Gas use

[Full Member]

Was there a reason you went for 6’s Colin as I am sure you could get what I can if not bigger?

The gas locker on my Palermo is designed for 6kg Calor bottles, Neil. Anything even slightly larger wouldn't fit. When pondering whether to go for refillables I checked the size of the French, Spanish, German etc. equivalent to Calor when on holiday. Our mainland European friends seem to have gone for a very similar size of cylinder to each other. Calor knew better (!) and hasn't joined in the apparent standardisation. The mainland European cylinders are both slightly larger in diameter and slightly higher.
I intend staying sur le Continent for longer periods and 2x6kg Calor bottles simply wouldn't be up to the job. There are ways around the problem such as having an external local bottle which is plumbed in at each longer stay. Frankly I couldn't be arsed.
As I've said, the most significant benefit for me is the convenience - and I really do wish I'd gone for refillables when I bought the Palermo 4 years ago. As an incidental benefit I'd have recouped the investment by now. A much better return than the paltry return on any savings account!
I hope this helps.

Colin

 

[Canalsman]

Another factor is the ability to transfer a refillable system to replacement vehicles, so the cost of the system may be recouped over a long time.

 

[Full Member]

If a 6KG replacement bottle costs £20 to £24, compared to about £6.50 for a refill, you save over £15 every refill. So if you use 6KG every six weeks, it doesn't make sense, but if you use 6KG every week, refillable would soon pay for itself.

However, I reckon the advantage of refillables is convenience: you can top up when you see a good price, you never have to gamble about how much is wasted in a premature swap, and the gas never runs out.

Unless you happen to be on a WC trip to the Orkneys!

Even at 6 weeks per 6kg it would mean about 8x6kg bottles-worth per year which ,as you suggest, at a saving of £15/bottle is an annual saving of £120. A complete kit from Getgas is currently £345 (GAS IT 6kg TWIN Bottle Kit - Body Remote Fill - Best prices on Getgas and Gasit refillable lpg bottles bristol) so really not a bad return on investment. With winter use most folks would be using gas at a faster rate than 6kg/6weeks so even better return on investment.
My fridge uses about 0.24kg/24 hours which alone equates to a 6kg bottle every 25 days or so.

Colin

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Cooking breakfast this morning and went to light the grill and wondered what was happening, burnet lit then went out repeatedly. Took a little while to realise hobs had gone out as well ha ha

So I now know a 6kg gas bottle last us 32 days

You are doing very well my fridge uses that much every 5 days

 

[Silver sprinter]

Hope Alf isn't reading this, anyway, have a nice day, bring back the generator best thing since slice bread:hammer:

 

[Nabsim]

Well it is starting to look like it may be a better option to have some refillable than I thought but not sure yet. I must admit I haven’t noticed a single place that’s does lpg, I must have been in some and it must be a case of not noticing when it’s something you don’t use. Is it a case of more down South than North of the country?

I seem to have lots up spaces under the mph between chassis rails although I am probably past scratting around fitting something in thee so maybe a single 11ltr refillable could be an option. I will discuss with my gas expert when I next bump into him on a meet up

 

[Nesting Zombie]

Well it is starting to look like it may be a better option to have some refillable than I thought but not sure yet. I must admit I haven’t noticed a single place that’s does lpg, I must have been in some and it must be a case of not noticing when it’s something you don’t use. Is it a case of more down South than North of the country?

I seem to have lots up spaces under the mph between chassis rails although I am probably past scratting around fitting something in thee so maybe a single 11ltr refillable could be an option. I will discuss with my gas expert when I next bump into him on a meet up

Don’t forget Nab,
If you DO go for the RE fillable Instillation like mine, (I’ve got the 22lt bottle) -


A Gasit Plus Bottle for instants you can STILL use a Calor type bottle as well as they are the same Fitting, So You’ve got the best of Both options really,,,!.

Corrr Can anyone else smell Carrot Cake ?,,,

 

[Deleted member 12539]

I have no idea how long our gas cylinders last for
I manage to fit a 13Kg and a 6Kg Propane cylinder into our gas locker, when one runs out we use the other (no **** Dave?) and then replace the empty when it is convenient for us.
I think if we worked out how much gas, or how much fuel (20mpg ish), or how much extra we were paying to be over 3.5t, we may not ever take the van out, so we don't, we just accept our fate and enjoy the space we have inside the van instead.
To date (over 4 years with this van) we have only had to turn around after attempting to pass through a narrow village street in Spain, once. , maybe lucky, or just bloody good directions from 'er indoors sat in the passenger seat.

 

[RichardHelen262]

Well it is starting to look like it may be a better option to have some refillable than I thought but not sure yet. I must admit I haven’t noticed a single place that’s does lpg, I must have been in some and it must be a case of not noticing when it’s something you don’t use. Is it a case of more down South than North of the country?

I seem to have lots up spaces under the mph between chassis rails although I am probably past scratting around fitting something in thee so maybe a single 11ltr refillable could be an option. I will discuss with my gas expert when I next bump into him on a meet up

I must be lucky as I have two garages that sell it that are less than a mile from me and a third garage about 2 miles away

 

[Nabsim]

They are often tucked away, not on the main roads - especially the cheapest ones. Look on filllpg.co.uk to see where they all are.

Now I know why I hadn't noticed, there is nothing within 15 miles except one that is accounts only haha

 

[Nabsim]

Is that a countrywide one? I have expected them to close when the company went bust, but the profitable LPG business was sold on and is continuing. Can't work out what their autogas costs, though

I just used that link you posted and only had a look for home location. To be fair we are in the middle of nowhere, its an hour in any direction to get to a motorway usually, although we have some big city quite close its always slow going. Must be why tourists like it so much haha