what do i need to know about France?

lebesset said:
if you go to an intermarche supermarket you can buy a 10Kg Energaz bottle of butane [ or 9Kg propane ] for €1 , although their website says €5 ; gas costs €16.50 ,
bottle is the same size as a calor 6Kg propane ; you then either need a pigtail for a 4.5Kg calor butane dumpy [ same thread , like most of europe ] or a regulator to screw on that thread

that's all

if you look on the Energas website you will find the list of supermarkets , well over a thousand in france , in fact it is hard to miss them
if they ask you for an address [ has been known ] just give the address of any campsite in france
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If only I had the luxury of a large gas locker. Our van conversion has two small individual lockers designed for 6kg Calor bottles. I have even had to adapt one of them to fit 'Le Cube'. I trawled all the supermarkets and measured all manner of bottles. No other French bottles would come anywhere close to fitting in. Most of their small bottles are very wide and dumpy - like Curling weights!
 
Hardly fair! 2 6kg Calor bottles will be fine for 95% of motorhomers as most of them use sites and perhaps go abroad once a year for two or three weeks, where they still use sites. I can just imagine the comments from some if a modest-sized motorhome had an enormous gas cylinder locker: "What a waste of space, I've hardly room for my double skillet but they put in this totally useless gas bottle locker."

The fault lies with those people daft enough to choose a motorhome without first checking that its facilities will suit their particular lifestyle. When I chose my latest 'van I knew that I would be going to mainland Europe for weeks on end and would be carrying two bicycles, so I paid attention to payload and to the gas bottle arrangements. Mine has space for two 11 kg bottles, which I immediately swapped for Gaslow.

I would also suggest that those seduced by a motorhome's looks are the ones in the 95% that I mention and not the typical member of this forum.
 
To be fair I think most people when they buy their first motorhome are probably winging it a bit and taking a bit of a gamble on what they purchase as they wont be aware of their exact requirements until they get into it.

I did a lot of homework before buying our Kontiki but a lot of it was just pure luck that it turned out the right van for us. At the time I didnt know I would end up spending months on end abroad in it but it worked out a good van for long term trips. Gaslow so far has been a breeze for us as we just top it up when we pass an lpg station. Im not sure what method to adopt when we get further afield into countries without LPG though. At the moment we have a second Calor 6KG cylinder as backup but will probably need to swap that for something local where there is no Autogas for the Gaslow. Luckily our gas locker is massive.
 
barryd said:
Gaslow so far has been a breeze for us as we just top it up when we pass an lpg station. Im not sure what method to adopt when we get further afield into countries without LPG though.
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How far afield are you planning to travel? We have a Gaslow system and have travelled all over Europe with no problem - in fact LPG is more widespread in some Eastern European countries than in the west. The country we have had most difficulty in is Spain - although the coverage is increasing and if you plan your trip carefully you need never run out of gas. LPG in Africa might be a bit more of a problem though! Happy travels.
 
Its all up in the air at the moment but I would like to go full timing and perhaps spend the winter in Greece next year but also see places like Romania. Bulgaria etc and who knows where. Maybe Morocco at some point in the future.

The issue we have with our Gaslow is its a single 11KG bottle with a Calor 6KG backup. In summer it lasts ages using about a half to a litre a day but in the winter off grid we can go through a bottle in a week. I have heard LPG stations are scarce in Greece.
 
If I remember rightly from living over there, large vehicles including camping cars over 7m length should remain in the right hand lane on roundabouts
 
And allways remenber the old addage ,IF ITS INDICATING IN FRANCE ITS PROBBABLY A FOREIGNER ,and probbably as lost and confused as you are :lol-049:
 
Northerner said:
The fault lies with those people daft enough to choose a motorhome without first checking that its facilities will suit their particular lifestyle.
I would also suggest that those seduced by a motorhome's looks are the ones in the 95% that I mention and not the typical member of this forum.
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Just to clear up any possible misconceptions, I am a wild camper, not a site visitor and my van was carefully chosen, not for looks, but to suit the application and lifestyle for which it was intended. I use my van very regularly and all year round and love it. There are always compromises with all m/h's and running on 2x6kg of gas is just one of mine. If it ever bothered me too much I would just install gaslow or an underslung tank. Never needed to do that yet though.
Jim
 
Very True but as the French drive much slower than we do and as I will always on holiday when in France, I am happy to drive at their pace so never been a problem Yet!:)

Richard
 
You and I know its 60mph but most Brits think its 70mph, which they ignore and do 80mph anyway. With my limited experience, the French seemed to stick to their 90kph.

What I meant was that the French regardless of speed limits tend to be polite at roundabouts and give way regardless of legal priority. Taking their time and making allowances for larger vehicles. I admit that French cities have as many morons per capita as any other city on the planet.

Richard
 
Too true
we had a place in the south near Perpignan jist under a thousand mile drive door to door ,and i would rather do the 800 miles that side than the english bit anytime ,soooooo much better soooomuch more relaxing ,give me french driving any day just avoid Paris, or the scooters will get you and do nasty things to your wing mirrors :lol-049:
 
Croftland1 said:
If only I had the luxury of a large gas locker. Our van conversion has two small individual lockers designed for 6kg Calor bottles. I have even had to adapt one of them to fit 'Le Cube'. I trawled all the supermarkets and measured all manner of bottles. No other French bottles would come anywhere close to fitting in. Most of their small bottles are very wide and dumpy - like Curling weights!
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I would have thought the cube was too wide ; I measured an Energas bottle and someone sent me the measurements for a Calor bottle ; same height , same diameter
 
I cant on face value see any reason why Croftland is illegal in his gas set up.

You imported a vehicle which Croftland hasnt, and when importing you lose visitor rights daft things like screwed on and not riveted number plates.

Your post suggests your regulator was a Uk supplied and fitted regulator .. I frankly can only offer one theory your regulator complied to a BS standard which the French it seems refuse and choose not to recognise ...Had it been stamped EN ( European Norm ) Perhaps it wouldnt have been an issue.

I work for an English company abroad as you are aware and in respect of Gas regulations it is a nightmare En vs BS ..few differences in reality ....more a case of my invention of the wheel is prettier and more functional than yours.

All beyond belief but keeps me busy

Channa
 
2002 the standard EN1949 came into being, ( specification for the installation of LPG systems for habitation purposes In Leisure accomodation vehicles and other road vehicles)

The standad also introduced En 721 which deals with the ventilation, and EN 12864 which deals with regulators.

That is basically where the 30 mbar figure comes from as the Standard states road vehicles shall have a fixed working pressure of 30 mbar

So it all makes sense and gave you the En numbers for your bed time reading :have fun:

Channa
 
I`ve been following this topic with interest and as my missus has never left these shores i decided we too would go to France for a first time holiday in our van next year & although i`ve been abroad myself many times over the years ive never had the pleasure of driving so some of the info has helped.

While not wishing to invade someone elses topic my missus asked the question of food, ie what can you take or not take with you bearing in mind the security regs that were inplace concernig the terrorist threats and taking into account meat & dairy products that are imported from europe in bulk anyway.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.


Andy
 
We have been going to France for the last 3 years and it's been great, we even took our 10year old Jack Russell this year and it was fantastic, by the way we just loaded our fridge and freezer, and the cupboards with tins, also used the markets and supermarkets. Going to give Germany ago next year.

John.
 
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