# How long should 12Kg Propane last



## tincan (Jul 31, 2006)

I'm in deep doodoo, ran out of gas last night  on a lovely site in Dungannon, lovely, but cold and no spare cylinder. And all I've got today is hot tongue and cold shoulder :evil: . We have had 3 weekends in Ireland and 3 weeks in France on a new 12 Kg Calor propane cylinder in use since August. Admittedly we used the oven quite a bit in France as we had no barbie (subject of another post). We are fairly frugal ( kids say mean but in Yorkshire I gather the term is Careful)when it comes to turning water heater off and only use hob and oven as required. Would have used heater in anger last night for first time although we have tested it and it works a treat. An 11 lb (5kg) cylinder used to carry me over almost a full season as a tugger but we used electric water heating when on hookup 
Two questions to the masses of MHF pundits, (1) How long on average do your 12kg refills last and (2) would it be worthwhile changing out Truma water heater to an electric also option, ie how much would the changeover cost?

TIA 
Noel


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## 88742 (May 9, 2005)

Carefull or no carefull, if your getting 6 weeks to a bottle your doing well. We changed our's at Binton, it was last changed at the Driffield show, although we're out and about a lot I doubt we've done 42 nights in that time. We're not excessive users of gas but we're rarely on electric. I wouldn't be too worried about that consumption, certainly wouldn't make me consider a few hundred pounds in converting it !!!!


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Hi, Noel

Nasty. I feel for you.

The short answer from this direction is: I don't know. We only have 6kg propanes, and I changed one at some ungodly hour at the NEC. The empty one had been put on just before our French trip. Two weeks, probably 2/3 hookup, with on-site showers and electric water heating at those times. A bit of hob & oven use, but only for warming things up - say, half an hour a day. Electric kettle on hookup.

Since then, we've had a few weekends away, mostly CLs with no hookup, so cooking, water heating for showers and washing up.

Incidentally, I've got a magnetic gas gauge on the side of the bottle. Only works when gas is being drawn, but it gives an indication, and before we went away last week, I knew we were very low. Fortunately, we had a spare :wink: 

Do you have room for a spare on your van? If not, I think a 'proper' gauge could be called for.

Sorry you got landed in doo-doos.

Gerald


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi Noel,

in our van a gas bottle lasts between 3 weeks in a "typical Scandinavian summer" and 3 days with outside temperatures permanently below -15 degrees C. 

Main gas consumer in summer is normally the fridge, not the oven or stove. 

No idea about the cost for a Truma heater conversion to electic option. Makes no sense for us as we are frequently staying "in the wild", so no hookup available.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## Nora+Neil (May 1, 2005)

Used 1 in 3 weeks in France.
Changed to second one and it still on.
38 days later.


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## klubnomad (Mar 6, 2006)

Thank god for 2 x 11kg - 2 x 22 liters - Gaslow cylinders. Total cost for 44 litres = £18.48 @ .42. litre. I paid £16 for a 6kg - 11 litre - bottle of Calor = £1.45 litre 8O 

Dave

656


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

I would imagine Gaslow is essential for fulltiming, Dave. I suppose availability of autogas is similar to Calor propane?

Do you have a gauge on your cylinders?

Gerald


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi Tincan

Follow >This Link< for details on how with the aid of hot water, a cloth and some marigolds you may never be left in the cold again :lol:

Mike


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

I certainly miss our brand new truma ultrastore gas/240v water heater off our old mh. It was great to leave it on mains all the time while on hookup... instant hot water! Cost us £350 and I fitted it myself... although you should have an approved gas fitter do it really!


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## sersol (Aug 1, 2005)

Not sure about 12k cylinder but over new year 2005/2006 we used 13k in 4 days.No hook up but m/h very warm :wink: .
Gary


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## tincan (Jul 31, 2006)

*Dont know where to start*

Thanks to all for advice and sympathy. result. Wont be spending £350 on replacement water heater but thanks for the feedback. I got all excited with the mention of marigolds and checking contents but came away deflated if a little more knowledgable about how to check wots left in bottle. I will be getting a refill tomorrow and a spare (Yes Gerard there is space for another but the dealer swore a hole in a pot that one 12 kg cyl would be sufficient). Looks like being "careful" is not only for Yorkies with the usages reported, just glad I'm not in deepest Scandanavia for winter although it seems exciting to be at one with nature in its rawest form. 
BTW only got 31 actual days usage, my original report may have given the wrong impression

Just presented with night time cuppa so the thaw is on here at last.
thanks again to all who contributed

Noel


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## klubnomad (Mar 6, 2006)

gerannpasa said:


> I would imagine Gaslow is essential for fulltiming, Dave. I suppose availability of autogas is similar to Calor propane?
> 
> Do you have a gauge on your cylinders?
> 
> Gerald


Hi Gerald

Autogas is widely available throughout europe with the exception of spain but that is improving weekly. I have a gauge that tells me that there is plenty of gas in the bottle.

