How long does 3 liter gas bottle last. (1 Viewer)

JimboT

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Nov 6, 2013
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I'm a newbie
OK we bought two 3 liter bottles how long do these normally last ?
Have used the van of 4 days with hook up.
We can fit two 11 liter bottles or is this over kill?
We will also be using at a location without hook up so will be running gas and generator mainly.
I would say one bottle is full and not sure how much is in the other one.
Thanks
Jim
 
Feb 24, 2013
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not long enough
Hello Jim

I didn't know you could buy gas in such small bottles, I presume they are not Calor?

They are normally 6kg smallest

But in answer to your question, you will be told many times, it totally depends on your needs and usage, we have to cook (hob and oven) by gas, but when on hook up have electric heating and fridge. If you need to heat by gas, 3 litres / 3 kg would last us 2 nights max I reckon

David
 
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jb0371old

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if your using these as main system, it aint going to last long, best go for the 11kg, even maybe go for the gasit refillable system, loads of threads on here about it

gasit (red bottle) seem to be the cheapest but main make is called gaslow (yellow bottle and more expensive)

I never use hookup and we only have 1 11kg gasit bottle, works for us.

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TheBig1

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many many years! since I was a kid
i havent had a 3.9kg propane for years, they are really only useful for a portable barbeque or as a backup. plus you pay through the nose for a refill which costs nearly as much as a 6kg. mind you both are way more expensive than having refillable bottles you can top up at the garage

change to 11kg cylinders as soon as you next run out as they are far more economical and less hassle not requiring you to change every 2 days

small cylinders are a real con and are a real inconvenience having to find a stockist every few days. plus they always used to run out just when needed the most
 
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SUGGY

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we work on 2kg / day at this time of year ( no hook ups ),
I changed my cylinder for Propane 15kg and also use a 13kg Butane .
 
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Feb 24, 2013
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not long enough
Our locker looks big enough for 2 x 11kg, but we cant quite get them in, so now have 1 x 11 and 1 x 6kg, they both cost about the same to refill, I think £25 and £20, so try to use the 11 and only swap to 6 when 11 is empty. Just need to watch out not to run out completely being too clever

I reckon SUGGY's estimate of 2kg / day is a nice safe estimate, unless you like it really tropical inside

It really depends on how hot you need it, whether you use oven or microwave etc
 
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davejen

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Hello Jim

I didn't know you could buy gas in such small bottles, I presume they are not Calor?

They are normally 6kg smallest

But in answer to your question, you will be told many times, it totally depends on your needs and usage, we have to cook (hob and oven) by gas, but when on hook up have electric heating and fridge. If yod to heat by gas, 3 litres / 3 kg would last us 2 nights max I reckonu nee

David
1kg =2ltres
Cheers, Dave:thumb:
 
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lou020

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We can make a 6kg last all year, usually 6 to 7 weeks worth of touring.
nearly always on hook up, but use the gas for cooking almost every day.
 
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callumwa

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Our locker looks big enough for 2 x 11kg, but we cant quite get them in, so now have 1 x 11 and 1 x 6kg, they both cost about the same to refill, I think £25 and £20, so try to use the 11 and only swap to 6 when 11 is empty. Just need to watch out not to run out completely being too clever

I reckon SUGGY's estimate of 2kg / day is a nice safe estimate, unless you like it really tropical inside

It really depends on how hot you need it, whether you use oven or microwave etc



We can fit 2 x 13kg bottles in our Gas locker.

Our refills cost £19.95 for 13kg so about £0.76 a litre, so only a few pence a litre more than at the service station..

We did from before Easter until the end of the summer on one Bottle with a total of about 9 or 10 weeks in the van, but only a week or two of that had the blown air heating running on gas
 
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Peter_n_Margaret

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Oct 27, 2013
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In Australia, we have 2 x 4kg bottles. We never "hook up".
They are used for all cooking and hot water for daily showers. The fridge is compressor (solar) and we have no central heating.
One bottle lasts about 5-6 weeks.

We recently had 5 months on the road in Europe (mostly Turkey and the Balkans). Again, we never "hook up".
The Iveco has 2 x 11kg gas bottles that we use for hot water (showers) and all cooking. Again, the fridge is a compressor unit (solar) and we only used the central heating a couple of times.
We changed to the second 11kg bottle after about 3 months plus.

If you use lots of central heating via gas, or run a gas fridge, your consumption will be MUCH higher.

