LPG Gaslow, tank kits and other alternatives ooop North

I had a dual-fuel Vauxhall Combo van for a few years as a courier I put some serious miles on that with no problems, LPG doesn't go down the bores and dilute the oil like petrol does so I would maybe look for another mechanic, I always started on petrol then switched to gas once it was up to temperature, another courier had a VW Lt35 diesel and it had a factory LPG conversion on it and it was good when it ran which it often didn't.
 
drewswfc said:
Hi all. My van engine has run on LPG for a few years but my new mechanic who is a Talbot expert as said to stop running it on LPG as it will knacker the engine up eventually. Not sure if this is right or not, but I said I'm going to run it on petrol for a bit and see how economical it is.
If it's not to bad on petrol I was thinking of using the engine LPG tank for the habitation gas.
Has anybody done this or can it even be done?
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You can’t use an engine lpg tank for habitation use as the pickups in the tank are different. Engine runes on the liquid state and appliances use gaseous state
 
Taxis (and others) wouldn’t run on lpg if it damaged the engines, they do big mileages. If it’s properly set up it’s fine but you should maybe go to a mechanic that does car lpg systems for advice rather than a normal mechanic, (or me come to that lol)
 
barryd said:
Been talking to Autogas 2000 in Thirsk. They seem to be the go to place for getting refillables. They certainly have gone up in price since we got our first 11kg Gaslow fitted 16 years ago. Im not sure if ill get an 11kg gaslow bottle in the new van. I might but I wont know until I get it. Might have to be a fitted tank in the locker, 2 x 6kg Gaslow bottles or 1 x 6kg and 1 x Calor back up. I do want a calor backup

So apart from Gaslow what else are people using and who is fitting them North East or North Yorkshire?
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Leisure World Group

Leisure World Catterick Caravans dealership in North Yorkshire offers new caravans and motorhomes as well as accessories, servicing and more. Find out more information online now.
www.leisureworldgroup.com www.leisureworldgroup.com
Have Safefill bottles at £200
 
RayM said:

Leisure World Group

Leisure World Catterick Caravans dealership in North Yorkshire offers new caravans and motorhomes as well as accessories, servicing and more. Find out more information online now.
www.leisureworldgroup.com www.leisureworldgroup.com
Have Safefill bottles at £200
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All sorted now. Autogas 2000 fitted a Gaslow system a couple of weeks back and we are on the road. In fact its probably just about to run out. :D
 
 
Robmac said:
Carry one of these for emergencies Barry, they're great.

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We should in theory not run out of gas. I have a 6kg calor backup and all I have to do is turn it on. When we head to south Devon I'll fill up the Gaslow but when it hits the red on the guage I'll switch to the calor. When that runs out I'll switch to the remaining gas in the Gaslow then go off on the scooter to swap the empty calor and then switch back to that.

This is what we did before but it was a lot better with a larger 11kg Gaslow.
 
barryd said:
We should in theory not run out of gas. I have a 6kg calor backup and all I have to do is turn it on. When we head to south Devon I'll fill up the Gaslow but when it hits the red on the guage I'll switch to the calor. When that runs out I'll switch to the remaining gas in the Gaslow then go off on the scooter to swap the empty calor and then switch back to that.

This is what we did before but it was a lot better with a larger 11kg Gaslow.
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That is the wrong way to use the Calor Barry, at least it isn't how I was told the best way was.

Let the Gaslow run out, switch to Calor, and refill as soon as possible or you may as well not have bothered with the Gaslow.

Get the filllpg & Autogas app and find a place, ring before going as they don't all update as they should.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
That is the wrong way to use the Calor Barry, at least it isn't how I was told the best way was.

Let the Gaslow run out, switch to Calor, and refill as soon as possible or you may as well not have bothered with the Gaslow.

Get the filllpg & Autogas app and find a place, ring before going as they don't all update as they should.
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So how do you do that if you are miles from an LPG pump in a remote location for say five weeks? :D How would you do it on the Isle of Arran for example. The answer is you cant. Not without moving the van or in the case of being on an island leave the actual island. This way ill never run out of gas as you can always get a Calor refill somewhere local but you cant always get an LPG pump and there will always be a little bit of gas left in the Gaslow while you go off on the bike and find a Calor refill. Most of the time as long as we move on every week or two ill just refill the Gaslow.
 
