Calor discontinuing some of their range

[Momac]

49 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Camping Gaz has always been a rip off. It was £32 a bottle for the 2.7kg bottles when we sold the boat.

 

Guess they are more now, but they were all that would fit in the gas locker on the boat we had. 

£44 for a 907 campingaz refill two weeks ago from a  supplier who has  usually been reasonably priced.  

It's tempting to eat out more often to save gas .🙂

 

[Naughty Cal]

8 hours ago, MartynG said:

£44 for a 907 campingaz refill two weeks ago from a  supplier who has  usually been reasonably priced.  

It's tempting to eat out more often to save gas .🙂

 

Ouch!

 

And we were complaining that our local supplier had put LPG up to £1 a litre 😱

[jake_crew]

Half the gas for twice as much - Camping Gas compared with Calor in the small cylinders. 

 

I believe there are adapters on Ebay so that can fill Camping Gas cyls from a larger Calor, but that sounds a bit dodgy to me.

 

[Naughty Cal]

6 minutes ago, jake_crew said:

Half the gas for twice as much - Camping Gas compared with Calor in the small cylinders. 

 

I believe there are adapters on Ebay so that can fill Camping Gas cyls from a larger Calor, but that sounds a bit dodgy to me.

 

It is dodgy.

 

However if we had known that Gaslow did refillable 2.7kg bottles when we had the boat we would have definitely bought a couple of those.

 

£5 to fill up rather than £44 for a Camping Gaz bottle exchange. Wouldn't have taken long to pay themselves back!

 

Our 2x11kg Gaslows will have paid for themselves this year. It doesn't take long to recoup the money spent to buy them.

[magnetman]

Can you just walk into a garage and fill a 2.7 Gaslow bottle from the LPG pump? 

 

For some reason I thought you had to have a vehicle. Maybe not. 

[Paul C]

43 minutes ago, jake_crew said:

Half the gas for twice as much - Camping Gas compared with Calor in the small cylinders. 

 

I believe there are adapters on Ebay so that can fill Camping Gas cyls from a larger Calor, but that sounds a bit dodgy to me.

 

 

25 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Can you just walk into a garage and fill a 2.7 Gaslow bottle from the LPG pump? 

 

For some reason I thought you had to have a vehicle. Maybe not. 

 

Groundhog day stuff here.....

[MtB]

52 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Can you just walk into a garage and fill a 2.7 Gaslow bottle from the LPG pump? 

 

For some reason I thought you had to have a vehicle. Maybe not. 

 

Yes you need to use a vehicle to conceal what you're doing from view from the till staff. 

 

Also, a bill to pay of £1.92 when you go in to pay is a bit of a giveaway.

 

 

[Peanut]

None of that with a Safefill bottle, rock up, show the bottle to the cashier, and fill away, no premium, just pay for the gas. No subterfuge or concealment necessary.

[chevron]

Cannot see where anyone has already posted this apologies if someone has done.

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• BSS
• What is the BSS
• Latest news & press releases
• BSS News Releases
• Calor new position of filling small capacity LPG cylinders welcomed by BSS

Further to its published decision in January to discontinue its small capacity LPG cylinders from 1st February 2023, the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) is very encouraged by Calor changing its position having listened to the concerns of the BSS and the boating community.06 April 2023

NR23 001 Calors New Position On Small Cylinder Filling A Welcome Opportunity says BSS

Calor has made a statement to the BSS about the continued supply of LPG in its small cylinder sizes, 3.9kg propane and 4.5kg butane, for the immediate future which gives those affected boat owners a little breathing space and a golden opportunity to plan for alternative arrangements – either LPG cylinders from alternative suppliers or introducing safe and well-fitted adjustments to their gas system by competent installers.

The Calor statement to the BSS in full says;

In January we announced plans to streamline our small cylinder range to help put us in a better position to service our wider cylinder customers who rely on us to provide their home heating and hot water.

In taking this decision we underestimated the impact this would have on specific user groups who use the 3.9kg propane and 4.5kg butane cylinders for caravanning and boating. We have listened to concerns and we are finalising plans to continue to exchange and refill serviceable* cylinders of these sizes, phasing them out of supply over a longer time frame. This should give users additional time to source an alternative way to power their onboard facilities.

We are working out the full details of this process and will communicate this as soon as we can.

*Serviceable cylinders are those that do not require refurbishment, due to age or damage. Calor is able to keep this stock of cylinders in circulation for the foreseeable future. However, they will be phased out once they reach end of life and will not be replaced by new cylinders of these sizes. Cylinders that are deemed unserviceable will be taken out of circulation. This means that over time, and as the number of cylinders decrease, supplies will be limited for users of these specific sizes.

