much cheaper way of getting bottled gas!

cooljules

Guest
if your posh or loadsa money, guess this wont appeal to you, but for those with not much dosh like me, anyway of saving a quid is good.

it cost me 15 quid to get a 4.5 kg gas bottle, and seen people talking about filling your own, someone said a 15kg bottle was filled for £7.50!!!

saw the thread on here
gas refills UKCampsite.co.uk Camping under canvas Forum Messages

just fill your own!!
 
Don't do it if the bottle hasn't got a gauge or safety cut off device though.

You need a gassing space or about 80% full.

If you fill it too full, you may get some liquid propane in your gas supply. Liquid propane contains huge amounts of energy compared the gas.

Spray that into a flame and you have an instant IED. It's goodbye van and probably goodbye you as well.
 
I'm a tight git. Very careful over pennies.

I paid for gaslow after looking at these ebay adapters.

No way on earth would I let my wife use it, and whilst I know I am competent enough, I decided saftey was paramount and discounted the idea.

If I was filling up with diesel at the pump next to you I'd happily hit the big red button - I think these are very unsafe and would not wish to put me or anyone I know at risk using one.

And, as mentioned, if I can save pennies I generally do - but not in this instance.


That said, others clearly get away with it - and people don't die every day. I've seen many pumps marked with "no bottles", and others say it is illegal (though I've not seen any formal confirmation).

But my life is worth a bit more than the risk.

Don't cock it up
 
You can also fill by weight, if you weigh the bottle empty and fill to recommended weight. I've seen people swear by this method but have never tried it myself so can't speak from experience.

Safest would be a Gaslow system which has the cut offs built in.

Get the calcs right and you'll save a few quid. Get it wrong and you'll pay with your life instead.
 
The only way you can be accurate is to weigh the bottle - the empty bottle weight should be on the collar.
If you know the bottle is, say, 6kg (12L) - then you could just put in 10L - but it would have to be empty - and not just "gasses" as, over time, you can end up with crap in the bottle which would reduce the LPG capacity.

Whilst I am really anti these devices and would never use one (yes I did seriosuly think first) - judging by how many people have them and use them (almost certainly all the pikies who can't find ones to steal) - how many accidents have actually been caused? I've heard of LPG explosions but for other reasons rather than the eBay adapter.

Agian, I'd never use one regardless and would always buy a system with saftey built in, but I wonder if the risks are just talked up by Calor and other suppliers?

I'd actually love to see some validated figures. (Or is this another "motorhome gassing" myth?)
 
In the current climate, we all like to save a few quid.( me too )

I have deliberately refrained till now from commenting on refilling your own bottles.

It is fraught with danger unless you know what you are doing and competent.( interestingly one thread on the link asks what should I do? leave well alone would be my answer )

And fwiw I have gas qualilifications.

To my mind if you are prepared to compromise your safety and those innocents around you more to the point to save a few quid should you be motorhoming ?

What I am trying to say is if you really find the cost of replacement of a bottle that prohibitihive you are in the wrong leisure sector.

I understand about saving a few quid I really do but do it at Lidl v Sainsburys rather than play around with something you know nothing about.

Tin hat adorned

Channa
 
I too would like to see the figures.

I reckon the dangers are talked up by Calor... of course they would if they could; it's their business doing filling and charging through the nose for it. Similar to the way estate agents always talk up house prices because they do much better business in a rising market, LOL.

But regardless of figures, the theoretical danger is a real one. The worrying thing is that none of the people on the UK campsite thread talk about filling precautions and over filling dangers. They don't even seem to be aware, and seem to think it's like filling up a bottle of lemonade:lol-049:
 
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well i couldnt care if i dropped dead tomorrow (or after i have written this lol) but wouldnt want to hurt anyone else....

as i plan to do a lot of wintercamping, one of these would save me a fortune, the same reason as i am wanting to use lots of old cooking oil for my trips. both i cannot afford to do without, and cant afford a lot of gas and diesel.

i know people say for a bit more cash just get a exchanged full bottle. but doing it yourself does look tempting with the savings. im sure you can get devices to tell you how much gas is left in a bottle acc to a few %
 
cooljules said:
i know people say for a bit more cash just get a exchanged full bottle. but doing it yourself does look tempting with the savings. im sure you can get devices to tell you how much gas is left in a bottle acc to a few %
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Thats the point you cant. to quote you, a 'few percent'.............. I will share something that is the margin between safety and stupidity.

