# which gas bottles??



## rogerandsandra (Jul 27, 2006)

Hello helpers!
We are taking delivery of an Auto Trail Cheiftain in March (hopefully!!) We have never done this before....our first motorhome.
We have been told we need to supply x2 gas bottles, but are unsure what to buy. Do we go for refillable bottles? which gas do we buy? we were told Propane or Butane, but can we have LPG? and what size?

Sandra and Roger :roll:


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## TonyHunt (Oct 10, 2005)

If you intend to use them a lot go for Gaslow refillables they will save you a lot of money over time. if your intending to travel around Europe a lot then they will be even more useful because you can get them refilled in most countries. If you go for calor type bottles you can use them anywhere but only get exchange ones in this country. If you ran out of gas in spain or france you would have to purchase their bottles and store your empty calor bottles till you get home.
The cost of filling Gaslow bottles at a garage is roughly half what it would cost for ready filled ones. In the chieftain you will probably fit two 11kg ones i would think.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Sandra and Roger

welcome to the site. My advice to you is to first check with the motorhome supplier what maximum size bottles the van takes.

Propane is the most popular since this does not freeze as easily as butane. If you can fit two 13kg bottles go for this since the price to refill a 6kg bottle is about £13 and a 13kg is £17.

In our van we can fit one 13kg and one 6kg so this is what we go for.

Initially you have to buy the bottles although some people go down to their local tip and find some there. Calor will swop butane bottles for butane I believe.

If you do buy new bottles retain the receipt, a new bottle is about £20 plus gas I think. You can return the bottle and get a refund as long as you have the receipt. The percentage refund goes down with time, in the first year I think it is 70% of purchase price.

As you get motorhoming experience you might decide it is worth investing in something like the gaslow system.

Hope this helps. 

stew


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## rickwiggans (May 10, 2006)

You can use either refillable bottles, such as Gaslow, and fill on the forecourt with LPG, or get exchangeable bottles, such as calor. you need to choose between propane and butane. There are a number of differences, but the primary difference is that propane works at lower temperatures, so if you travel in winter, it's probably better. LPG stands for Liquified Petroleum Gas - propane and butane are both examples of LPG. What you get on the forecourt is generally a mix of these


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## rogerandsandra (Jul 27, 2006)

Thank you for your replies, there will be many more silly questions I'm sure....
Am I right in thinking that we are better getting a gaslow system at the begining, using LPG? is the initial outlay a good investment?

Sandra and Roger


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## TonyHunt (Oct 10, 2005)

A very good investment if you intend to use it often. Another good long term saving is fitting a SOG unit to your toilet cassette door which does away with the need to use chemicals in your Loo. There are lots of ways to save money like this on a camper, watch this forum and you will pick up a lot of hints & tricks.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Sandra and Roger

One way to look at is that a gaslow systme is possibly going to set you back approx £400 to £500 to get a two bottle set up but to then fill up from emty it is only going to cost you approx £10 for 20 litres of gas. I think the gaslow bottles tend to be 11kg fillable to approx 80% - please check figures. Two 13kg bottle although slightly more gas will cost you approx £34 for two.

If you weekend say two weekends a month you will possible expect to go through 6 bottles a year depending on how much you use of course so you will spend about £100 a year.

Of course the gaslow can be moved from van to van.

LOL obviously all this talk of gas led Tony to think of the sog system. As Tony says they are a very good investment lol

stew


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## ChrisNViv (Apr 22, 2006)

*LPG vs Propane?*

We were wrestling with this question recently and our major hangup with the gaslow move was what comes out of the LPG pump and would it still wok in the cold? I peered at a few pumps on filling station forecourts and was amazed to find no clue whatsoever to what you're buying. Basically if you're in UK and America you're buying Propane but the euroblend is 50% butane as Rick suggests. I still don't know if it works in the cold....
CnV

from http://www.ianbyrne.free-online.co.uk/special/glossary.htm#L
LPG - Liquified Petroleum Gas used as a motor fuel, sometimes known as "Autogas". Cleaner in terms of emissions than petrol (gasoline) or diesel, cars running on it suffer from slightly lower performance than typical petrol cars, as it has a nominal octane rating of 89. In mainland Europe LPG is generally a 50:50 mix of propane and butane, to comply with EN 789, but in the UK it is generally over 90% propane (with small amounts of propylene and butane) to meet BS 4250. North American LPG is largely propane as it is remains gaseous in very cold weather.
First tested as a road fuel as long ago as 1912, public LPG stations, or pumps attached to ordinary filling stations, have existed for over 40 years in Benelux and Italy, and the fuel has recently been encouraged by state support in Britain and France. Although there are over 30,000 public LPG sites worldwide, many carry unfamiliar names such as Primagaz. Some of the oil majors (eg. Shell and Total) maintain their own LPG subsidiary brands, whereas others either sell third party gas or offer it as own brand.


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## TonyHunt (Oct 10, 2005)

Dont get me started stew. I love trying to save money especially getting the better of the mobile phone companies and BT more than especially. Theyve had it all their own way far too long ripping us all off.
Sandra & roger. Just thought of another of my pet loves save a lot of hassle and money and fit a Nature Pure water filter. You can drink the water from your onboard tank wherever it has been filled up without worry. The water comes out the filter in bottled water quality and will save you a packet not to mention not having the hassle of carrying bottles of water to make tea etc. If you fit one put it to one side of your main sink so that you only filter the water you want for drinking. The rest of your water for showering, toilet and washing up just bypasses it.


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

What you decide to do will all depend on your style of motorhoming and how cost conscious you are. It may also depend on how fit you are. It is not an easy task to lift 13Kgm gas bottles and manoeuver them into your motorhomes storage cupboard. A Chieftain should take 2 of calor's 13Kgm propane bottles each weighing about 26Kgms when full.

If you feel you cannot manage to lift these heavy bottles then cost is irrelevant and go for a Gaslow system. On the other hand if you intend to stay on sites and use electric hook ups most of the time and not rely on gas and batteries as your main source of energy then a Gaslow system may not be cost effective. To give you and idea, I use my motorhome all year round and I am away between 100 and 130 days a year but I mostly use sites and electric hooks ups. My continental trips average 60 away days and I have never run out of gas in that time. My average gas consumption is three 13Kgm bottles a year. I will leave you to do your own sums to see whether you think a Gaslow system is cost effective with this style of motorhoming. You may need to keep in mind that in the UK you have to pay for electricity at sites whether you want it or not so the trend is to use even less gas if away days are predominantly in this country.

To complicate matters further there is another alternative and this is lightweight bottles from BP. You can find out all about these HERE . These are relatively new but are increasing becoming more available both in the UK and abroad. Gas per Kgm works out slightly more expensive but if you are not going to rely on it and want a lighter option these could be a good choice.

peedee


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