Our advice to boaters is to take advantage of this new Calor position and use the opportunity it affords to, if changes are necessary, find competent expertise  in local boats yards or through the Gas Safe Register www.gassaferegister.co.uk/find-an-engineer-or-check-the-register/ and ensure any changes are safe and compliant with boat LPG Codes of Practice and BSS Requirements.

In the coming weeks the BSS will add useful information to our website to help affected boat owners transition to alternative arrangements.

- ENDS – 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The BSS is a public safety project owned jointly by the Canal & River Trust, registered as a charity with the charity number 1146792, and the Environment Agency.  At least 14 other navigation and harbour authorities have also adopted it. The navigation authorities’ purposes for the Scheme are to help reduce the risks of fire, explosion and pollution on small craft. This is done by promoting fire safety and pollution avoidance advice to help boat owners keep themselves and their crews’ safe as well as regular examination of fuel systems, gas systems, electrical systems and appliances. The BSS is responsible for the administration and supervision of the BSS examination scheme.

BSS certification has a life span of four years. Navigation authorities using the Scheme usually require BSS certification at the time of licensing, registration, toll renewal or similar. The certification is achieved when a boat is found to be compliant with all the BSS requirements relevant for that boat. These can be freely downloaded or read on www.boatsafetyscheme.org . The compliance check is carried out by authorized and independent practitioners known as BSS Examiners.

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The Boat Safety Scheme is owned by the Canal & River Trust and Environment Agency. It is supported and promoted by the Association of Inland Navigation Authorities. The Scheme is administered by © Canal & River Trust which is registered charity in England and Wales (1146792)

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Live Chat

 

 

[LEO]

Thanks for the info.

[David Mack]

It's not really a change of position though. As per the original announcement, Calor are not going to be supplying any new cylinders in these sizes. All they are doing is allowing them to wither on the vine, rather than actively withdrawing them from service.

[Paul C]

17 minutes ago, David Mack said:

It's not really a change of position though. As per the original announcement, Calor are not going to be supplying any new cylinders in these sizes. All they are doing is allowing them to wither on the vine, rather than actively withdrawing them from service.

 

They're going to be supplying used cylinders but full of gas, though. So it is a tangible change of position for those who rely on this size.

[MtB]

34 minutes ago, Peanut said:

None of that with a Safefill bottle, rock up, show the bottle to the cashier, and fill away, no premium, just pay for the gas. No subterfuge or concealment necessary.

 

A good suggestion. More here about them: https://www.safefill.co.uk/

 

The smallest Safefill bottle is nominally 5kg and 396mm high and 310mm in diameter. It holds 8.5 litres of automotive LPG and can be legally and legitimately refilled at petrol stations selling auto LPG. For comparison, the 3.9kg Calor bottle is 340mm high x 240mm diameter. Height is the main problem with compatibility and the 5kg Safefill is 56mm taller, or 2 1/4" approx. 

 

8.5 litres of LPG is 4.3kg by my arithmetic, so pretty much equivalent to an old format 3.9kg exchange Calor bottle. But refilling a 4.3kg Safefill at a fuel station is going to cost about four quid as opposed to £21 for a Calor exchange, so maybe this is the real reason for Calor dropping support for the 3.9kg bottles.

 

 

Safefill are obviously doing well as a company judging from this on their website:

 

"Unfortunately due to current high demand from our dealer network we are unable accept online orders for our cylinders.

Please see list below of authorised distributors."

 

Looking on ebay there is just one 5kg Safefill for sale second hand, with a single bid on it of £100.

[Pete7]

7 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Yes you need to use a vehicle to conceal what you're doing from view from the till staff. 

 

Also, a bill to pay of £1.92 when you go in to pay is a bit of a giveaway.

 

 

Sadly I think the petrol station LPG pumps are being withdrawn and replaced with EV charging points over the next couple of years.

 

https://www.petrolprices.com/news/mfg-is-planning-to-end-the-sale-of-auto-lpg-on-its-forecourts/

 

Despite diving with mixed gasses for many years, I'm not inclined to fill my own gas cylinders.  We used about 1.5kg of gas last year and having doubled the solar panels from 300w to 600w, don't think we need much gas.  It's very much a fall back plan hence only carrying 1 x 907 and 1 x 904.  

[Alan de Enfield]

11 minutes ago, Pete7 said:

Despite diving with mixed gasses for many years, I'm not inclined to fill my own gas cylinders.

 

Why ?

I fill my dive cylinders to 220 bar (3300 psi)  so why are you worried about filling / decanting a calor cylinder  at a 10th of that pressure.

I decant and fill my small Calor cylinders from the 47Kg cylinders and it works out to be a small fraction of the price of buying a small cylinder.

[Paul C]

1 hour ago, Pete7 said:

Sadly I think the petrol station LPG pumps are being withdrawn and replaced with EV charging points over the next couple of years.

