LPG in France

[Geomore]

Good morning all,

Just planning our first trip abroad to France (Alps) next month. Couple of questions about LPG filling in France:

1: Do all French stations use the dish adapter, or do they vary?

2: How likely am I to run into issues in France because my filler is inside the gas locker door, not outside? As in I have to open the gas locker door to fill. It's a Gaslow system but ex rental van, for some reason they decided to mount the filler in place of the second bottle.

I hear France is getting stricter on LPG filling, any recent experiences appreciated.

Thanks in advance as always, George

 

[glenn2926]

The wide dish type adapter is the only one I have seen in France. Can’t comment re the in locker filling point as mine in the skirt. We have never had any problems filling in France.
Have a great trip and if you get to Chamonix try a beer in the Big Mountain bar. It’s my lads brewery and bar.

 

[suavecarve]

2) park with vehicle blocking view of attendant and it wont be an issue.
1) Same adapter all over France

Alps + Winter + 1 gas bottle + internal filling point = You know you have to sort it out some time so why not now

 

[emjaiuk]

Cant answer the question about the filler location, but I must say long term I would move it to the outside if possible if for no other reason than I wouldn't want the momentary escape of gas when disconnecting inside the van anywhere.
A problem we had at first in France was gas leaking from the filler point. This was because we had clamped the heavy filler nozzle slightly to the left of center, and the weight was slowly unscrewing the dish adaptor. We now clamp the nozzle to the right of center and the weight tightens it if anything.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Our filler is inside the door,we have toured both the east and west boundaries of France and never had an issue .We have to open the gas locker door,take off the cover and fit the adaptor.then connect and fill .
We have never been stopped or questioned in France regarding our LPG refillable ,fill point
There are more motorhomes in France than the UK and more transient motorhomes in France passing through.they are welcome for the business.
Don't worry about it If you do have a problem anywhere ,just move on to the next,there's lots of lpg available in France

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[Geomore]

Thank you, that's great, very reassuring! I hope to move the filler at some point just so i can get another cylinder in, but it will be a summer job. There's no concern about escaping gas in this case, it's an external locker with a big drain grille. I will take note of the filler orientation, that's a good tip. Guessing it's a yes to just a dish adapter too?

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Yes it's a dish adaptor but we also carry a full set that caters for Spain ,Portugal etc.some garages do have adaptor sets that they let you borrow but plenty haven't. We once stopped on one garage where we were wanting to fill with LPG and we were waved by the attendant who was in the shop. I thought he was going to stop me from filling up my lpg but he promptly pulled out a huge box with a tray of multiple adaptors,more than I had seen before,and gestured to select what I needed. I showed him my adaptor and he just put the box away and laughed.
We filled up with both LPG and diesel. I can't remember now whether it was France or Spain, but as said never had an issue.

 

[ctc]

A small point, several times in France I had to press the fill button for some minutes because the gas tank was some distance away, patience can be needed.

 

[Ianj55]

As has been stated it is the dish adaptor and you wont have a problem in France especially as the stations are self service. Italy is the problem for filling, if the filler is inside the locker the majority of stations refuse as the attendant serves you and they refuse.

 

[nicholsong]

Cant answer the question about the filler location, but I must say long term I would move it to the outside if possible if for no other reason than I wouldn't want the momentary escape of gas when disconnecting inside the van anywhere.
A problem we had at first in France was gas leaking from the filler point. This was because we had clamped the heavy filler nozzle slightly to the left of center, and the weight was slowly unscrewing the dish adaptor. We now clamp the nozzle to the right of center and the weight tightens it if anything.

I like that good tip of using the weight of the nozzle(and the heavy hose of course) to keep the adaptor thread tight.

Well posted you.

Geoff

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[Riverbankannie]

We had a leak problem once in France with the adapter as I didn’t tighten it up enough. I tend to go finger tight with things in general as I am afraid to overtighten snd not be able to get it off. In this case it needed to be tightened up as much as possible so now I get my husband to do the final tightening.
We also use leather gauntlet gloves especially when using adapters especially after the above experience when we only had those nitrile working gloves on.

 

[Geomore]

Thanks all, my phone hid half your replies, thanks those that had already answered my adapter question . Getting excited for the adventure that is actually leaving the UK, although the novelty of driving in a oner to the south Alps usually wears off about 4am in the car, God knows what it'll be like in the van! I think we're heading for morzine/ les gets as it's closer, but might move about of the aires there are as miserable as some say!

 

[emjaiuk]

We haven’t needed to fill very often in Franc, but an unusual, to me, occurrence we had once was that one push of the button started the fill without the button being held down

 

[dosser]

The one I was in yesterday the women wasn't the slightest bit interested what I was filling, yes it was a dish adapter and I had to keep the button depressed when filling.
Guess it just depends on where you are and how attendant/interested they are.
Enjoy your trip.