barryd said:
So how do you do that if you are miles from an LPG pump in a remote location for say five weeks? :D How would you do it on the Isle of Arran for example. The answer is you cant. Not without moving the van or in the case of being on an island leave the actual island. This way ill never run out of gas as you can always get a Calor refill somewhere local but you can always get an LPG pump.
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Of course you can't but if you'd had two fitted it'd be the same, you have to do a bit of forward planning to know where you can fill up, there are places other than garages who sell LPG, Google sometimes helps once you figure out the correct search phrase and parameters.

lylpg.eu is s good app to have too.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Of course you can't but if you'd had two fitted it'd be the same, you have to do a bit of forward planning to know where you can fill up, there are places other than garages who sell LPG, Google sometimes helps once you figure out the correct search phrase and parameters.

lylpg.eu is s good app to have too.
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If I had had two fitted in the Isle of Arran scenario I would be fubared once number 2 runs out. Absolutely no way of getting either refilled. If I was in Salcombe where we are going next it would mean upping sticks, back up the goat track and a couple of hours round trip to find LPG. Unfortunately with a smaller Gaslow bottle it means we will end up using a fair bit of Calor if we are there a month. Our style of touring is very different in the UK at least to most.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
So the van is okay but your locations are a bit of a problem.
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No I think its our tendency to stay a long time in one place but it was always going to be a bit difficult in the UK and especially with just one Gaslow. If we go into Europe next summer I might get Autogas 2000 to fit a second 6kg Gaslow or we will just make do. Dunno. It wont be so bad there as we will tour about a bit more.
 
It’s just the way you use your van Barry. If you had been able to get an 11kg in it would have reduced your stops by one Calor but if you use more gas and don’t move then you have to do it differently like you do.

You obviously use a lot more than me, my 10Kg bottle does 6 months between fills. That doesn’t help you though lol
 
Nabsim said:
It’s just the way you use your van Barry. If you had been able to get an 11kg in it would have reduced your stops by one Calor but if you use more gas and don’t move then you have to do it differently like you do.

You obviously use a lot more than me, my 10Kg bottle does 6 months between fills. That doesn’t help you though lol
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Its hard to tell how much this system is using but we were off grid for 10 days and it was just nudging the red level on the gauge. So by the Gaslow instruction sheet we had used 80% or just under 9 litres. About right really. The fridge though is a smart one and it cuts out and relights itself but I still think its using roughly what we used on the old van. Unless of course the gauge is pessimistic. We wont have a proper test until we are off grid long enough for it to run out.

It is what it is. Its only gas and as long as we never run out it wont be a massive issue.
 
I always thought fridges use very little gas but Charlie was telling me some of the newer ones are thirsty. Don’t quote me but I think he mentioned 800gms a day. I always thought hob and fridge minimal and heating that could be the problem. Last 3 way I had was in a caravan back in the 90’s though and nowhere near as big as my 110lts compressor in the van now so definitely out of touch there :)
 
Nabsim said:
I always thought fridges use very little gas but Charlie was telling me some of the newer ones are thirsty. Don’t quote me but I think he mentioned 800gms a day. I always thought hob and fridge minimal and heating that could be the problem. Last 3 way I had was in a caravan back in the 90’s though and nowhere near as big as my 110lts compressor in the van now so definitely out of touch there :)
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He said similar to me but also said it might not be too bad if its a smart fridge which it appears it is. Not that smart though. I keep asking it how to fix my battery issues and it just sits there acting all dumb. 😵‍💫
 
barryd said:
No I think its our tendency to stay a long time in one place but it was always going to be a bit difficult in the UK and especially with just one Gaslow. If we go into Europe next summer I might get Autogas 2000 to fit a second 6kg Gaslow or we will just make do. Dunno. It wont be so bad there as we will tour about a bit more.
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Don't forget that replacing a Calor will be exactly like swapping a Gaslow in or out for UK or EU just needs the right hose & the POL fitting, I think what you need to do is far more complex unless they did fit a POL fitting so you could swap the Calor when needed as you really don't want to be messing with the proper high pressure fixed type hoses too often.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Don't forget that replacing a Calor will be exactly like swapping a Gaslow in or out for UK or EU just needs the right hose & the POL fitting, I think what you need to do is far more complex unless they did fit a POL fitting so you could swap the Calor when needed as you really don't want to be messing with the proper high pressure fixed type hoses too often.
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I can't remember now, it's probably up thread but I'm pretty sure that's why we ended up with one Gaslow and one calor as according to Charlie and the other guy (can't remember his name) it isn't that easy.
 
barryd said:
I can't remember now, it's probably up thread but I'm pretty sure that's why we ended up with one Gaslow and one calor as according to Charlie and the other guy (can't remember his name) it isn't that easy.
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Other guy would be John 👍
 
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