 

https://www.petrolprices.com/news/mfg-is-planning-to-end-the-sale-of-auto-lpg-on-its-forecourts/

 

Despite diving with mixed gasses for many years, I'm not inclined to fill my own gas cylinders.  We used about 1.5kg of gas last year and having doubled the solar panels from 300w to 600w, don't think we need much gas.  It's very much a fall back plan hence only carrying 1 x 907 and 1 x 904.  

 

Do you not do much boating; or not drink much tea (or other hot drinks)?

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Paul C said:

 

Do you not do much boating; or not drink much tea (or other hot drinks)?

 

Or more pertinently, shower much?! 

 

Showering daily and washing up daily after cooking accounted for me using approx 1kg of gas per week when I lived aboard.

 

 

[Pete7]

14 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Or more pertinently, shower much?! 

 

Showering daily and washing up daily after cooking accounted for me using approx 1kg of gas per week when I lived aboard.

 

 

Yes we do lots.  It's a yacht, but many of the ideas from canal boat owners apply to yachts.  During the summer we will either use a yacht club or marina for showers, oh and swimming in the sea 😃. 

A combination of electric kettle, induction hob and remoska plus occasionally sandwich maker and slow cooker give us all the options we need to cook well on electric.  We didn't plan to go fully electric cooking, merely have the option when Calor became difficult to obtain after the first lockdown.  However, we liked cooking on sunshine so just carried on and expanded the solar from 300w to 600w this past winter.  A bit more Lithium would be nice for the hybrid bank, but 600w of solar should be more than sufficient for all domestic needs like VHF, Chart plotter and auto pilot etc and cooking.  It's hard steering a canal boat hour after hour as we found out on the Langollen, the auto pilot makes light work of the steering.  

What's next? water heating by using surplus solar power via the inverter to run the calorifier.  This might need a bit more solar and we could mount another 300w on the yachts life lines.  

 

Life is good.  

 

.

15 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Why? I decant and fill my small Calor cylinders from the 47Kg cylinders and it works out to be a small fraction of the price of buying a small cylinder.

Because we don't need to.  Exchanging a single camping gaz cylinder every couple of years isn't going to break the bank.  

 

.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Pete7

[Naughty Cal]

On 07/04/2023 at 07:56, magnetman said:

Can you just walk into a garage and fill a 2.7 Gaslow bottle from the LPG pump? 

 

For some reason I thought you had to have a vehicle. Maybe not. 

Yes you can with the direct fill bottles.

15 hours ago, Pete7 said:

Sadly I think the petrol station LPG pumps are being withdrawn and replaced with EV charging points over the next couple of years.

 

https://www.petrolprices.com/news/mfg-is-planning-to-end-the-sale-of-auto-lpg-on-its-forecourts/

 

Despite diving with mixed gasses for many years, I'm not inclined to fill my own gas cylinders.  We used about 1.5kg of gas last year and having doubled the solar panels from 300w to 600w, don't think we need much gas.  It's very much a fall back plan hence only carrying 1 x 907 and 1 x 904.  

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. LPG isn't going anywhere!

14 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Or more pertinently, shower much?! 

 

Showering daily and washing up daily after cooking accounted for me using approx 1kg of gas per week when I lived aboard.

 

 

When it is cold we can get through 11kg of gas in a week!

[Pete7]

9 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Yes you can with the direct fill bottles.

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. LPG isn't going anywhere!

When it is cold we can get through 11kg of gas in a week!

Agreed, the problem on a yacht is the gas lockers are sized for calor 4.5kg or 3.9kg cylinders.  The larger calor and some smaller flo Gas won't fit.  Whilst there will always be gas I think there will be a shortage this summer for these smaller sized cylinders, though hopefully Calor's big u turn will mitigate this somewhat in the short term.

So the choice is larger cylinders if they fit, or extensive modifications.  Decanting from larger cylinders, or go at least partial electric cooking.

 

[magnetman]

2 hours ago, Pete7 said:

 

.

 

I like that little induction hob. Which model is it? 

 

I've got one of the Bertelin ones cheap on ebay it works well but this one you have is a nice object. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by magnetman

[Pete7]

19 minutes ago, magnetman said:

I like that little induction hob. Which model is it? 

 

I've got one of the Bertelin ones cheap on ebay it works well but this one you have is a nice object. 

Came from Sterling Power, same folk who make inverters and chargers etc.  Max power is 1500w, but you will just burn stuff at that setting.  We use 200w for simmering pasta and rice once its boiled (use a lid on the pan).  Bacon and steak when seared 600 > 800w.

 

We have started using 1mm thick silicone mats off Amazon, so the pan doesn't slide on the glass top when another boat goes by.  

 

Pete

Edited April 8, 2023 by Pete7

[rusty69]

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

I like that little induction hob. Which model is it? 

 

I've got one of the Bertelin ones cheap on ebay it works well but this one you have is a nice object. 

We've been using our little 800W induction hob over the last week using excess solar, its been really good so far.