Fors and against Standard Calor gas or refillable Gas whats more Viable re cost!

mickymost

mickymost

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So whats the verdict as myself stick with standard refillable gas being Calor or go for a refillable system.How long would it take to recover the costs involved? Who has gone down a similar route and your experiences?

regards Michael
 
Refillable

Hello

We use MoHo for a full 5 months every summer and travel to mainland Europe.

We have 2 x 11kg refillable tanks (GAS-IT)

1 tank lasts almost 3 weeks
eg we last filled up (both tanks) on 5th August and swapped to the 2nd tank on 24th August.
Our fridge is on gas overnight at least 90% of the time as we rarely use EHU.
Some days the gas is used all day if we do not travel.

So we are now just a few days into our 2nd tank and we will fill up within a week
We use about 1 litre a day on average so the cost is about 1/3 of calor and more convenient

It is also not possible to get calor abroad and although buying local bottled gas is favoured by many it would not suit us

I paid £600 for the installation which included a BBQ point
It paid for itself in 2 years

We just squeezed 2 tanks in our locker but even if you only have room for 1 I still recommend you would just need to topup say every 2 weeks

This year we have used the (gas) BBQ a lot

Finally whether to get refillable or not depends on
A) your usage profile (How long each year and where)
B) Room for 2 tanks
C) Willingness/ability to invest

It is easier to get LPG in mainland Europe compared with the UK

PS my other post to you was sarcasm not discrimination! No wish to extend the exchanges on it any further
 
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Totally agree with above, I would also add that lugging bottles in and out of a locker gets more & more difficult the older you get. I paid £360 ish for a 11kg & 6kg and fitted myself. Easily paid for within 2 years and you can take it with you when you change MH.
 
Refillable, mainly for the convenience of not having to wait until one is empty before you fill up :dance:
 
Another advantage

If you have Calor or similar and want to have full cylinders before going on holiday you have to exchange one with some gas in for a full one.
With refillable cylinders you can top up and only pay for the amount you put in, wether it is 1 litre ( half a kilo ) or much more.

Refillable are VERY easy when you go abroad, you only need 4 adaptors for every country in Europe.
Saves your back.
 
exchange bottles are cheaper in spain and morocco. so ideally use their bottles . in portugal if you have spanish repsol bottles they will change them for portugese repsol.
you can get uk bottles filled in many countries if you ask around enough . or just use them as a back up while you exchange the countries bottles .
best have a gas locker thats big enough to take 19kg bottles or the 15/13 type .
mind some have filling adaptors off ebay. they do seem to work. have seen many with them.
depends where i,m going but if only spain /portugal in winter use about 4 spanish bottles and half a uk 19kg.
if going to morocco dont take a uk bottle just use a moroccan and a spanish.
cant see the point of them expensive so called refillable bottles . plus have heard and seen many have problems with them. leaking or not filling properly.
even in spain some big gas filling places will fill uk bottles if asked . same in portugal.
 
Wooie1958 said:
Refillable, mainly for the convenience of not having to wait until one is empty before you fill up :dance:
Click to expand...

you can weigh a bottle then you can workout how much is in it . then just top them up. they do that on many uk caravan sites so every one starts their rented time with a full bottle .most bottles have the tare weight stamped on them. filling normal bottles or topping them up as been going on for years .i worked on a campsite in 1976 and was shown how to do it back then.
 
It.ll take a long time to recoup the expensive of refillable bottles especially against the cost of French or Spanish gas. Our first trip to France we took no bottles bought 2 at first Intermarche 2€ deposit (still is) Theres no problem getting gas
 
Its not just the cost saving that makes the refillable bottles a good idea. Its not having to heave bottles around. You just fill up somewhere en route whenever it is convenient.
 
jagmanx said:
Hello

We use MoHo for a full 5 months every summer and travel to mainland Europe.

We have 2 x 11kg refillable tanks (GAS-IT)

1 tank lasts almost 3 weeks
eg we last filled up (both tanks) on 5th August and swapped to the 2nd tank on 24th August.
Our fridge is on gas overnight at least 90% of the time as we rarely use EHU.
Some days the gas is used all day if we do not travel.

