Refillable LPG Bottles,worth the risk?

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Here in Portugal today I took my friend to refill his 6kg calor lite bottle in the car.He has an adaptor he bought off of e bay which worked well at the LPG pump..The important thing to be aware of is not to refill above 80%.I am aware of the safety implications of using one of these and do not condone using them,I have a repsol gas bottle whilst over here which is easy and cheap to exchange.
It cost the princely sum of just over €6,much cheaper than a calor lite exchange bottle in the UK.As already said I do not condone using these adaptors on the forecourt because of safety issues but I can see the reasons why people do.Apart from being much cheaper it's also convenient when in Europe as the adaptor is already fitted.

Perhaps if calor didn't charge such rip off prices there would be less incentive to use these adaptors.
 
as you say the important thing is the 80% rule I have a set of these adaptors of e bay as well but I have worked for calor refilling bottles the weight of the bottle when empty should be checked if doing it without the proper checking equipment I would always vent of the bottle turn upside down and leave overnight then fill at the rate of 2 litres per kg have done this safely for about ten years but now also have a gas lo system with outside filling point to be able to refill at any garage that has a pump, went to a repsol garage on the Spanish Portuguese border the guy operating the pump put 14 ltrs in a 6kg bottle in spite of me telling him and obviously thought I was overreacting, used that one first outside the motorhome backfed through the bbq point
 
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I have fitted a gaslo system fitted, it won't allow overfilling and instead of £20 for a calor exchange it costs £5. or so. A connection adaptor for France makes it good for me this year watching Wales play football in France.
 
We've just been to France and Spain and we'd have liked to have used their bottles but they just varied in brand so much. The ones in France can't be exchanged in Spain and to be honest, we can't even fit the bottles in our locker.

In France we filled our own calor bottle (6kg), but in Spain, the forecourt attendants do it for you.

Surely if there was a problem with filling them, the Spanish would refuse ?

Interestingly I've seen different recommendations for how much LPG to put in. My adaptor says 11 litres, my friend's says 10 litres and I notice 'rugbyken' would have put in 12 litres !
 
No one should advocate, or indeed encourage anyone to refill gas cylinders which are intended to be exchanged only, if only for the fact that an uninitiated or ill informed person reading this could do so, and put themselves and others in danger.
 
Simply No !

Strange ..
We spend loads on Insurance for vehicles.
Also the house (principally against fire damage)
Yet some fail to invest in a safe system such as gasit or gaslow (or other safe system).
Risking not only the filler up's life but those of your nearest and dearest not to mention complete strangers.

You are possible risking a negligence claim which I suggest would NOT be met by either vehicle or any other insurance !!!

WE installed 2x11kg tanks nearly 2 years ago.

Advantages
1 1/4 to 1/3 price of Calor
2 Convenience of filling up when it suits
3 No loss of gas due to swapping a not fully empty battle.
4 Use in Europe

WE can go up to 1 month between refills
A refill costs about £20 the equivalent would be 3 calor bottles at between £20 and £25 a time x 3 =£60 at least

WE use our vehicle extensively in the summer months so I believe we will have achieved "Payback" by September 2016
Original cost £600.... can be cheaper if either 1 bottle or DIY
 
julesanian said:
We've just been to France and Spain and we'd have liked to have used their bottles but they just varied in brand so much. The ones in France can't be exchanged in Spain and to be honest, we can't even fit the bottles in our locker.

In France we filled our own calor bottle (6kg), but in Spain, the forecourt attendants do it for you.

Surely if there was a problem with filling them, the Spanish would refuse ?

Interestingly I've seen different recommendations for how much LPG to put in. My adaptor says 11 litres, my friend's says 10 litres and I notice 'rugbyken' would have put in 12 litres !
Click to expand...

2 ltrs=1kg. Empty the bottle and fill accordingly, IE 12 ltrs for a 6 kg bottle, no more!
 
we were told that butane weighed 1.96litres per kg and propane 1.97 therefore with a 20% safety margin 2-1 is a reasonable ratio , tr5 is quite right we should not encourage the ill informed or untrained to refill their own bottles but I wouldn't trust them to refuel their own car in some cases but they can put a credit card in an unmanned machine and get an explosive liquid easy enough, some of the advice on here regarding electrics for example are beyond me but I recognise my limitations and wouldn't attempt them ,


we on here are people that by the nature of what we seek out are independent minded having the confidence to do things that others won't and we share help and assistance freely the support network for the less informed/trained is the CC or the CCC,
 
EU to standardise lpg bottle attachements.

Whilst this subject is aired again, here is a reminder that the EU is to standardise lpg gas fittings from 2017 for all countries. Assuming that uk is still in EU it may be worth waiting for info. from the dealers as to what the standard is, and that should simplify gas refills aboad. Exchange of cylinders should be similar to here..........steve bristol
 
pughed2 said:
Whilst this subject is aired again, here is a reminder that the EU is to standardise lpg gas fittings from 2017 for all countries. Assuming that uk is still in EU it may be worth waiting for info. from the dealers as to what the standard is, and that should simplify gas refills aboad. Exchange of cylinders should be similar to here..........steve bristol
Click to expand...

I think this is a wonderful idea. How many years do you think it will take to implement? :)

Richard
 
It is worth pointing out that the illegal practice of refilling bottles owned by suppliers such as Calor directly affects those who have fitted safe and legal systems.

For example, it has been reported that refilling legal systems is no longer permitted by Morrisons. They have banned ALL refilling because of those who have refilled supplier owned bottles.

Sadly this is yet another example of the few messing things up for the responsible majority!
 
POI Admin said:
It is worth pointing out that the illegal practice of refilling bottles owned by suppliers such as Calor directly affects those who have fitted safe and legal systems.

For example, it has been reported that refilling legal systems is no longer permitted by Morrisons. They have banned ALL refilling because of those who have refilled supplier owned bottles.

Sadly this is yet another example of the few messing things up for the responsible majority!
Click to expand...

Can you please advise me what is "illegal". What are the "legal" requirements for a "legal system" that is simply a cylinder installed following the same procedure as replacing a cylinder?
 
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Calor, for example, owns the bottle. They explicitly prohibit refilling their property and this gives them the right to seek legal redress against someone who breaches the terms and conditions of supply.

A legal system is owned by an individual and incorporates an automatic shut off device that complies with industry safety standards.
 
And has anyone had sight of this so called contract or even signed it. No doubt the answer will be NO. As this refers to calorgas then how about flowgas or Energas? What if some one gave you an empty bottle or if you found one. Where is this contract. When you buy a new bottle of gas you are made to pay a deposit for the bottle. Has anyone tried to reclaim this deposit back when they have retuned the bottle? how easy was it to get your deposit refunded. Did you still have the receipt even after five years.:wave:
 
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