Safefill instead of gaslow? Cheaper option? (1 Viewer)

[filopastry]

Not a cheap option however I assume that someone on here has calculated the break even point, the number of refills required to recuperate the outlay for the various systems by the cheaper gas per ltr/kilo prices. I am interested but my Yorkshire blood chills at the thought of all those £10 notes leaving my purse.

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Not a cheap option however I assume that someone on here has calculated the break even point, the number of refills required to recuperate the outlay for the various systems by the cheaper gas per ltr/kilo prices. I am interested but my Yorkshire blood chills at the thought of all those £10 notes leaving my purse.

Candidly, given we are both still saddled with the burden of work for the foreseeable future, that break even point would be a way off. However, what value do put on the convenience factor? For example, we have a garage with lpg much closer to us than any calor retailer.

 

[Minxy]

Not a cheap option however I assume that someone on here has calculated the break even point, the number of refills required to recuperate the outlay for the various systems by the cheaper gas per ltr/kilo prices. I am interested but my Yorkshire blood chills at the thought of all those £10 notes leaving my purse.

I calculated it and for us it took approximately 5 years but we weren't away a lot in the MH and didn't use a lot of gas, it took about 250 litres to get to break-even but as there was no Gasit at the time we got Gaslow which I installed and cost around £240 for a single 11kg bottle kit which was a lot in 2009, nowadays it could be done cheaper. The LPG is actually a bit cheaper now too than it was when we got our system when it averaged 70p a litre, so I would expect break-even to be sooner especially since the cost of exchange cylinders has increased.

Its not just about the cost though, one of our MHs could only take a single cylinder which was useless for 3 weeks of foreign touring so a refillable was a must plus no lugging around of bottles, having to go to Calor and pay extortionate prices for one (other makes are available!), so for us it made a lot of sense and we haven't regretted it at all especially now we go abroad for up to 7 weeks at a time and don't have to worry at all.

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[Lenny HB]

Not a cheap option however I assume that someone on here has calculated the break even point, the number of refills required to recuperate the outlay for the various systems by the cheaper gas per ltr/kilo prices. I am interested but my Yorkshire blood chills at the thought of all those £10 notes leaving my purse.

For us it is not about cost more about convenience, no lugging heavy cylinders about and being able to get gas anywhere any country. Had refillables in every van we have had, current van the system was transferred from the last van so now into its 4th year of use. 2x 14kg Alugas I think it cost 500 Euro, fill up 4 - 5 times a year saving around £70 - £100 a year so the system has neary paid for its self.

 

[sweetie]

Same as Lenny not about cost but convenience. Bottles are now in 3rd van as is sat dome both about 10 years old now. After we have done deal with dealer always say you will change bottles and dome in that price won't you.

 

[Minxy]

For us it is not about cost more about convenience, no lugging heavy cylinders about and being able to get gas anywhere any country. Had refillables in every van we have had, current van the system was transferred from the last van so now into its 4th year of use. 2x 14kg Alugas I think it cost 500 Euro, fill up 4 - 5 times a year saving around £70 - £100 a year so the system has neary paid for its self.

That's not quite the right equation Lenny ... you have to take the number of litres of gas you have used and work out what it would have cost if you had used exchange cylinders instead (don't forget the cost of renting the cylinders in the first place and the hoses etc), then deduct the actual cost of your 'refillable' gas from this which will leave your 'true' balance which you can use to work out your real payback period, eg if you 'save' say £70 a year for a system that cost £500 it would take just over 7 years to get to 'payback' assuming the same consumption during that period, however as exchange cylinder costs keep rising but LPG doesn't seem to do so, or not as much, it could be less.

I think that's right anyway ....!

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[Minxy]

Same as Lenny not about cost but convenience. Bottles are now in 3rd van as is sat dome both about 10 years old now. After we have done deal with dealer always say you will change bottles and dome in that price won't you.

Our original bottle was in our Rimor (2009), then I moved it to our Chausson, then Autocruise and now it's in our Globecar along with a second one as we wild camp and go away for longer periods sometimes to places where LPG isn't quite so readily available ... it's a well-travelled system!

 

[Terry]

sorry for the late pic but as you can see the regulator screws into the filler neck ....hope it's clear now
Terry

 

[Feltwell]

Not a cheap option however I assume that someone on here has calculated the break even point, the number of refills required to recuperate the outlay for the various systems by the cheaper gas per ltr/kilo prices. I am interested but my Yorkshire blood chills at the thought of all those £10 notes leaving my purse.

I know what you mean, but when I looked at getting a Safefill bottle I thought:-

• It's more about the convenience of always going away with a full gas bottle, and not having to faff around finding somewhere to exchange cylinders whilst on holiday
• I can take it out of the van and use it with a workshop heater over the winters
• I can take it with me to a new van
• Used on Fleabay they are always in demand and go for nearly as much as a new one! I can easily sell it if I find I've no need for it

The convenience factor may make me buy another one this year. Currently I carry a 13kg Safefill and a smaller half full Calor bottle - the Calor bottle just as a backup if the Safefill runs out before I could find somewhere to refill (not happened yet!). I may buy another Safefill just so I can always go away for 2 weeks without needing to refill whilst away.
Some of these arguments apply the same if you get a "plumbed in" system of course - convenience of always going away with a full gas bottle being the big one.