Indicators are inaccurate for a multitude of reasons.


Channa
 
channa said:
Thats the point you cant. to quote you, a 'few percent'.............. I will share something that is the margin between safety and stupidity.

Indicators are inaccurate for a multitude of reasons.


Channa
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you just err on the side of caution to what the gauge says. there maybe is valve release units. plus they cant sell something if its totally dangerous.

plus if you have a 15kg bottle that is totally empty, its not hard to work out when its 80% full, and you stop at 10% before that. so even if 72% you are saving a hell of amount of money
 
not something i would fancy doing, refilling a bottle . but having said that i know quite a few that do and have watched it done ,. one mate of mine has one of those big red bottles turned upside down in his garden on a stand , he puts the empty bottle to fill in his old chest freezer for a while ,and then connects it to the large inverted bottle with a connecter he made .and then opens the valve on the empty one and then the inverted full one .he says that the pressure levels out between both bottles when the empty is full . it works for him and has done for years .another guy has a filler nozzel fitted to the side of his van like the ones fitted to lpg cars thats connected to an ordinary empty propane bottle and when he needs to refill he drives into any garage and fills up , he says he knows exactly how much an empty bottle takes to 3/4 fill it having done it for as long as ive known him he says theres no danger whatsoever if you know what your doing . i say theres no danger in jumping out of a plane with a parachute on your back but look at the ones that have been killed .
 
mandrake said:
not something i would fancy doing, refilling a bottle . but having said that i know quite a few that do and have watched it done ,. one mate of mine has one of those big red bottles turned upside down in his garden on a stand , he puts the empty bottle to fill in his old chest freezer for a while ,and then connects it to the large inverted bottle with a connecter he made .and then opens the valve on the empty one and then the inverted full one .he says that the pressure levels out between both bottles when the empty is full . it works for him and has done for years .another guy has a filler nozzel fitted to the side of his van like the ones fitted to lpg cars thats connected to an ordinary empty propane bottle and when he needs to refill he drives into any garage and fills up , he says he knows exactly how much an empty bottle takes to 3/4 fill it having done it for as long as ive known him he says theres no danger whatsoever if you know what your doing . i say theres no danger in jumping out of a plane with a parachute on your back but look at the ones that have been killed .
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its a risk just driving down the road, or crossing it...

its a high risk filling your car at a petrol station (esp on a cool morning).

If i go around europe, i cant just pop back and exhange my calor bottle, esp if in deepest E Germany. but this i can have a large bottle, use it like mad if i want and still know im not far from getting it refilled up. thats the main thing for me, cheap and knowing i have gas where ever i am
 
In one post you are skint and the next one you are talking of going round Europe. :rolleyes2:

You live in Sheffield where there will be an Energas main depot. Get a new bottle from them (no deposit). About £15 for a 6 kg full one and £18 for an 11 kg one. Go direct to the depot and save a lot of money like me. :wave:

As for using waste veg oil in Winter, that might be a non starter unless you have a more sophisticated system fitted to your van.There used to be a member on here N8RBOS who had a good system that he fitted himself. If you do a search on here you might get a lot of useful info for your van. He posted pictures as well as a description.
 
there must be a large amount of people that do refill there bottles everbody knows someone that do it , and to tell the honest truth how many reports of them blowing thereselves to bits do you hear of .if you take care and watch what you are doing ,then i guess its no more deadly than anything in life realy .
 
maingate said:
In one post you are skint and the next one you are talking of going round Europe. :rolleyes2:

You live in Sheffield where there will be an Energas main depot. Get a new bottle from them (no deposit). About £15 for a 6 kg full one and £18 for an 11 kg one. Go direct to the depot and save a lot of money like me. :wave:

As for using waste veg oil in Winter, that might be a non starter unless you have a more sophisticated system fitted to your van.There used to be a member on here N8RBOS who had a good system that he fitted himself. If you do a search on here you might get a lot of useful info for your van. He posted pictures as well as a description.
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yes, im totally skint, always am....and i only paid to get my camper on the road by selling off bits of my model kit collection (which was stood on my drive for 2.5 years...) i havent been around europe for 3 years now, and then i used to go in a old diesel car. sleep at friends, campsites etc with the dog. it didnt cost much for a few wurst and brot on a small bbq in the middle of nowhere. i aint got a girlfriend, i have mad mobility problems and now the camper is the only way i go out somewhere with the dogs, i cant use a tent no more....i like going to places and meeting new people (esp the pretty girls.....lol)

i presumed, with refilling it myself, it would pay for itself after 3 or 4 times of refilling

with reguards to the winter oil problem, i think you could be right....as im talking about it on a VW group, and while many many with the same old van as me use neat or 50/50 mix, winter is a problem so many have engine preheaters.

