Refillable gas systems: pros and cons
Hi, I’m wondering about installing a refillable gas system for my Sunlight Cliff 600 for our European hols this year. We aim to spend 6 weeks travelling across several countries .
I’d appreciate members thoughts on the costs v benefits of fitting a refillable gas tank and system. Is it worth it? Any drawbacks?
Thanks!
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The section on this forum ''Tips for making caravanning and touring cheaper'' contains much info on the subject, GC.
One drawback in the UK with having a fixed tank, or refillable system, is having to drive your MH to a service station selling gas rather than buying a replacement cylinder on site.
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I would think most MHs would easily be able to refill en route to the next site. Unlike an exchange bottle, there is no need to wait till the bottle or tank is empty.
Even with a caravan it can be done, we have had a fixed Gaslow system in our van for several years now.
Savings are good over Calor, but we did it so we could tour abroad for 2-4 months at a time without having to carry extra bottles such as Camping Gaz.
Do you get through a lot of gas in a year Graham? If not, it may take many years to break even. Do the arithmetic carefully.
The other advantage is that when you know you will not run out of gas, you can decide to use more gas instead of EHU, or stay places where there is no EHU, and save even more money.
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"I would think most MHs would easily be able to refill en route to the next site. Unlike an exchange bottle, there is no need to wait till the bottle or tank is empty."
Absolutey but there aren’t always that many garages selling gas around.
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We have not had a problem, but certainly there are far more outlets on the Continent than in UK.
As a last resort,in UK, we would if necessary use a motorway service station. The difference in price between the Mway and off Mway station is not as bad as on petrol or diesel, so we do not stress over it.
If heading for a remote area in UK we would tank up first.
We find that our use of gas in UK is much less than abroad as the EHU here is more generous, so most of our LPG filling has been over there.
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We use this website to find LPG when away >> https://www.filllpg.co.uk/index.php?page=lpg.php
Having said that, we have LPG available nearby so tend to fill up in our home town. We tend to fill up if the gauge is showing below half full as they can be inaccurate.
Generally speaking LPG is just less than half what Calor charge, our 18 ltr tank is roughly equivalent to 9 Kg of gas and would be about £12 to fill if it was empty.
We tend to need more gas after about 3 to 4 weeks away, but of course it depends how much you use.
We have so far, in 3 years, only had 3 occasions where we have gone to buy gas at a garage from the map but couldn't. One was sold out, one was completely closed for refurbishment, and another the pump was on the left of the van but our filler is on the right and it wasn't possible to turn the van on that particular forecourt.
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Do any of the systems offer the benefit of being both fixed and portable?
IE, if convenient you can take the van/MH to a pump, where there is sometimes less resistance to filling of a fixed system than a free standing bottle, but if set up on site there is still the ability to take just a bottle off for refilling.
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Depending on the layout of your MH, the fitting of a fixed tank may free up your gas locker for additional storage.
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In the van scenario, simply use the tow car.
For a motorhome there are challenges, but a "toad", and friend with a solo vehicle are options.
Basically, it was asked because it offers more flexibility than either a fixed or portable alone would, a point probably worth considering when choosing a system.
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It’s by no means an insurmountable obstacle to fill a tank, or bottle, in a MH but I was simply aiming to bring to the OP’s attention that needing to take the MH to a garage selling gas is one more thing to consider and motorways with their services are not to be found in some areas.
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Someone did post a link on the Autosleeper forum of a hose connector which allows a standard propane bottle to feed into a fixed tank bayonet filler so that the bottle of gas can be used via the fixed tank. It would be gasit or gaslow or similar that sold it. At the moment I cannot find it .
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This was something we considered, but as we fill mainly abroad we went with fixed as the filling of a portable cylinder can be refused in some places.
That of course has also been a problem here, but with the increasing popularity of portables, there are more places allowing refilling of them now.
As far as I know, there are no systems which can be both fixed and portable, so a decision does have to be made.
If we had a MH and went abroad frequently, I would not hesitate to fit a tank or fixed system.
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As far as I know, there are no systems which can be both fixed and portable, so a decision does have to be made.
I thought I had read previously that there was a set up whereby the bottle could be filed in situ or removed for filling if desired?
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I disagree with you if you are using in the U.K. and using Ehu then there is no question in my mind a refillable system makes no economic sense at all, you will never get a payback.
Abroad I have never really had a problem with low amps, but I have had problems with low voltage. Last year in France I was getting a measured voltage of 160v, what I wasn’t getting was a cold fridge. I swapped to another post and got a massive 190V this meant I could use electric overnight but I switched to gas during the day.
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There are ones where the filler can be fitted inside the locker with the bottle, rather than fitted in the body of the vehicle, but these are still intended to be left in situ for filling.
With a fixed system the bottle is similar in some ways to an ordinary bottle, the actual filling point that you attach the pump nozzle to is separate and attached to the bottle via a filling hose. With a portable the filler is attached to the bottle permanently.
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Surely the likes of Gaslow provide what is in effect a pigtail, as on any removable bottle, between fill point and bottle then disconnect for separate filling should be simple?
Surely they don't have different bottles but just connectors?
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You need to look on the Gaslow website ET, to see the difference.
https://www.gaslowdirect.com/Gaslow-Refillables
These are ours, we have the filling point you showed fixed in the side of the gas locker
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These are the direct fill portables
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Our system was a "holiday saver" when our fridge 230v element went in Scandinavia....spares are not easily available there, especially when you are on tour.
We had to run the fridge on gas for 3 weeks, it gets through a 6kg bottle in 14 days, so without being able to refill our gas we would have been in a poor situation.
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Thanks everyone for your replies . As a newbie I’m still a bit confused as it’s obviously quite a technical area. Is it just easier (for Europe) to buy a Camping Gaz bottle & regulator and refill as you travel? I’m not sure I’ll need a refillable tank tbh.
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