LPG Gaslow, tank kits and other alternatives ooop North

Pudsey Bear said:
Ah right!!

if you do a setup like mine then it's as simple as swapping a bottle regardless of it being a refillable or Calor so long as the swapped ones have a mushroom end on the pipe so you can go that way.
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I watched your video and looked at a couple of others. It dont look that simple to me. Do you not have two hoses to disconnect when removing a Gaslow bottle for a Calor and isnt one of them a filler hose? Anyway I am sure Autogas2000 will explain it.

One thing I noticed on their kits they offer rubber hoses or Stainless Steel hoses. We had rubber ones on our old one. I can't remember but I seem to think there were some issues with the Stainless steel hoses years back. Any thoughts?
 
Stainless is supposed to last longer but I've never replaced any hose on any of the vans we've had and some were well out of date.

I sit corrected I did notice one orange one had been chafing on the bottle so I fitted a new one.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Stainless is supposed to last longer but I've never replaced any hose on any of the vans we've had and some were well out of date.

I sit corrected I did notice one orange one had been chafing on the bottle so I fitted a new one.
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There are various threads on the MH forums claiming that the rubber hoses can screw up regulators eventually on later model vans. No proof I don't think but that was the general train of thought a while back.
 
barryd said:
There are various threads on the MH forums claiming that the rubber hoses can screw up regulators eventually on later model vans. No proof I don't think but that was the general train of thought a while back.
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Not the hoses per se, but how they were fitted so it allowed crap to drain into the regulator, which should be as high as possible in the locker so it is the highest point, again never had this problem.
 

Gas Regulators

Hi Has anyone had any experience of the problem where gas regulators are blocked up with residue?. I have read sketchy information on Caravan Club site, and in various magazines. None of these articles really describe the symptoms, ie is it a slow deteriation of gas pressure, or a sudden...
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barryd said:
I watched your video and looked at a couple of others. It dont look that simple to me. Do you not have two hoses to disconnect when removing a Gaslow bottle for a Calor and isnt one of them a filler hose? Anyway I am sure Autogas2000 will explain it.

One thing I noticed on their kits they offer rubber hoses or Stainless Steel hoses. We had rubber ones on our old one. I can't remember but I seem to think there were some issues with the Stainless steel hoses years back. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
If you have twin refillable then yes there are two pipes, inlet for filling and outlet to reg. Charlie originally fitted a single 11Kg gaslow for me with a tee so I could fit a calor (or other brand) when needed. When Sue was getting rid I bought her 6Kg gas-it plus and ditched the Calor, (had never used it since having refillable anyway).
When I wanted to reduce van weight last year I got Charlie to remove both bottles and the pipework between them and the regulator and he fitted me a 10Kg composite bottle. It looks like the safe fill bottles but has extra valves so it can be permanently fixed with external fill point. The composite 10Kg is a bit bigger than the Gaslow 11Kg.
I am getting 6 months out of the bottle if I leave it to run empty, (it hadn't actually run empty but was getting close) so no problem finding somewhere to top up in that time. I am a low gas user though only using it for cooking and hot drinks but I do cook every day even in hot summer as I usually do chicken and veg for the dogs.
See what options you have when you get to Charlie's, if its possible he will tell you.
 
Nabsim said:
If you have twin refillable then yes there are two pipes, inlet for filling and outlet to reg. Charlie originally fitted a single 11Kg gaslow for me with a tee so I could fit a calor (or other brand) when needed. When Sue was getting rid I bought her 6Kg gas-it plus and ditched the Calor, (had never used it since having refillable anyway).
When I wanted to reduce van weight last year I got Charlie to remove both bottles and the pipework between them and the regulator and he fitted me a 10Kg composite bottle. It looks like the safe fill bottles but has extra valves so it can be permanently fixed with external fill point. The composite 10Kg is a bit bigger than the Gaslow 11Kg.
I am getting 6 months out of the bottle if I leave it to run empty, (it hadn't actually run empty but was getting close) so no problem finding somewhere to top up in that time. I am a low gas user though only using it for cooking and hot drinks but I do cook every day even in hot summer as I usually do chicken and veg for the dogs.
See what options you have when you get to Charlie's, if its possible he will tell you.
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Cheers. Yep I think thats all I can do now. See what they recommend. They know what I want to achieve. Six months though!! I take it you dont have a gas fridge then. We use between .75 to a litre a day or did in the old van. I reckon the old fridge was burning more than it should though in the end but 3-4 weeks tops for an 11kg Gaslow bottle which is why I want as much onboard as possible.
 
Cooking twice a day, plus making drinks 4times a day, plus the fridge we used 14 litres in 46 days.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Cooking twice a day, plus making drinks 4times a day, plus the fridge we used 14 litres in 46 days.
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Thats pretty impressive. Thats 0.3 litres a day!! Worrabout heating hot water? Showers etc? How the hell did you achieve that? Ah! You spend loads more time on the road so I guess your fridge is on 12v a lot. Still good that though as you are never on hookup are you?
 