any winter camping i do, will be over here i guess, i would so love to be in deepest germany again in winter, but i ache too much then, so cant really do owt.


do you make plastic models?? tanks, planes, cars??? i still have a lot left to part with....i need to buy some things for my van and towards a pet passport for wittmann in jan :)
 
mandrake said:
there must be a large amount of people that do refill there bottles everbody knows someone that do it , and to tell the honest truth how many reports of them blowing thereselves to bits do you hear of .if you take care and watch what you are doing ,then i guess its no more deadly than anything in life realy .
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im the sort of person who wouldnt go under a car with it just jacked up, it needed 2 axel stands as well..........i dont take unecisary risks if i can help it :)
 
hi i can do and have filled gas bottles for years. also tipped one into the other. i also have a manual lpg pump to assist in filling them. i fill at garages etc or at home. the only bottle i cant fill is a 20mm clip on . i dont recomend it for all as i think some are incapable of doing it. in some countries you can only get bottles filled in this way . mind i dont smoke while doing it but have seen it done several times.
joules one day i,l show you how easy it is. many times i,ve known the 80%cut off valves not work, been using lpg as a fuel for years ,some tanks dont have them .they have a bleed off screw .open screw gas comes out when liquid comes out stop filling. i have a big calor tank in my garden with this filling system . also a vehicle tank with it. been using lpg since 74 in cars . many worry but thats their problem. visit a bottle plant its really interesting.
cheers alan.
 
vwalan said:
hi i can do and have filled gas bottles for years. also tipped one into the other. i also have a manual lpg pump to assist in filling them. i fill at garages etc or at home. the only bottle i cant fill is a 20mm clip on . i dont recomend it for all as i think some are incapable of doing it. in some countries you can only get bottles filled in this way . mind i dont smoke while doing it but have seen it done several times.
joules one day i,l show you how easy it is. many times i,ve known the 80%cut off valves not work, been using lpg as a fuel for years ,some tanks dont have them .they have a bleed off screw .open screw gas comes out when liquid comes out stop filling. i have a big calor tank in my garden with this filling system . also a vehicle tank with it. been using lpg since 74 in cars . many worry but thats their problem. visit a bottle plant its really interesting.
cheers alan.
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thanks, good to know. of course i would want to do it right first time, and not take uneeded risks but its old people like you that have done these things is where to get the info from. i guess people could do it themselves straight off but with it not being dont totally correct and then after the tenth or 100th time something goes wrong.

if i am doing winter camping then the big propane 20kg size would be good. ok its a fair size in a campervan, so do you think its a overkill? say 6 weeks of cooking/boiling water and some for heat? :)
 
maingate said:
In one post you are skint and the next one you are talking of going round Europe. :rolleyes2:

You live in Sheffield where there will be an Energas main depot. Get a new bottle from them (no deposit). About £15 for a 6 kg full one and £18 for an 11 kg one. Go direct to the depot and save a lot of money like me. :wave:

As for using waste veg oil in Winter, that might be a non starter unless you have a more sophisticated system fitted to your van.There used to be a member on here N8RBOS who had a good system that he fitted himself. If you do a search on here you might get a lot of useful info for your van. He posted pictures as well as a description.
Click to expand...

home made heat exchanger for wvo How to make your own heat exchanger you realy need to use a simple heater for winter running
 
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thanks joules i,m 56.
i use 19kg bottles and 13kg bottles . have thought about fixed tank on trailer but as i usually fill up in maroc £3 or spain 12euro for 13kg decided not worth it.i do fill the uk bottle here at garages if need be or at home. the beauty of bottles is you can change them depending on where you are going. in maroc you cant filltanks . i as been difficult in the past in spain. getting easier now. in some eatern or asiancountries they tip from hugetanks /bottles into what everbottle you have . i keep a nice bottle store of different countries bottles here at home but always carry adaptors in a camper for filling if needed. some use gas at great rate others harly use any. hard to say really i reckon 6 weeks abottle when on my winter trips away . more if you stay in the uk . bloody cold here.
 
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