Refillable gas bottles

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1063
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It's good to see on the SafeFill website that Morrison's have signed up to allowing refills.
Hopefully it'll filter down to other operators.
 
Forrory said:
How many of you fine people are using refillable gas bottles ?
Secondly did you do it for financial reasons or convenience ?
And if for the financial reason, how long has it or will it take to break even on the outlay and reap the benefits.
Click to expand...
 
We have refillable gas bottles in the locker but are still carrying a gas bottle for the cadac BBQ !! Which is a pain in the neck !! How do we tap into our refillable gas bottles ?? Any ideas please !
 
Hilsmac - "How do we tap into our refillable gas bottles ?? Any ideas please !"

You can install an external gas point as d then connect the case to that with a push and twist bayonet.
I was lucky because my manifold had a spare outlet available - if not then a new manifold would be needed as well or a tee piece installed in another line.
Technically this work must be done by a GasSafe fitter - however I did it myself and then had the whole system checked by one and got a certificate that included it.
If I can find some photos I'll add them shortly.

Edit - I'm convinced that I took loads of photos but I can't find any - such are the joys of mobile phone storage!

Yes Bullfinch outlet is the way to go.
 
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My Hymer came with a factory fitted gas tank that takes 40 litres. The tank is in a low locker horizontally placed. To fill it I have to open the locker door. In the 6 years I have had the van I have never been refused a top up or had any one come out to check it. I also though have the original gas locker which has the piping in it and I could if ever needed buy a bottle to use
 
Rummaging on GasIt website I see that they do an ultrasonic sensor that measures the depth of liquid in a Gas bottle and transmits it to phone via Bluetooth.
Here's a link - couldn't find the small bottle sensor
www.gasit.co.uk

47kg Bottle & XL Bulk Tank Bluetooth Sensor - GAS IT Leisure Gas Bottles, Gas Cylincers and Gas Tanks - Catering, Motorhome, Campervan, Caravan, Farrier and Road Repair Refillable Gas Solutions.

GAS IT Refillable Gas bottles, Refillable Gas tanks Gas bottle, alugas and Leisure Gas Tanks Solutions & gas Products for Motorhome's, campervan's Caravan's, Catering, Farrier, Forge and Road Repair Companies Factory Direct gas Equipment Suppliers to Auto-Sleepers, Wildax, IH Motorhomes...
www.gasit.co.uk www.gasit.co.uk

Looks like good idea for those who like to wait till nearly empty.
 
After reading all posts I am convinced to invest in a refillable system. My van is new and has the "crash safe" regulator, can I use this regulator with refillable bottles ? My locker takes 2 x 13kg bottles ( very tight fit ) do I will probably go for 1 x 11kg and 1 x 6kg to save weight and space

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I can't find out a definitive answer.
 
Forrory said:
How many of you fine people are using refillable gas bottles ?
Secondly did you do it for financial reasons or convenience ?
And if for the financial reason, how long has it or will it take to break even on the outlay and reap the benefits.
Click to expand...
Convenience - not worrying about exchanging when away and on the Continent, weight - SafeFill is so light, cost - even though not using Calor, still expensive gas.
 
CliveW said:
After reading all posts I am convinced to invest in a refillable system. My van is new and has the "crash safe" regulator, can I use this regulator with refillable bottles ? My locker takes 2 x 13kg bottles ( very tight fit ) do I will probably go for 1 x 11kg and 1 x 6kg to save weight and space

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I can't find out a definitive answer.
Click to expand...

Yes you can. The refillable bottle people do say that you should shut off the outlet before refilling but I doubt that anyone does!
 
Forrory said:
How many of you fine people are using refillable gas bottles ?
Secondly did you do it for financial reasons or convenience ?
And if for the financial reason, how long has it or will it take to break even on the outlay and reap the benefits.
Click to expand...
Fitted 2 x 11kg 4 years ago , broke even within 2 years. Depends, naturally, on how much you use the van .We do about 6000 miles a year mainly on the continent and only fill up when we pass Autogas 2000. Convenient but a huge saving over Calor.
 
I bought one of the possibly questionable adapters to allow one to refill Calor cylinders at those LPG garages that permit it. That saved me a fortune last winter but after the humiliation and frustration of being turned away from too many places that have a stricter reading of the regulations I bought a Gaslow bottle and installed that and a fixed external filler. It was an easy DIY install. As we always operate ‘wild’ and ‘off grid’ I expect to break even very quickly.
 
I really don't think that you can describe self filling a Calor gas bottle as possibly questionable.
And to describe those who refused to you as having a stricter reading of the regulations is to do them a great disservice as there is no interpretation to be done about refilling a bottle without any automatic level cut off.

Assuming you actually got your Calor bottle legally from one of their agents you will have been aware that your agreement with them precluded refilling.
It's good to hear that you felt humiliated when others refused to let you jeopardise your and other people's safety.

As you say the Gaslow system will still save you money and will ensure that you can fill up at every place you go to.
 
Organist 54 said:
I bought one of the possibly questionable adapters
Click to expand...
In my opinion they are not questionable but outright dangerous. I know some people say they can fill safely with them using careful weighing but I honestly question whether anyone is going to be bothered to do this accurately.
 
Organist 54 said:
I bought one of the possibly questionable adapters to allow one to refill Calor cylinders at those LPG garages that permit it. That saved me a fortune last winter but after the humiliation and frustration of being turned away from too many places that have a stricter reading of the regulations I bought a Gaslow bottle and installed that and a fixed external filler. It was an easy DIY install. As we always operate ‘wild’ and ‘off grid’ I expect to break even very quickly.
Click to expand...

What you did to your Calor cylinder wass foolhardy to the absolute extreme, dangerous and it totally flouted any and all regulations throughout Europe, it would also have been a very just reason for your insurance to be invalidated!

Thank heavens that you saw the light of day and fitted a system that complies with regulations.
 
About 20 years ago we brought 2 MTH portable refillable, similar to Safefill to use in our caravan. When due retest at 15 years we discovered that MTH had gone, regulations had changed and refilling was becoming difficult so they were binned and replaced by 2 x 13kg Gaslow. When we changed to our Moho last September these were transferred and system upgraded with Truma CS regulator and filter.
With the saving of gas costs we calculated approx 10 refills would cover the initial and upgrade costs. We have refilled 20-30 times now, great saving and so convenient.
 
I went with 2 used 6kg gaslow bottles (less than £100)
Easy to diy fit and a Kings ransome cheaper to fill than the rip off that is Calor etc...
Painless to refill via the filler kit installed in the gas, locker to avoid drilling the van sides.



 
I have fitted 2 x 6kg gaslow bottles this year with an in locker fill point. I wanted to fit alugas bottles but the diameter was too big to fit in my Bailey moho locker. Compared to last year, we are on track to pay back in 2 to 2.5 years.
As an aside, last year I went to France with 1 6Kg calor bottle and 1 butagas le cube. This is a 5.5 Kg French propane bottle that fits my locker and is widely available in France, about 20 € for a refill. It uses a 27 mm clip on connector. I still have one if anyone is interested.
 
I have just fitted a Gasit 11kg bottle, fitted for convenience, going on a road trip to Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Germany, for 6 to 8 weeks and just know I would have run out of gas sometime, so one less thing to worry about
 
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