How much gas for 6 weeks in Spain?

[V1nny]

We are heading off from Scotland to Spain (via England & France) next week. We plan to be away for 45 days because that’s the maximum on my travel insurance. We will be using gas for the Dometic fridge/freezer, water heating, cooking on a gas hob, and an external barbecue point.

I have 3 x 13kg Calor gas bottles, and I know there isn’t an exact answer, but my question is, does 39kg of gas sound like enough for about 7 weeks away.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

If you are frugal and don't use the water heater and oven too much you might last, try to check usage on the first one to see what uses what and how long it lasts you.

 

[Glass man]

3 times 13kg is about 90 liters.
I keep a record of our gas usage. The most I have ever used in summer is 1.5 liters a day so you shouldn't have any problems. ( 110 Ltd Dometic fridge freezer, hot water and proper cooked meals. )
You can save gas by heating a kettle if you don't need 9 liters from the boiler.
The advice to find how long 1 cylinder lasts is excellent.

 

[marchie]

3 times 13kg is about 90 liters.
I keep a record of our gas usage. The most I have ever used in summer is 1.5 liters a day so you shouldn't have any problems. ( 110 Ltd Dometic fridge freezer, hot water and proper cooked meals. )
You can save gas by heating a kettle if you don't need 9 liters from the boiler.
The advice to find how long 1 cylinder lasts is excellent.

I think the Gas is 1.96L per kg, so 39kg x 1.96 = 76.44 litres, considerably less than 90 litres. We have 2 x 11kg refillable Gaslow cylinders and mix gas consumption with inverter usage, heating water on the induction hob with surplus solar power around midday, storing it in 2 expensive Thermos Flasks [24 hours heat retention] for start of day washing/dishes or coffee. We can get around 16 days from a 11kg bottle in Summer

Steve

 

[Trigger]

That sounds like plenty of gas to me for your trip, you can easily obtain Propane Spanish bottles and regulators at the Spanish car boots and swap them for full ones at many outlets and Fuel Stations in Spain , if you have an exterior Gas Barbi Point on your van to can turn your Calor bottles off at the bottles and charge your vans gas system through the Barbi point , lots of Caravan sites will even loan you a gas bottle and just charge you for the gas used , you will see lots of Brit Caravans with a Spanish gas bottle stood beside their vans doing just this, that is if you are unlucky enough to find your self on a Camp site in the first Place hee hee

 

[gasgas]

I have two 6kg propane bottles (one full, the other nearly full) and am off to Germany for the whole of August. I don't know if the gas will last but if it doesn't we'll just have to find two boy scouts to rub together. I have a 1999 Autosleeper with a gas bottle locker now.
Joking apart, thanks for bringing the subject up. In my other Autosleeper owning days when they only had refillable under floor tanks I would take a suitcase gas stove, the £20 type that takes the aerosol gas cans in case the tank gas ran out. I must remember to take the suitcase gas hob with me this time. I do have 200W of solar, and an allegedly 3000W inverter (so call that 2000W) which should be enough to boil a kettle.
The last time we were in Germany it was so hot, at a camp site I went into the showers fully clothed, put the shower on cold and soaked myself. Then coming out I stood around steaming, and the evaporation was just like personal air conditioning.

 

[Sooperspur]

You should be OK but don't underestimate the possible usage. We were there last year during the peak of the heatwave on a tour and it gobbled up our 4.5 kg in less than a week! Luckily we had one of those small 2.2(?) campinggaz cylinders as a back up and changed it at a cepsa when it needed a refill. They are really cheap (compared to here) in Spain as the gas price is regulated. In the end the heat was unbearable (just be aware) and we retreated back to our apartment and the sanctuary of the pool. We will try again some time but not in July/August!

 

[gasgas]

Years ago I was converted from caravans to motorhomes thus: We took our campervan (we had a previous history of caravans) to the south of France, around Avignon. The camp site was next to a river which had been river-scaped to be a fabulous swimming 'pool'. It was so hot we spent days in the river up to our necks with hats on. I got a digital thermometer from a supermarket and it was 43 degrees. Then when one of our kids fainted I said this is ridiculous, we need to go somewhere cool. Where's cool? Oh, I know, The Alps. So we packed off and drove up the Alps somewhere. We came across an aire, with a notice which said no tents, no caravans, camping cars OK. So that was it, never again a caravanner. With a caravan you have to stop at a camp site, with a camper you just stop wherever you are.
I don't think I will need the hab. heater, but if we do, it's diesel anyway. If I can figure out how to use it.

 

[V1nny]

You should be OK but don't underestimate the possible usage. We were there last year during the peak of the heatwave on a tour and it gobbled up our 4.5 kg in less than a week! Luckily we had one of those small 2.2(?) campinggaz cylinders as a back up and changed it at a cepsa when it needed a refill. They are really cheap (compared to here) in Spain as the gas price is regulated. In the end the heat was unbearable (just be aware) and we retreated back to our apartment and the sanctuary of the pool. We will try again some time but not in July/August!

We have learned our lesson too; we won’t come in July or August again.

 

[V1nny]

At 1.26am on Day 27 the first 13kg bottle ran out. Why does the gas always seem to run out in the early hours of the morning?

We had one night on ehu, but apart from that the fridge has been on gas 24/7. We have eaten out 11 nights but the other nights we have either cooked on the hob, or the bbq using the built in bbq point, and we have also boiled the kettle on the hob every day for regular teas/ coffees. The first week of so we were heating water for showers, but after that it’s been too hot and we’ve only heated water for washing dishes.

1 x 13 kg gas bottle lasted almost a month, most of the time in exceptionally high temperatures regularly over 30 degrees and occasionally in the 40’s. We certainly haven’t needed to put the gas on for any heating!

 

[Sonar]

Depends

We are heading off from Scotland to Spain (via England & France) next week. We plan to be away for 45 days because that’s the maximum on my travel insurance. We will be using gas for the Dometic fridge/freezer, water heating, cooking on a gas hob, and an external barbecue point.

I have 3 x 13kg Calor gas bottles, and I know there isn’t an exact answer, but my question is, does 39kg of gas sound like enough for about 7 weeks away.

Depends on what you use. And how long you use it for but I guess they sell gas in Spain .

 

[Sooperspur]

We have learned our lesson too; we won’t come in July or August again.

We have just got back from the best part of a month in the apartment in Murcia and don't think the maximum was less than 35 the whole time and way into the 40's on occasion so I can imagine what the camper was like! I'm sure you still had a great time.