So tomorrow is the visit to Autogas 2000. Still undecided what to go for. I think the only options are either 2 x 6kg Gaslow with fittings to swap to a 6kg Calor on rare occasions or 1 x 6kg Calor and 1 x 6kg Gaslow in the locker all the time. I just went out and removed one bottle. Turns out they are Flo Gas bottles (I have calor in the garage at home also) but I think they are the same fittings. Quite a carry on getting them out. You have to take the right hand side one out first to get the left hand side one out.

I am now wondering if I would get away with just 1 x 6kg Gaslow and 1 x 6kg Calor. Going on what some people are saying their usage is in this thread maybe on a more modern van with a newer fridge it will last longer. Having the Calor will be a total waste of space though once we start touring Europe again.

Based on our old van, off grid in one place without turning the fridge off I reckoned we would get through a 6kg Calor in 11-14 days but maybe our old fridge which was pretty knackered was using much more gas than it should. Decisions decisions. Anyone else want to comment on their off grid summer usage with the same all gas set up?
 
barryd said:
So tomorrow is the visit to Autogas 2000. Still undecided what to go for. I think the only options are either 2 x 6kg Gaslow with fittings to swap to a 6kg Calor on rare occasions or 1 x 6kg Calor and 1 x 6kg Gaslow in the locker all the time. I just went out and removed one bottle. Turns out they are Flo Gas bottles (I have calor in the garage at home also) but I think they are the same fittings. Quite a carry on getting them out. You have to take the right hand side one out first to get the left hand side one out.

I am now wondering if I would get away with just 1 x 6kg Gaslow and 1 x 6kg Calor. Going on what some people are saying their usage is in this thread maybe on a more modern van with a newer fridge it will last longer. Having the Calor will be a total waste of space though once we start touring Europe again.

Based on our old van, off grid in one place without turning the fridge off I reckoned we would get through a 6kg Calor in 11-14 days but maybe our old fridge which was pretty knackered was using much more gas than it should. Decisions decisions. Anyone else want to comment on their off grid summer usage with the same all gas set up?
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Might be worth considering what your future use will be Barry. If you go with more solar and Lithium batteries would it be worth considering an all electric compressor fridge? (They're brilliant I wouldn't consider a gas fridge now).

Like Neil says though, speak to Charlie, he's full timed in his van so will know what the best set up is. He's probably come installed on vans similar to yours as well.
 
barryd said:
So tomorrow is the visit to Autogas 2000. Still undecided what to go for. I think the only options are either 2 x 6kg Gaslow with fittings to swap to a 6kg Calor on rare occasions or 1 x 6kg Calor and 1 x 6kg Gaslow in the locker all the time. I just went out and removed one bottle. Turns out they are Flo Gas bottles (I have calor in the garage at home also) but I think they are the same fittings. Quite a carry on getting them out. You have to take the right hand side one out first to get the left hand side one out.

I am now wondering if I would get away with just 1 x 6kg Gaslow and 1 x 6kg Calor. Going on what some people are saying their usage is in this thread maybe on a more modern van with a newer fridge it will last longer. Having the Calor will be a total waste of space though once we start touring Europe again.

Based on our old van, off grid in one place without turning the fridge off I reckoned we would get through a 6kg Calor in 11-14 days but maybe our old fridge which was pretty knackered was using much more gas than it should. Decisions decisions. Anyone else want to comment on their off grid summer usage with the same all gas set up?
Click to expand...
Quite a carry on getting them out. You have to take the right hand side one out first to get the left hand side one out is what I have to do prior to getting the Gaslow, if you have the funds, get two 6kg Gaslow fitted, and have the option to swap one for Calor in the UK, simples, just remember to put the 2nd Gaslow in before you head into Europe.

As for fridge use, look up how much it does use and work it out, we have one of those laser temp things to check the actual temp as it's very easy to freeze veggy stuff in the bottom of the fridge if you have it up to high/low it also wastes gas.

Or get a tank fitted and forget it.


Forgive me, I forgot you don't do veg.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Quite a carry on getting them out. You have to take the right hand side one out first to get the left hand side one out is what I have to do prior to getting the Gaslow, if you have the funds, get two 6kg Gaslow fitted, and have the option to swap one for Calor in the UK, simples, just remember to put the 2nd Gaslow in before you head into Europe.

Or get a tank fitted and forget it.
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Yeah I think thats best. If I make the right hand side one the one that comes out it will be easier. Its the most expensive option of course. As long as its easy to swap them. It was your gas usage and a couple of others that made me wonder if we were using more gas than most in the old van and maybe 1 calor and 1 Gaslow would be ok in a newer van but if it works out the same average usage in this one it wont be most of the time. Ill end up swapping to the calor more often than I would like to.
 
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