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Filling gas bottles


ChimneyChain

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Hmm, I'm interested, we use 4.5kg calor bottles in Europe, the local bottles won't fit the gas locker and sometimes we end up with the last resort - a v. expensive camping gaz bottle, after a couple of months away we are getting low. The only thing that worries me is that in the video the paving slab that the bottle sits on looks as though a Saturn5 rocket has taken off from it, bottle still in orbit?

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With the price of gas at near £30 has any one tried this product

 

Someone I know has used it and he has said it costs him £15 ish to fill up at the petrol station.

Good buy or not ?

 

Darren

Given how touchy filling stations are about filling even petrol containers, let alone LPG, I can see the attendant refusing service!

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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We go through a 13 kg bottle every 2 weeks so I'm tempted to get a kit. I suppose once you done it once all your widths and fear go out of the window. Apparently you only supposed to fill them up to 80%

 

Darren

Edited by ChimneyChain
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I have 2, 13kg refillable bottles in my Camping Car As I live in France I cannot comment on the UK regs, but here you need a cylinder with a NO OVERFILL device fitted to the bottles it only allows the bottle to fill to a certain %age ( think around 85% They each take 26 litres ) Here you are not allowed to remove the bottles to fill at petrol stn's & have to have a remote connector on the outside of the vehicle permanently connected to the bottle/s,like a GPL fueled car tank. the connector here is the one like a small dish with a lip that the pump filler locks onto. It is a good saving in cost; as a local fill costs 16.90 Euros for 26 litres of GPL which is a mix of propane/ butane & a 13kg exchange cylinder is around 26/29 euros for butane & slightly more for propane. We have traveled in cold areas winter camping & not had any freezing problems with the the GPL fills. Gaslow is the UK company for refillable gas bottle kit.

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The risk is overfilling. The percentage to which the bottles are filled is quite important apparently for safety factors not to be compromised.

 

One possibility is If you over full it the little plastic over-pressure release disc will pop out and there will be a controlled release to atmosphere of the contents of the bottle over about 45 seconds.

 

Then you'll have wasted your £15 icecream.gif

 

And more seriously, you'll be subjected to some pretty serious questioning from the HSE police about what the hell you thought you were doing.

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We go through a 13 kg bottle every 2 weeks so I'm tempted to get a kit. I suppose once you done it once all your widths and fear go out of the window. Apparently you only supposed to fill them up to 80%

 

Darren

 

The better systems wont allow you to overfill the cylinder.

 

I don't know about that one.

 

ed cross post with Alan

Edited by MJG
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Autogas filling stations disallow filling of gas bottles (or anything else) unless there is an automatic device to cut off filling at 80%. This adapter seems to rely on a calculation then watching the LPG pump and manually doing it. I doubt you'll find a petrol station in your local area willing to overlook this. Also its illegal in the context of, its not your bottle and the "bottle rental" contract disallows refilling.

 

http://www.safefill.co.uk/is an alternative that has the automatic overfill protection device and is designed to be user-refilled. However they say they also have many issues with being allowed to fill at a petrol station, I guess you would have more luck but still might need to travel a fair distance to find one in your local area to fill it.


PS the gas is the same, its a non-issue.

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We go through a 13 kg bottle every 2 weeks so I'm tempted to get a kit. I suppose once you done it once all your widths and fear go out of the window. Apparently you only supposed to fill them up to 80%

 

Darren

2 weeks? Have you sprung a leak?

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With the price of gas at near £30 has any one tried this product https://youtu.be/fgWjhME6Bkg

 

Someone I know has used it and he has said it costs him £15 ish to fill up at the petrol station.

Good buy or not ?

 

Darren

Wow, that's a lot of dosh, I just ring Calor Direct and they deliver to the boat foe £23-99

Phil

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Wow, that's a lot of dosh, I just ring Calor Direct and they deliver to the boat foe £23-99

Phil

 

What number do you call? Is it delivered by a local stockist, or by a Calor depot of some kind? Presumably you have to be in to take delivery - How close to a particular time can you pin them down to - e.g. is it to within an hour, or morning or afternoon, or sometime during a day?

 

For me to take advantage of a delivery service I would have to call them, then move my boat to the towpath for the duration of the delivery time frame, and remain on board until they come.

 

Currently, when a bottle runs out, I take a trip to the local marina which takes about 40 minutes if I am in a rush. At the same time I can stock up with coal and diesel if necessary. It might cost me an extra three quid for a bottle, but the timing, and length of time involved, is in my control - plus I get a little trip out on the boat :)

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2 weeks? Have you sprung a leak?

You know what the lady at the marine said that but there's no leak. Maybe we do to much cooking washing up or washing, plus there's 4 of us on the boat. Does anyone else kniw about the apparent shortage of gas bottle availability ?

 

Darren

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Refilling will be a problem.

 

Refilling opportunities are getting less and many garages are not stocking as there is a reduced demand, less vehicles running on gas.

 

Many Motor-homes have a purposely designed systems using bottles and some/most garages and supermarkets will not let them refill.

 

Those with purpose built under-hung tanks are usually OK but even them some stations are 'awkward'

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You know what the lady at the marine said that but there's no leak. Maybe we do to much cooking washing up or washing, plus there's 4 of us on the boat. Does anyone else kniw about the apparent shortage of gas bottle availability ?

 

Darren

In general a 13kg bottle will last me 6-9 months. If I run out of coal in winter and leave my Alde on permanently it will last around 2 weeks. I cannot fathom what you're doing to get through a bottle every 2 weeks as the norm.

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In general a 13kg bottle will last me 6-9 months. If I run out of coal in winter and leave my Alde on permanently it will last around 2 weeks. I cannot fathom what you're doing to get through a bottle every 2 weeks as the norm.

Gas fridge and or water heater?? That should get through the stuff pretty quickly..

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You know what the lady at the marine said that but there's no leak. Maybe we do to much cooking washing up or washing, plus there's 4 of us on the boat. Does anyone else kniw about the apparent shortage of gas bottle availability ?

 

Darren

 

I couldn't get a 4.5kg butane on the Great Ouse between Ely and St Ives, talking to dad they are short on the Broads too.

 

Came home and used our old work supplier in Wellingborough they had 4 in stock, talking to the lad on the counter all bottles of butane and propane from 3.9kg to the 13kg have been in short supply, including patio gas.

they are seeing stock start to come thru though.

 

Calor still win for me when there is no shortage, its the only gas available riverside, traipsing about while on holiday looking for flo gas, energas or a forecourt that will let someone on foot fill a bottle isn't worth the hassle.

 

Those Safefill bottles look good but at £158.99 for a 5kg bottle mean we would be in for a fortune to have two on board and no authorised filling agent anywhere near where we boat.

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I was going through a bottle every week last winter, had no fire so used the Adle boiler, this was with me off the boat for three nights also, shocking how much gas they use if you rely on them all the time.

 

My car runs on LPG and the garages i use all state not to used for filling bottles, and no adaptors, full stop!

 

Changed my bottles over in early May, still on the same one although it is getting low now, but only using it for cooking and heating water for ten minutes in the morning.

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My Adle boiler gets through a bottle every 5 ish days in the winter months when we are all aboard heating and cooking.

Now it's warm weather it seems to last ages. We've even Sussed out that I you motor for half hour I the morning you get scolding hot water for the shower.

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