aswell, which is a bonus!

this is one review from that place where they have a rainforest ......;)

4.0 out of 5 stars<Broken link removed>
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 October 2021
Broken Link Removed
This enables hose gas appliances to run off Campingaz 250 or equivalent "Bistro" cartridges, obviating the need for carrying a heavy refillable container. The following points are relevant:
1) Cadac do not publish on their website wattages of their appliances or the maximum wattage which can be driven by either the trio PowerPak or the 2 cylinder EN417 PowerPak. The appliance that it was designed for runs at 3,700 watts. I have not tested this combination. Very poor website descriptions from Cadac leaving off the power. Would have got 5 star otherwise.
2) CP250 cartridges are a fraction of the price of EN417 (and even more so Coleman Propane cartridges) per kg of gas.
3) CP250 cartridges contain isobutane, which can function for longer than butane. It may seem academic that butane vaporises at -1, isobutane at -11 and propane at -42, (Coleman claim -27 for their Xtreme EN417 cartridges) but the endothermic reactions which occur in gas bottles when lpg is changing to vapour as it is used, drives down the temperature of the lpg in the bottle. If you take off too much gas for the maximum offtake because you are using too high a powered appliance, the gas will cease to come out the bottle. Particularly so in cold weather and at higher altitudes.
4) I tested this item in extreme on an 8,000 watt Camp Chef stove and the stove was lit for 63 minutes with high power for 12 minutes.
5) Only 30% of the gas in the containers were used, the rest refusing to vapourise. The offtake was therefore too large. I am taking delivery of a 4,000 watt stove and will conduct the same test. I also intend to test the two stoves with the PowerPak duo with expensive Coleman Xtreme cartridges, which have a high proportion of propane.
6) To give 4000 watts from a refillable container one would need a 4.75kg/4.96kw) Calor blue Butane cylinder with archaic Union no 109 regulator (due to be discontinued, and replaced by the much heavier 7kg/6.95kw) or the 3.9kg/7.5kw Calor red Propane cylinder. Propane should not be carried inside a car. It is unknown how this compares to the 2.72kg Campingaz 907, as the company refuses to publish data on its gas cylinders such as maximum offtake. Empty rechargeable cylinders can weigh twice as much as the gas they hold.
7) Taken delivery of a 4000 watt CampingazPartytime stove/grill. Connected this to Powerpak and it ran for over 5 hours (proabably 20% at a good power). The important thing is that the gas bottles were completely emptied, indicating that the 4000 watts or the Cadac 3750 grills are a good match. What is also interesting is that the Bistro stoves made for these gas bottles always leave gas behind if you have them full on. This indicates that the 2200w of the Bistro stove will not give 2200w for very long. I deduce that the maximum continuous offtake of Campingaz CP250 cartridges is 1300 watts and that Campingaz overrates its appliances by 70% to allow for using on a low light.
 

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