The French Fuel Company 'Total' place ban on filling LPG tanks on their forecourts in France.

Backdraft

Backdraft

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55,367
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Chausson 640
Just been reading Le Monde du camping car, and if my French is correct (no guarantee) Total have banned the refilling of LPG tanks and cylinders unless the gas is used to run the engine, at all their filling stations. You can't fill if the gas is for domestic use.

https://www.lemondeducampingcar.fr/...s-interdits-de-plein-de-gpl-chez-total/198617

Could be bit of a pain when we can get back to France especially if other suppliers follow.
 
Follows on from an incident in 2011 if memory serves me well, filling station fire when a camping car was filling.
I have been asked for the certificate of installation just once. Refillable tanks for domestic use in France is not quite as common as here.
 
Brains said:
As long as you have an external filling point, you pull up at the pump and fill like a car.
There is no easy way for the operator to tell what the gas tank powers
Click to expand...
This might just flip the logic the other way, i.e. the answer is no unless you can show that the vehicle runs on LPG.
 
I just say its for my engine. Tank helps the argument rather than bottles.

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It does say refillable bottles, not tanks. So possibly ok.
 
I am now totally confused.... during the recent varied and numorous discussions on the pros and cons of having refillable gas fitted the general consensus by many Funsters was that is an absolute must to have it fitted when travelling to the Continent due to availability of Autogas and the difficulty in using exchange bottles.
Now however it appears it is indeed illegal to use in some countries.????
 
poppycamper said:
I am now totally confused.... during the recent varied and numorous discussions on the pros and cons of having refillable gas fitted the general consensus by many Funsters was that is an absolute must to have it fitted when travelling to the Continent due to availability of Autogas and the difficulty in using exchange bottles.
Now however it appears it is indeed illegal to use in some countries.????
Click to expand...
Everything in Europe is illegal unless specifically legal. 😉

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poppycamper said:
I am now totally confused.... during the recent varied and numorous discussions on the pros and cons of having refillable gas fitted the general consensus by many Funsters was that is an absolute must to have it fitted when travelling to the Continent due to availability of Autogas and the difficulty in using exchange bottles.
Now however it appears it is indeed illegal to use in some countries.????
Click to expand...

Times change.
 
We have recently been looking at new motorhomes and have been surprised by how many now come, supplied, with underslung gas tanks as the standard spec.

Problems in the near future for owners of such vehicles?
 
  • Informative
Reactions: f6c
poppycamper said:
I am now totally confused.... during the recent varied and numorous discussions on the pros and cons of having refillable gas fitted the general consensus by many Funsters was that is an absolute must to have it fitted when travelling to the Continent due to availability of Autogas and the difficulty in using exchange bottles.
Now however it appears it is indeed illegal to use in some countries.????
Click to expand...
It's another one of life's rules, if you are knowingly breaking the law but it suits you it's ok, if someone else is breaking the law and you don't like it, you moan and whinge like a good 'un.
 
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JJ said:
Diesel engines can't run on LPG.

A motorhome chugging up to a LPG pump well suspicious...

Except...

In my area of Portugal no staff are interested in fine print!


JJ :cool:
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There are some LPG=assisted conversions available, so maybe one should carry a brochure of one of those.
 
Clipgate said:
Follows on from an incident in 2011 if memory serves me well, filling station fire when a camping car was filling.
I have been asked for the certificate of installation just once. Refillable tanks for domestic use in France is not quite as common as here.
Click to expand...
Only took 10 years to implement 😀😀
 
Further in the article it says that the fridge should be off For 15 minutes so there is no chance of a spark igniting any gas that is in the atmosphere when the tank is filled.
This was the presumed cause of a major fire in a Shell petrol station at Fontwell in West Sussex, the LPG has not been reinstalled when the station was repaired.
Also there is problem of control of the gas installation within the vans unlike I expect other motorised vehicles.

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poppycamper said:
I am now totally confused.... during the recent varied and numorous discussions on the pros and cons of having refillable gas fitted the general consensus by many Funsters was that is an absolute must to have it fitted when travelling to the Continent due to availability of Autogas and the difficulty in using exchange bottles.
Now however it appears it is indeed illegal to use in some countries.????
Click to expand...
Hence, we, as have many others, gone with the dual option.

One 11kg refillable gas cylinder (GasLow at £5 to refill)
One 11 kg replaceable gas cylinder (Calor at £27 to exchange)

The only base that does not cover is the replaceable cylinders in France, Italy, Spain are not compatible with each other, or with the UK ones. So if there was no other option I would need to buy a pigtail for that country, and a local gas cylinder.
However I'd hope that before I needed to do that I could find somewhere to refill the GasLow, such as a fuel station late at night.
 
EMS said:
Further in the article it says that the fridge should be off For 15 minutes so there is no chance of a spark igniting any gas that is in the atmosphere when the tank is filled.
This was the presumed cause of a major fire in a Shell petrol station at Fontwell in West Sussex, the LPG has not been reinstalled when the station was repaired.
Also there is problem of control of the gas installation within the vans unlike I expect other motorised vehicles.
Click to expand...
My 2018 Hymer with a Domestic fridge automatically cuts off the gas when the engine is started.

The fridge then runs on the 12v power whilst we are driving, which keeps things cool, but the fridge does warm up, especially on a long run on a warm day

On the normal automatic setting, the pilot light will only come on 15 minutes after the engine has been switched off, to stop exactly the LPG refueling issue being a problem.

What this means in practice is on a long run if we stop for a break, 15 mins later you hear the 'woomph' of the gas firing up and the fridge trying to freeze everything down again before we move off.
I always try to park fridge vents on the shady side to give the fridge a decent chance.
 
Backdraft said:
Just been reading Le Monde du camping car, and if my French is correct (no guarantee) Total have banned the refilling of LPG tanks and cylinders unless the gas is used to run the engine, at all their filling stations. You can't fill if the gas is for domestic use.

https://www.lemondeducampingcar.fr/...s-interdits-de-plein-de-gpl-chez-total/198617

Could be bit of a pain when we can get back to France especially if other suppliers follow.
Click to expand...
They won't sell much then.LPG fuelled cars are not that numerous now..BUSBY.
 
busby said:
They won't sell much then.LPG fuelled cars are not that numerous now..BUSBY.
Click to expand...
Dacia have just started selling dual-fuel cars:

Dacia Bi-fuel: Our LPG vehicles - Dacia UK

Find out everything you need to know about LPG and discover Dacia Bi-fuel. How LPG works, its advantages, and the range of Dacia Bi-fuel vehicles.
www.dacia.co.uk www.dacia.co.uk

Car manufacturers are looking at ways to decrease CO2 to avoid the upcoming EU limits, so we might see more LPG cars again.

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