We are new to car camping, although we used to do lightweight backpacking many years ago.
We just bought a Hi-gear elite camping stove, 3.9kg propane calor gas bottle, and regulator and hose, but have a few questions, which hopefully someone can answer:
1/ Do we need a gas spanner to put the regulator on the bottle or is an adjustable spanner ok?
2/ When not using the stove, do people normally store it still attached to the cyclinder? Or if I want to store them separately is it better to take the regulator off the cylinder or take the hose off the stove or the hose off the regulator?
3/ Where is the best place to store the cylinder? I understand that you shouldn't store it in the house so I've put in in a "Summerhouse" - basically a shed with windows halfway down the garden, leaving one of the windows partly open for extra ventilation. Does that sound like a good place?
adjustables are fine but make sure u use decent ones that grip firmly or u will start to wear the edges of the brass nut, most people will take the regulator off the cylinder an leave it attached to the cooker, the cylinder is best stored somewhere cool, they can be left outside without issues but a summerhouse with windows might get rather hot in the sun
i have a garden box (those wheeled things that retail for about £30) i keep my gas in ,the calor cylinders are fine but i also have 50 odd C206 ,5 or so of the old obselete jet 106 and 10 or so c400's camping gaz cylinders plus a bevy of assorted other makes.
they need a little more looking after so for long term storage spray the seams with paint (i use chrome lacquer)as the seams rust very quickly then an overall spray with WD40 or better still Rocol Corplan and your cylinders should last decades.
heat or extreme cold doesn't effect them
It may be worth checking that your adjustable will actually fit into the space needed to tighten properly. The collar around the Calor bottle tends to get in the way. Also check if the adjustable will open far enough, it's a fairly big nut.