Gas - For Continental Use

Gas Bottles

Hi Don
Ok Buddy, I had a good laugh when I read the first few words of your thread. My second half wondered why. I tried to explain there were a few guys in the club, including myself you had a problem figuring out gas bottles and tanks, and that Don good as gold in trying to explain the difference. And that Don had started his thread with "okay, lets get a few points straight" Remembered me of my school days and my teacher. Serious now, it is clear to me now. Thanks Don. David
 
Can I add tuppence worth to Don's explanations.
When your typical calor bottle is empty, it has to be taken to a calor depot/outlet where you hand in your empty bottle in exchange for another (full) one.
Many caravan dealers and garages have bottles for exchange in cages.
So for simplicity, lets call them exchange bottles.
Pricewise, as an example, you pay £19 to exchange a 15kg bottle.

A refillable bottle (such as gaslow's) looks very similar in shape to calor exchange bottles, but has an extra valve on the top so that instead of exchanging it, you can fill it yourself, as Don says, at any garage selling LPG from a pump.
Pricewise you pay per litre at around 40p-46p per litre. Much cheaper than calors exchange prices.

Calor/insurance companies frown upon taking these refillable (gaslow) bottles to the forecourt, removing them from the vehicle, and refilling them stood on the ground.
However, as Don and others have stated, if the bottle remains in the vehicle and you fill it via a fitted external filler, there is no problem.

The 3rd option is a fitted tank - attached to the chassis (usually) just like your petrol/diesel tank, and filled via a fitted filler, from any garage with an LPG pump.
Like refillable (gaslow) bottles, gas tanks are fitted with safety valves which prevent you filling them above 80% full.

May I also add that if you are getting calor exchange bottles refilled anywhere other than at a calor gas depot, it is being done illegally. I have a friend that has 'got hold' of the adaptors to fill the calor 'exchange' bottle he uses in his caravan from the large calor tank in his garden that runs the house cooking and central heating - Cheap, convenient, but risky!!

Voxy.
 
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Pigtails and other jargon

In response to Kenreay's original post, pigtail(s) are the 'official' name for the rubber pipe(s) that run from your bottle(s) to the reducer/regulator fixed to the wall of your gas locker.

Gas bottles in different countries have slightly different connections, so you would have to buy 'pigtail(s)' appropriate to fit that countries bottles, as in, the rubber pipe would have to have one end that fits your wall mounted regulator, and the other end would have to be made to fit a certain countries bottles.
So if you visit 6 countries you may well need 6 (or 6 pairs) of different 'pigtails' made up.
It would also mean purchasing (and disposing of) 6 different countries bottles!!

If you intend to do a lot of touring abroad, it would be well worth considering having a fixed gas tank, or gaslow type refillable bottle fitted. This would avoid the need for purchasing different pigtails and different bottles.
You would just stop at any garage selling LPG from a pump, and fill your own tank or bottle(s) just the same as you fill your diesel/petrol tank.

The intial outlay is anything between £150 (gaslow) and £400 (fixed tank) but the convenience, peace of mind, and cheap gas can soon recoop that outlay.

voxy.
 
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Gas bottles

Hi Voxy
Having read Don's and your descriptions, it is absolutely clear re: bottles and connections. It is a pity that being in the EU, after so many years, we do not have a standard fitting across Europe.
 
We wish, we wish Dave.
We thought that, being a world wide company, the new lightweight BP bottle might be the answer to our prayers, but it seems that even that is only compatable with the country it was bought in.

Another way to go could be an eberspascher blown air heater because it runs on diesel instead of using precious gas whilst abroad.

Voxy.
 
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