So we are now just a few days into our 2nd tank and we will fill up within a week
We use about 1 litre a day on average so the cost is about 1/3 of calor and more convenient

It is also not possible to get calor abroad and although buying local bottled gas is favoured by many it would not suit us

I paid £600 for the installation which included a BBQ point
It paid for itself in 2 years

We just squeezed 2 tanks in our locker but even if you only have room for 1 I still recommend you would just need to topup say every 2 weeks

This year we have used the (gas) BBQ a lot

Finally whether to get refillable or not depends on
A) your usage profile (How long each year and where)
B) Room for 2 tanks
C) Willingness/ability to invest

It is easier to get LPG in mainland Europe compared with the UK

PS my other post to you was sarcasm not discrimination! No wish to extend the exchanges on it any further
Click to expand...


thanx for the advice and I dont bear grudges re the other post as my post to mr Paul Jenny wasnt meant to cause offence it was done in Jest hopefully he realised that. ..
 
Going by the replies it seems Horses for courses fors and against for both systems my concern was the initial outlay on refillable systems and it also seems by some replies that they are not 100 percent safe (thanx Vwalan).Im still on the fence keep the replies coming thank you!!


Michael
 
Refillable cylinders is the best mod I’ve made to my van. My gas locker is very tight and changing bottles was a real pain. I use quite a bit of gas in the winter, and it paid for itself in two years, all profit from now on. I also find it easier just topping up when convenient rather than having to find a cylinder when one becomes empty.
Personally I’d advise against self filling of regular bottles News | Danger Of Filling LPG Cylinders At Autogas Sites -Calor
 
It completely depends on your personal usage,for me refillable would be a waste of money, as a low user it would take years to recoup the cost,so my answer would be...only you can answer that.:p
 
whilst I am fit and able to lift calor bottles in and out of my M/home I will continue to buy calor.

Yes its more expensive but for my useage (and I use my m/home 4 or 5 months of the year) it would take years to recoup the cost of purchasing/installing refillables.

Calor is available everywhere - most petrol stations, country shops even builder's merchants sell it, draught gas is getting increasingly harder to find and will continue to become harder to find (when was the last time you saw a LPG powered car?)

It is all but unavailable in Scotland above the great glen (I think one place on Skye and another on the northern A9)

Yes gas on draught is very convenient (assuming that you have a source) and is undoubtably cheaper (if you can find it) but I prefer the ubiquity of the big red bottle!
 
malagaoth said:
whilst I am fit and able to lift calor bottles in and out of my M/home I will continue to buy calor.

Yes its more expensive but for my useage (and I use my m/home 4 or 5 months of the year) it would take years to recoup the cost of purchasing/installing refillables.

Calor is available everywhere - most petrol stations, country shops even builder's merchants sell it, draught gas is getting increasingly harder to find and will continue to become harder to find (when was the last time you saw a LPG powered car?)

It is all but unavailable in Scotland above the great glen (I think one place on Skye and another on the northern A9)

Yes gas on draught is very convenient (assuming that you have a source) and is undoubtably cheaper (if you can find it) but I prefer the ubiquity of the big red bottle!
Click to expand...

Never had a problem finding LPG, there are three places within 2 miles of my house! Most farmer's in Shropshire use it and a few even sell it!

Regards,
Del
 
Never had a problem finding LPG, there are three places within 2 miles of my house
Click to expand...

which is great.....if you never want to go anywhere

As the link posted by "Borders2" shows availability is patchy, Lincolnshire nothing, Scotland almost nothing, west Wales very little, Devon /Cornwall not much.
 
Morocco

Seems to me to be the main reason why swapping Spanish Portugese and French bottles is liked.
I understand but still would go for refillable.
If you are willing to do it I have read some partially refill via a BBQ point.
It also seems lpg in Bottles is cheap in Spain Portugal Morocco and France.
I would quite like to go to Morocco and with 2 full tanks and a bit of care We could last for 6 weeks.
So I still go for re-fillable but appreciate the opposite views.
 
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