I seem to remember I was saving about £12 every time I refilled the bottle, so for me payback just taken simply against the cost price of a single Safefill bottle was something like 14 weeks of van use. Depends on how much gas you use though - we have gas heating & hot water with no electric option, a large fridge/freezer and we're cooking for 5 - plus we don't usually bother with hookup unless it's included as standard in a pitch fee - so we do go through a bit. Hope that helps.

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[Feltwell]

The big watchout though - which I should mention - is the future availability of LPG at garages.

I run an LPG converted car, which I had converted - sensible me would have bought a 2 litre diesel but impulsive me bought a 4.2 v8 petrol - with an LPG conversion fitted the big v8 works out at a similar running cost to a diesel, and I do a lot of miles, so it's not completely stupid but I can't ever justify it as a sensible decision! Sounds lovely though and it goes well.......

Anyway, point is, the regular place locally where I fill up has stopped doing LPG conversions now as they say new cars are getting harder and harder to convert. They are at the back of a "normal" petrol station and have a very well used LPG pump but they still say the volume of LPG they sell is falling every year.

It's the LPG cars that make the pumps economical for garages to install and maintain, as sales fall they will take them out. With diesel going out of fashion it is possible that LPG will come back in again - it's always been a very clean fuel, the emissions from a converted car are very low - but that will only happen if either the car manufacturers get behind it or someone invests sufficiently to make the conversion kits work with the latest petrol engine technology. You can still convert a new car but it's getting to the point now where your choice of car is quite restricted.

I think we've got a good way to go before LPG starts to get difficult to obtain at pumps, and there will always be a few specialist places such as gas distributors that will sell it, but it's going to become steadily rarer at "normal" petrol stations over the next few years if current trends continue.

I have my car system serviced by an independent specialist, he says the same thing, the number of conversions is falling - however - the glimmer of hope is he says he's getting more conversion enquiries since diesels were recently denounced as being dirty and talk of levies to drive into cities came in.

 

[Lenny HB]

That's not quite the right equation Lenny ... you have to take the number of litres of gas you have used and work out what it would have cost if you had used exchange cylinders instead (don't forget the cost of renting the cylinders in the first place and the hoses etc), then deduct the actual cost of your 'refillable' gas from this which will leave your 'true' balance which you can use to work out your real payback period, eg if you 'save' say £70 a year for a system that cost £500 it would take just over 7 years to get to 'payback' assuming the same consumption during that period, however as exchange cylinder costs keep rising but LPG doesn't seem to do so, or not as much, it could be less.

I think that's right anyway ....!

You are reading my post wrong Mel I said i save £70 - £100 a year that is the saving compared to exchange bottles. The system was 500 Euro not pounds less that £400 at the time.

 

[mfw]

Residual values on used refillables is very good flog it after 7yrs you will probably still get at least half your money back so only 3 exchanges of a cylinder and buy new 1 before cylinder inspection date due or lifespan of cylinder is up.
The 6kg cylinders seem to be like gold dust so residual value is similar to 11kg 2nd hand

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[yorkieman]

I'm finally getting used to the quirks of our Safefill Cylinder - it's taken me two months

The major pro is most definitely that it saves you a LOT of money. Even without the residual value of the cylinder itself (as MF mentions above) you still get an instant buzz out of paying £11 to fill up rather than £30+ with a Calor gas cylinder.

Other benefits are that it is possible to see how much gas you have left and to refill even before you are anywhere near empty. That saves running out unexpectedly, which I have done previously on way too many occasions.

Another benefit it that the cylinder is much lighter. Far less chance of a bad back with Safefill I reckon.

The downside for me was finding somewhere to fill it. We did struggle in Spain, but eventually found somewhere so we know where to go next time. Same was true over here. Morrison's Supermarket do LPG but they sent us packing and said it is their policy not to allow refilling of any cylinders.

Luckily, we found a place that would refill it via the Safefill web site. It was only five miles away and they couldn't have been more helpful.

Oh, and another benefit has been Safefill themselves. They've been really helpful and responsive and friendly too, so they definitely get a 10/10 from me.

Would I recommend Safefill. Absolutely. Hopefully, over time - and with enough support from us guys - Safefill will get more and more outlets to come and board and then we'll benefit from paying about a third of the normal price for our gas.

 

[two]

I replaced my GasLow cylinders with SafeFill ones to save weight. SafeFill is convenient for me because I can get them refilled locally using the car rather than needing to take the motorhome. They also enable me to use the Cadac (or generator) anywhere I like rather than within a few meters of the (tethered) van. As it happens, SafeFill is relatively cheap and easy to install, and move to another vehicle. Ididn’t notice that the foreign adaptors were more expensive, although it was a shame that the GasLow ones did not fit.

If trying to determine a break-even point for refillables, don’t forget that you often return unused gas when you replace with fresh bottles, so it’s not a simple litre for litre price comparison. I’ve not bothered to work out any savings because (the money’s now spent and) I bought for the convenience of being able to fill up abroad without having to faff with foreign bottles and being able to set off with full bottles whenever I needed them. In my set-up I am able to re-fill whilst the bottles are still in the gas locker, when necessary, so I have no regrets about swapping to SafeFill.