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We are going to holland on Sunday for a week and are debating whether to refill our 6kg calor propane cylinder.  I have weighed it and deducted the tare weight.  This tells me that we have 3kg of gas left.  Although this means we have 50% of the original gas.

How much of this is usable before the pressure drops off?  We will only be using it for cooking.

Brian

I hate the thought of wasting it so we take the cylinder with us as it is.  If it runs out we can always eat out.

Thanks

Brian

Hi Brian

Do you just have one cylinder? You could get a second from a recycling centre.

Here are a couple of alternatives we use:

1. Always take a full one abroad, then use it up during the rest of the year. I don't mind taking 2 of the new Calorlite as they are so much lighter.

2. Take your Calor plus a Camping Gaz 907 as reserve. (you will need the valve and connector). This year my half empty Calorlite weighed less than a full 907 cylinder and had more gas in it, so I probably will not do that again.

This summer I used 3kg, almost all for cooking in a month away abroad, so I would think you should be OK.

Brian

I reckon a full 6kgs cylinder lasts us about 50 nights used just for cooking if that is any help. I am surprised you manage with just one cylinder. Mind you paying £18.50 for a full bottle is going to be cheaper that having to buy an alternative cylinder with a new regulator and hose in Holland, or paying extra restaurant bills!

David

Judging by your information I reckon we will be more than ok.  At the most it would be 14 meals and it will probably be much less than that because if the weather is hot we wiil have sandwiches for lunch.

I like the idea of using 2 calorlite cylinders and may look into that when we go to scotland for a couple of weeks next year.

Thanks

Brian

ive always got a spare this way i use every last drop possible before i change over..

mind you ive had hot water and heating on constant on the last 11 trips this yr very little cooking but have boiled several kettles on gas stove and its still going strong.mind you i think the one im on is an 11kg (next one is 19.1 so will last me forever)

We use the BP Gaslite 10 kg bottles.  These are not yet available in France, so we took two with us.  In 7 weeks we did not run out of one, but a lot of the French sites do have only 6 amp EHU's.  We were fortunate enough to get onto two sites where the EHU was 16 amps, but the rest were only 6 amp. Also, the two that were 16 amps were for the longest stays of the holiday.  We were just lucky, especially as we use a Cadac on the external gas point otherwise, if we had been obliged to use gas for the hot water, we would have started on the second bottle.

Our van has an onboard universal regulator so, to keep weight down for the future, I think zaphiral's suggestion about the Camping Gaz pigtail is a good idea.

Bertie.

If I was to get a camping gas pigtail, then wouldn't I have to get another regulator and pay a deposit fot a camping gas cylinder?  Or am I missing something.

Thanks

Brian

Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 21/8/2009

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If I was to get a camping gas pigtail, then wouldn't I have to get another regulator and pay a deposit fot a camping gas cylinder?  Or am I missing something.

Thanks

Brian

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I don't know exactly what your setup is, but you should be able to obtain a regulator regulator to fit your existing gas bottle.  You then fit a length of gas hose (typically one metre) to the regulator, then on the other end you fit an adaptor to match the appliance you wish to operate from the cylinder.

On older caravans, a pigtail is a cylinder-specific regulator, attached to the caravan gas supply by a short length of hose, but you will not be doing this if you already have an onboard regulator.  In this case, the pigtail would be a straightforward cylinder-specific coupling with the hose fitted to the onboard regulator.

I apologise if I am preaching to the converted, but the info might be helpful to someone.

Regards, Bertie.

It is just a simple set-up but has room for a second cylinder.  It is a pity they don't have a switchable set up so a second regulator and bottle can just be switched over to.  Don't gaslow do something like this.

Thanks

Brian

Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 21/8/2009

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If I was to get a camping gas pigtail, then wouldn't I have to get another regulator and pay a deposit fot a camping gas cylinder?  Or am I missing something.

Thanks

Brian

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Brian

From your photograph you obviously have a bulkhead regulator. I have a Camping Gaz pigtail which comes with what looks like a regulator but I suspect its only like that as a means of screwing it into the Camping Gaz cylinder, otherwise the other end would just attached to the bulkhead connector.

David

Quote: Originally posted by The 2 Tops on 21/8/2009

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We use the BP Gaslite 10 kg bottles.  These are not yet available in France, so we took two with us.  In 7 weeks we did not run out of one, but a lot of the French sites do have only 6 amp EHU's.  We were fortunate enough to get onto two sites where the EHU was 16 amps, but the rest were only 6 amp. Also, the two that were 16 amps were for the longest stays of the holiday.  We were just lucky, especially as we use a Cadac on the external gas point otherwise, if we had been obliged to use gas for the hot water, we would have started on the second bottle.

Bertie.

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Bertie

Not only French sites!  I was on a site in Germany where the supply was only 4 amp but still managed to use the water heater and boil a low wattage kettle (not at the same time!) I have even seen reports where people have managed the same appliances on 3 amps! The only time we use gas for other that cooking is if there is a temporary problem with the sit electrics.

David

 

Quote: Originally posted by The 2 Tops on 22/8/2009

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Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 21/8/2009

---

If I was to get a camping gas pigtail, then wouldn't I have to get another regulator and pay a deposit fot a camping gas cylinder?  Or am I missing something.

Thanks

Brian

---

I don't know exactly what your setup is, but you should be able to obtain a regulator regulator to fit your existing gas bottle.  You then fit a length of gas hose (typically one metre) to the regulator, then on the other end you fit an adaptor to match the appliance you wish to operate from the cylinder.

On older caravans, a pigtail is a cylinder-specific regulator, attached to the caravan gas supply by a short length of hose, but you will not be doing this if you already have an onboard regulator.  In this case, the pigtail would be a straightforward cylinder-specific coupling with the hose fitted to the onboard regulator.

I apologise if I am preaching to the converted, but the info might be helpful to someone.

Regards, Bertie.

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If you have a newer van with a bulkhead fitting, you would need just a Camping Gas tap which has a standard butane fitting on the end. Buying the cylinder in the first place is expensive.

Did you know that some of the Gaslow easy fit propane hoses with the red screw ring fitting are actually a butane hose with the propane hand screw fitting on the end. If you take a normal gas spanner, and a smaller spanner you can easily convert this propane hose to butane and then use a Camping Gas cylinder. Thus you could simply connect in a Camping Gas cylinder.

Having said that, I was surprised when I checked this year that a half full Calorlite cylinder weighed less than a full Camping Gas 907 cylinder. I have taken one of each abroad for years and always a full Calor propane lasts for the month we go away. My 907 camping gas refill is still unopened and has a price of £3.67 on it, so it shows how long the Calor lasts.

In future I shall probably just take a full Calorlite.