Gaslow

[smifee]

i have a refillable system. not gaslow as i didn't like being told where the filler point had to be. autogas 2000 at thirsk fitted my system and put the filler where i wanted it. they have their own gas pump and so can test for leaks at the time of fitting. one guy on MHF has had 3 gaslow systems fitted on 3 new vans and 2 of them had leaks.

it can be transferred to your next van. in my case i can either leave the filling point on the old van or replace an end cap on the side trim & remove it.

the refillable system allows me to spend 2 or 3 months in france, germany, italy & portugal without having to get local gas bottles. i use a lot of gas. 11kg lasts me 2 weeks. when the first bottle runs out i have 2 weeks to fill up.

it depends on how long into the 2 weeks i fill up as to how much gas i put in so it's not £11 every fill. i reckon i fill up 16 times a year and the system paid for itself in just over 2 years. the system cost £500.

if you stay on sites with hookup & don't use much gas it will take ages to pay for itself. much like buying a MH in the first place.

 

[Pioneer]

Hi smifee,
I decided where to put the filler point on our Gaslow system, wanted it inside the locker on a bracket so as not to put a hole in the main body or door. This can be removed when changing the van.

Happy Camping

 

[smifee]

hi pioneer

i suppose it depends on the fitter you get on the day. having been told that the filler couldn't be fitted anywhere but where they said it would go i asked where their gas pump was. they didn't have one.

i considered an inside filler but didn't want to make it obvious that i was filling gas bottles.

at the time the calor mafia were trying to get garages to refuse to allow autogas to be used for refilling gas bottles.

 

[t&s]

at the time the calor mafia were trying to get garages to refuse to allow autogas to be used for refilling gas bottles

i supose there is this concern
at least a filler on the outside would probably eleviate this thought
and they would think the motor ran on gas
i dont realy think a filler cap on the outside of a van would cause someone not to buy it they might even think it was a good thing having half the work done for them

 

[champstar]

Just a thought having a filler on the outside of van is advertising the fact that there is expensive refillable cylinders on board....in todays society you cant be too careful.
The advice from the LPG gas association states that if a filler that is not part of the vessel to be refilled and is fixed then the risks are the same as a car filling up...I always carry this incase a garage gets fussy but so far no probs.

 

[Hazy-thoughts]

My filler was fitted on inside of the Gas locker. The guy that fitted my system told me that Gaslow wouldnt guarantee any that were fitted into sills, when I asked about it. I am not sure whether this is true or whether he just didnt fancy the job

Filling has not been a problem, and I have had no over zealous attendants telling me off so far. If they were too, I could show them that I was not refilling removable / portable bottles as they are actually plumbed into van.

Another thought when deciding to place your filler cap is the fact that it has the "Gaslow" logo on it, I didnt think it would be a very clever idea to let the neardowells know that I had an expensive system fitted asit would make them aware that it would be worth breaking into locker for the resale value of the system.
Paranoid or what

 

[Hazy-thoughts]

would you do a little maths for me please... difference in fill about 11 quid..( for a 13kg.. that near enough)

how many 11 quids in to the cost of your system.... then divide by your annual number of fills ...that'll tell me your payback period

btw.. anyone... are the systems transferable from van to van

regards
ajs

I have only had the system fitted since Christmas, so can only tell you thus far. We fulltime, and have been in van every night since then.
I brought the van back from Germany so it was fitted with German fittings and bottle. I would have to have purchased bottles of some description for this country as well as regulators. The Gaslow system importantly to us allows us to travel pretty much all over Europe without having to worry about different regulators / Gas Bottles for different countries, with only a couple of adaptors we should right just about everywhere we go.

We are averaging a top up of the 11kg bottle approx every 12 days. This has been during the very cold weather, snow etc.
Obviously I can only guess we will use less during the warmer months, and even less abroad. where incidentally Autogas is much cheaper than on our fair isle. So hopefully we should have recouped our initial expenditure in two to three years time, making it well worth every penny.

 

[cipro]

Envoy of you because you are full timer some say it is a wise move
some brave move I was thinking of exciting with a small amount
of apprehension.
Do you keep a bog of your travels
If my job went really t*ts up then circumstances may help the
decision easier
Sorry for the questions but
where are you now
what van do you drive
and do you have a hobby to fill the long winter days
sorry I'm a nosy bugger

 

[italiano]

Gas low tanks

Don't be fooled in believing you can refill this type of tanks (bottles ) abroad because you just cannot, in Italy its definetely a BIG NO, in France its not so bad if its a self service, you just fill up and pay,but there is a sticker on the pump warning not to fill gas bottles, in Spain forget it altogether, you really have to go out of your way to refill, I attend some of the shows in this country and some of the jargon that some people will tell you is absolutely rubbish, if you got to buy then buy because they are very convenient and cheaper to refill, in the long run they will pay for themselves, if you use the van as i do all year round then just go ahead and buy.

 

[Deleted member 3011]

Don't be fooled in believing you can refill this type of tanks (bottles ) abroad because you just cannot, in Italy its definetely a BIG NO, in France its not so bad if its a self service, you just fill up and pay,but there is a sticker on the pump warning not to fill gas bottles, in Spain forget it altogether, you really have to go out of your way to refill, I attend some of the shows in this country and some of the jargon that some people will tell you is absolutely rubbish, if you got to buy then buy because they are very convenient and cheaper to refill, in the long run they will pay for themselves, if you use the van as i do all year round then just go ahead and buy.

Iceland and Morocco are the only two countries so far that have no refilling facilities for fixed gas systems - and even in Morocco, some say there is a chance of getting a fill at one spot. Ours lasts over a month so we were able to fill up in Bergen and last until we got back to Scotland. In Morocco we just bought a local 13kg bottle for about 12 Euro and exchanged it every week for about 4 euro. It is now sitting in the gas locker full to be used if the main tank runs out and will then be thrown away.

Spain is reasonably served with outlets and Portugal too, but yes, they are not on every corner and in Spain you will need GPS coordinates to find them. The warning on some pumps seems to refer to filling normal leisure bottles with an adaptor off ebay. With around a month supply in the tank there is rarely any need to go hunting - just refill when you happen to see the sign. The pumps usually start at 5 Litres so as long as you need more than that, they don't care how little it is. Bloke at Bergen raised his eyebrows at the small fill but understood why when I told him Iceland had no refillers.

I went for the fixed system after meeting a couple of travellers who had a boot full of different bottles they had been forced to buy in different countries and didn't want to throw out in case they went back again. Spain is apparently one such place where it is not easy to get the local bottles.

 

[smifee]

had 6 weeks in Italy in 2005. Filled up three times and all were self-service. Saw no signs re what you could fill and the staff didn't care about anything except getting my money.

before we went i was a bit concerned having read that autogas was difficult to find way down south. found the opposite to be the case. they even had several new autogas only sites.