Dave

656


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

_and I changed one at some ungodly hour at the NEC_.

I would just like to say that at Binton my gas cylinder ran out at 2pm. I said to Shona "I do not believe it. It is a miracle".

Prior to this event I thought they only ran out between the hours of 1am and 4 am and only if it was really cold and preferably raining hard outside.  

stew


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi again Noel,

even 31 days of usage is very good, as said we reach a maximum of 3 weeks so 10 days less. However, as we are wild camping most of the time the fridge is almost always on gas when not on the move, and we do enjoy our hot shower each morning...

Now I do not really trust gauges on gas bottles, so I have invested rather in a second bottle AND an automatic changeover valve between the two bottles. The changeover also has a remote indicator, so I can see on the control panel whether it has switched over to the reserve bottle. Then it is time to refill.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

If you look at your handbooks for your gas appliances they should give you consumption figures. 

Some time ago I did my own estimates which might be of help

From my handbooks:
Fridge, consumption given at 0.27Kgms per 24hrs on Hi setting. So if you ran a fridge continually on gas, a full 13 Kgm bottle should last just over 48days if you were not doing any cooking or heating. 

I rarely use the heating in summer and cook with gas probably 4 times per week. Lets say 250gms per meal ?

Water heater is rated a 120gms per hour, This is termostatically controlled so lets say it is ignited 2 hours per day.

So if you were on gas only, consumption per week would be :

Water heating ...............0.24x7 = 1.68Kgms
Fridge ..........................0.27x7 = 1.89Kgms
Cooking 4 days ...................... = 1.00Kgms

Total per week ..................... = 4.57Kgms which is about 1/2KGm per day

It looks to me as though it is quite feasible to go 3 weeks on a full 13kgm
bottle.

If you used a hook up every day, only cooking would use gas in a modern van and I don't see why, if my figures are correct, you could not go 13
weeks before running out. 

I use my motorhome year round and in practice I use 2 X13Kgm bottles a year for about 100 away days but I mostly use hook ups which gives a consumption of about 1/4Kgm per day.

So without gas heating and a consumption of between 1/4 to 1/2 Kgms per day, a 12Kgm bottle would last between 48 to 24 days

peedee


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

What a good post from peedee :hello1:

I only take a 2.75kg camping gaz 907 but have room for a larger calor (not sure what size). As space is at a premium I have made a light weight shelf above the gas bottle which lets me store lots of useful things, when the bottle is getting low I carry the spare which means I take less useful things. I have noticed that its very easy to tell when the gas is about to run out by the effect on the grill - it goes from barely adequate to useless. 

Also at the last the flame gets very yellow and sooty. I think that as most people find that it runs out when the only thing on is the fridge then running out is producing much of the soot in your fridge combustion chamber and causing all those 'refuses to light threads'. Perhaps a case for auto change over.


Regards Frank


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

I have just been browsing the calor gas site checking on bottle sizes and I noticed that calor will now loan you a bottle. For further information click HERE This might be of use to some MHF members?

peedee


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## 101316 (Oct 9, 2006)

My van came without a gas bottle so I got a "free" 13kg one from the local tip and exchanged it for a refill.
I would like to carry a spare but have no space for a large one. I thought of having one of the smaller bottles as backup but they didn't have any that size at the tip.
The girl at my camping shop informs me they are allowed to exchange a 13kg bottle for one of the smallers ones! Problem solved, I'll be calling at the tip again today 

Anyone doing this be sure to pickup a * Calor * empty. They arent' allowed to exchange the hundreds of other brands that the tip is loaded with; Altagas, Flogas et al.

The small bottle will only be used for emergency backup as £ per Kg they work out far more expensive.


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## tincan (Jul 31, 2006)

*Gas auto changeover*

great post by Peedee - just need to dust down abacus to figure out the different permutations. I called my local hardware shop and asked if i can use the 5kg butane from the caravan as a trade on a new 11 kg propane and they agreed will only have to pay for refill. Just need to figure autochangeover now - any ideas on sourcing?

See what I meant about Yorkshire folk being careful, using local tip as source of empties, well done Rawpower

TIA

Noel


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