# Gas usage (in France)



## 96706 (Nov 13, 2005)

Can anyone advise us regarding gas usage whilst motorcaravanning. We have an Autosleeper Symbol in which we currently hold two Calor 3.9kg propane containers. We are planning a 12 day trip to France at the end of March and intend taking advantage of aires wherever possible and therefore will need to run our fridge on gas. We have no experience of how much gas the fridge uses. We'd also like to use the gas water heater for showers, although could make do with kettles of water boiled on the gas rings if this significantly reduced our gas consumption. 

We are aware that our Calor containers cannot be 'swapped' in France and that Butane CampingGaz are widely available. We also have 2 x 907 blue campinggaz cylinders at the moment, would we be better taking these two and swapping as we run out, or would our two 3.9kg propane cylinders be likely to last our trip?

Can anyone advise us how much gas we are likely to use for a 12 day holiday for cooking, fridge and some hot water? How do other people manage this, bearing in mind that we are only able to take 2 cylinders through the Eurotunnel as we only have secure anchorage for 2.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Given that you will probably need to use a heater if you are in France in March then I don't think your two cylinders will last. We hedge our bets by taking one propane ( in our case we can take a 6kg) and one camping gaz cylinder. Camping gaz costs more but at least, as you say, can be exchanged almost anywhere.

G


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## 96706 (Nov 13, 2005)

No gas heating required - we have diesel heating - so it is just cooking and fridge, and possibly water heating occasionally.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Fridge on gas*

Hi

What size and model is your fridge? There are some approximate usage figures somewhere on the site, but they can easily be found elsewhere.

I get through 11kg cylinder on average at five weeks intervals, using the oven more or less daily for at least one hour at a time, plus the hob and occasionally the heating on gas.

Russell


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## 96706 (Nov 13, 2005)

Thanks - didn't think to look in the fridge handbook to see if it had consumption guidance :roll: and it does! 240g per 24 hours so that means one 907 cylinder would power the fridge for 10 days. Whilst I was at it I also looked at the water heater and that reckons 120g per hour gas consumption - if we used it for one hour a day for ten days that is another 907 cylinder. No guidance in the cooker handbook, but on previous experience I would expect a cylinder to be more than sufficient for cooking needs for at least 2 weeks.


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## pneumatician (May 1, 2005)

*Gas in France*

We have Gaslow installed but I always take a Gaz cylinder just in case.
It's the boy scout training, "Be Prepared".

Steve


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Hi can someone advise us we have a Bolero and have two 6kg propanes we intend to travel through France and then onto Spain or Portugal for approx 3-4 weeks in the next few days, both of our current gas are opened at the mo so please could someone advise us what to do.

We are planning on using the Euro tunnel so assume as in the above post you cannot carry a spare anywhere else other than in the secured dedicated locker.............sorry to be such a novice about this.

Where possible we will use EHU and also thought it might be a good idea to take our George Forman grill with us.

Thanks to anyone who can help.


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi ****.

We spent 4 weeks travelling through france last year in october november. We used aires all the time and we used 3/4 of a bottle of gas from our 13kg bottle. 

Some of the aires do have electric but you do have to pay around €6-7 per night. We only heated the van using the gas ring and found this ok as our heating is the wet type and takes a long time to get going.

steve & ann. ------ teensvan.


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

Your gas will probally last but you will be forever worrying about when or if it will run out.
When people post about gas availability especially in france the best advice i can give (if you can afford it) is to have a refillable fitted. even one will do. It will pay for itself as the gas you buy is much cheaper and you dont have to run out before you fill up. The gas is plentifull in france with a small amount of planning. You donr have to bother about finding places with bottles and paying premium prices.

Its up to you of course but suffice to say its the best money i ever spent. 

phill


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## jacket (Jan 12, 2008)

Regarding the Gaslow cylinders you mention them being "fitted" do they not just take the place of your other cylinder? Thanks.


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

jacket said:


> Regarding the Gaslow cylinders you mention them being "fitted" do they not just take the place of your other cylinder? Thanks.


Hi Jacket
Gaslow is just a make of refillable gas bottle. There are others on the market. 
No the dont just take the place of a normal bottle although they do look like one. You have to have a filing tube fitted. You can try to fill the bottle directly but the garage will probally shout "No" at you as it can be dangerous. So with refillable bottles you have a filling tube connected to them and this runs to an external filling socket on the side of the van. You then just pull up at the pump and fill up just like you were filling a car. 
The filling socket is quite unobtrusive being about 60mm x 50mm and about 6mm thick. The filling tube can be run to both bottles (if you have 2) so both are automatically filled
You will hear of people buying cheap adaptors off the internet to fill standard Calor bottles. This is very dangerous as the calor bottles dont have a shut off and so if you overfill you risk gas escape and an explosion. I let them get on with it as long as they dont park next to me.

I hope this helps

Phill


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## dbh1961 (Apr 13, 2007)

I think you'd have enough gas, but why not take an EMPTY camping gaz bottle, as a safety net?

If you use the first calor very quickly, then get the camping gaz exchanged for a full one.

You will be OK taking an empty camping gaz bottle out unsecured, and bringing an empty calor back in unsecured (I've done it, and been checked by customes and OK'd). Take the "empty" bottle to an open space, open the valve and make sure it's truly empty.


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Your gas bottle will *NEVER* be truly void of gaz (butane &/or propane) if you try to empty it that way!

It will still contain a *DANGEROUS* amount of gaz, albeit at the pressure of the atmosphere at the time you opened the valve.

The only way to totally empty it would be to connect it up to a vacuum pump and evacuate the gaz as much as possible.
Then if the valve is opened to air then at some point there will be an explosive mixture inside the bottle!
That is what happened on the LPG tanker on which I sailed.

It was always a heart-stopping moment at the explosive mixture time!

I suspect that now the manufacturers would open the valve to allow an inert gas in (not air) and then successively evacuate/refill until the percentage of gaz is too low to be explosive.


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## dbh1961 (Apr 13, 2007)

Technically, yes

But that's a risk we accept. Many of us carry extra gas bottles in the UK, without worrying that they're unsafe. Calor are quite happy to see me at their depot, with a bottle in the car boot. It's not the safety aspect that was worrying the original poster.

The concern was what EuroTunnel allow, and I was suggesting a solution that they, and ferry companies, and customs, all permit.

There is no restriction on carrying a gas container, provided they accept that it's empty I doubt if they'd have your technical knowledge / experience, and I know I've taken one across before.

I agree that there would be some residual gas present, but I don't agree that it would be dangerous.


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

dbh1961 said:


> There is no restriction on carrying a gas container, provided they accept that it's empty I doubt if they'd have your technical knowledge / experience, and I know I've taken one across before.
> .


Hi again
Although eurotunnel may not have stopped anyone before the thing to bear in mind is that your gas locker has a warning sticker on it. This is to let the fire dept know where they are in case, heaven forbid your van catches fire. If you are carrying a spare bottle even empty somewhere they dont know about and an unsuspecting firefighter is in the van when it explodes on him..well i wouldnt like to have that on my concience.

Its always best to be as legal as you can in these circumstances and so my advice is dont carry anything else unless is a proper gas locker properly ventilated. Otherwsie you risk validating your insurance.

Phill


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