Propane gas in France
Hello
We are new to motorhoming and are going on our first adventure to France in a few days
Will I be able to get propane bottles in France and are the connections the same?
Any advice much appreciated
John & Carol
Comments
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Check out the Useful Info in the Overseas holidays tab at the head of the page. Alternatively, there is much info to be found via a Google search.
You cannot get Calor in France and the French varieties do require different connectors.
I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I will be along soon.
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With 40 summer visits to France behind me I never needed to buy gas over there. Take a full cylinder - two if you wish - and that will suffice for a few weeks in the sun. Long stay winter journeys are another story.
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Agree with ET. I take 2 bottles with me when I go on 6 week trips, one is full and the other is the in use one from my previous trip. In summer/shoulder season trips never had a problem. If you are off grid and using gas for your fridge you will obviously use more.
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I notice the OP is a motorhomer so may be staying on Aires without the option of electrics so gas will be used for fridge cooling. Certainly sensible to take full cylinders with you. I think you will find that supermarket fuel stations sell gas bottles and you may find one that has a standard connection although I think a lot use the clip on variety. You may find they also sell a pigtail which you can use. The alternative is a large DIY shed who may be able to help you. Camping Gaz is the only universal gas but prohibitively expensive if you are a heavy user!!!
David
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We have a Gaslow refillable system, so could have refilled it when we went to France last September, for 6 weeks, but didn't need to. Despite using several Aires without EHU, so using the gas for fridge and water heating, we didn't get through 10 kg. Therefore if you go with two full 6kg Calor cylinders, I would think you will be OK unless you intend to do a lot of off grid.
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Also have a Gasflow refillable system with 2 x 6kg bottles. We’ll typically be in mainland Europe for about 10 weeks at a time, mainly on sites but occasional aires (maybe 10 of the 70 days) where we’ll run the absorption fridge and water heater (40c) on gas. Even in hot summers, we’re unlikely to use the second cylinder so have never had to fill up abroad.
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We've used this system for years: one Calor cylinder for UK use and one French (ELFI) cylinder for on the continent. In either case the one not currently in use acts as a backup till a refilled cylinder can be obtained. We have 2 clip on bottle adaptors as the French connector is very slightly different size to the Calor one: https://www.gaslowshop.co.uk/gaslow-20mm-clip-on-adapter/
Note these are for butane not propane - as far as I know propane is not widely available in France.
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It’s easy enough to buy the bottles in France, the issue is having a pigtail with the connector to match and these would not normally be available at supermarkets and garages where you buy the cylinders. If you were using the Homebase bottles in the UK (formerly BP Gas Light) then you could buy Le Cube cylinders in France which have the same clip-on connector.
If you really can’t manage with two UK bottles then you will need to research the French cylinders and buy an adaptor or pigtail before you go.
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