Cheers,
Peter

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JeanLuc

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Our locker looks big enough for 2 x 11kg, but we cant quite get them in, so now have 1 x 11 and 1 x 6kg, they both cost about the same to refill, I think £25 and £20, so try to use the 11 and only swap to 6 when 11 is empty. Just need to watch out not to run out completely being too clever

That seems strange; my Star-line locker holds 2 x 11 kg Gaslow bottles and I would have thought the S-Class has as much space, if not more. You have to remove the shrouds around the top valves to do it (Alugas are removable, old Gaslow shrouds had to be cut off) or in the case of the newer Gaslow bottles, there is no shroud, just a small handle so they will fit anyway.
Just for comparison with your costs, my most recent fill-up was for 15.08 litres (roughly 7.5 kg) and cost £9.72 (64.46p / litre). But the point of a refillable system is not so much about cost of LPG - you are unlikely to recoup the capital cost through savings - it's mainly for convenience.
 
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Terry

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Hi I have 2x 3.8 kg bottle's one will last 3 to 4 days with heating, cooking and water in sub zero temps -heating set around 22 degrees daytime and 19 at night.Van being a ex ambulance is very well insulated all around :thumb:
terry
 
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ukbill

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half as long as a 6k bottle :Smile:

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Feb 24, 2013
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not long enough
That seems strange; my Star-line locker holds 2 x 11 kg Gaslow bottles and I would have thought the S-Class has as much space, if not more. You have to remove the shrouds around the top valves to do it (Alugas are removable, old Gaslow shrouds had to be cut off) or in the case of the newer Gaslow bottles, there is no shroud, just a small handle so they will fit anyway.
Just for comparison with your costs, my most recent fill-up was for 15.08 litres (roughly 7.5 kg) and cost £9.72 (64.46p / litre). But the point of a refillable system is not so much about cost of LPG - you are unlikely to recoup the capital cost through savings - it's mainly for convenience.


Main problem with my post was doing it after a couple of large G + T's, we have 13kg cylinders not 11kg, I don't think you can even get 11kg propane

I fancy refillable, but then if you do run out you are much worse off than just needing to find a Calor dealer, we run an LPG car, even though there are more options to fill they can still be a long way apart, and the more rural your site when / if you run out, the worse it might be, whereas finding a Calor dealer should be nearer.

I also carry an extra 13kg cylinder in garage when we go abroad

Pros and cons both ways as ever
 
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Terry

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Can't remember ;)
Main problem with my post was doing it after a couple of large G + T's, we have 13kg cylinders not 11kg, I don't think you can even get 11kg propane

I fancy refillable, but then if you do run out you are much worse off than just needing to find a Calor dealer, we run an LPG car, even though there are more options to fill they can still be a long way apart, and the more rural your site when / if you run out, the worse it might be, whereas finding a Calor dealer should be nearer.

I also carry an extra 13kg cylinder in garage when we go abroad

Pros and cons both ways as ever

Hi you fill gaslow etc just as you do the car
:winky:
terry
 
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Feb 24, 2013
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not long enough
Hi you fill gaslow etc just as you do the car
:winky:
terry


I get that bit, but if you have gone to the top of Scotland for a week, with no hook up and it is cold you might run out of gas, it could be a long way to go to an LPG garage, but then I guess it could be further to a Calor dealer

With my luck it would always be furthest to the one I needed

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Nov 18, 2011
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I have the gaslow comparatively small bottles I have never run out of gas Frome having the system fitted we never go on hook up have stopped carrying the small spare bottle have been all over the uk both as far up north as you can go and south we just fill top up when there is auto gas every time we fill with diesel and until we got it did not realise how many auto gas places there was
in answer to your question 13 KG with care a week but easy five days so if you have x 2 10 days
but with care scrimping who knows 15 days but work on 1.5 to 2 kg a day
and you wont be far off and have a safety margin
 
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JeanLuc

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I fancy refillable, but then if you do run out you are much worse off than just needing to find a Calor dealer, we run an LPG car, even though there are more options to fill they can still be a long way apart, and the more rural your site when / if you run out, the worse it might be, whereas finding a Calor dealer should be nearer.

I also carry an extra 13kg cylinder in garage when we go abroad

Pros and cons both ways as ever

The trick with the refillable system is that you can fill up whenever it is convenient - you don't have to wait for a bottle to be empty first. So, if you are likely to be away from a supply, refill as soon as one bottle is low.
If going to a remote area for some time, invest in one of Mr Gaslow's adapter hoses. This fits into the refill connector on the side of the van and the other end links to a standard bottle connector. A Calor, or foreign standard bottle, with suitable pigtail adapter, can then be used as backup (such as the 13 kg Calor kept in your garage when abroad). The Calor bottle then feeds into the bulkhead regulator, bypassing the installed refillable Gaslow bottles.
Have a look at the Gaslow website for more information.
 
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