Gas
It seems that there is a gas crisis and it is very difficult to get the 6kg cylinders that most of us use.
As for the Calor Lite, some stockists say they occasionally get them but they are few and far between. Since 2017 Calor have meant to be developing a replacement for the original Lite cylinders. If you belive that there is a pig flying over your house as well!
It seems that the camping market is not one that Calor particularly care about. I suppose it currently accounts for a small percentage of their sales. With households trying to move away from gas and other fossil fuels Calors main market could disappear over the next 2 or 3 decades. Hopefully we shall be able to, with changes, still be able to enjoy our caravans and motorhomes. The question is, will we be able to get rid of reliance on what at present seems to be a disinterested supplier? Or should we be asking the club to lobby Calor in the hope they can get their act together? That's assuming the politicians don't get such gas supplies in their sights for banning.
Comments
-
Maybe also an idea to ask the club to start selling lpg for refillable tanks at their sites to provide an alternative to the ever dwindling number of uk outlets.
this might increase membership numbers and provide an additional income stream as more people would be likely to join the club and use the facility due the increasing difficulty in obtaining gas right across the board.
Quite a few sites I have been on already have some sort of tank system to provide gas to the sites boilers. It might be a relatively easy ‘upgrade’.0 -
I'd imagine the majority of us do not use much gas as we lean towards using electricity where possible. Our last gas bottle lasted about 5 years, and that is with using the van for about 10 weeks a year. We use a small induction hob and Remoska where possible.
LPG refillable is an idea, but the outlay cost is high and you would have to use a lot of it to get your money back. If you are wild camping or primarily on un-serviced CL's then it would be the way to go, but that means you would not be using main sites so would the club make a return on the investment?
Colin
0 -
Calor propane 6kg refills are in very short supply in Shropshire and North Wales. Stockists ordering 20 but only have 2-3 bottles delivered that are snapped up. I have been informed that Calor have plenty of gas and empty bottles but not the manning to refill. Another stockist informed me that there is a short supply of empty bottles.
However, my relative owns a camping site and had a delivery of 3 bottles from his order of 20. He asked the delivery driver to take back all his empties that have piled up, approximately 100, but was told that he would only take 3 empties which is equivalent to quantity delivered.
Calor, you are a disgrace and an uncaring company to your loyal customers.
Can our club inform us about their site stocks and guarantee that Calor will supply on demand?
0 -
Even refillables are suffering. I took my two Safefills to my local (10 miles away) garage to fill them up the other day, only to find that they ran out of gas a month ago and weren't expecting a delivery until next month - and they weren't even sure about that.
I ended up travelling to another garage 20 miles away - they had plenty but any saving I made was negated by what I had spent in diesel that day to get it!
0 -
I don't use a lot of gas. I carry two 3.9kg bottles and barely use one a season. Alde heating and hot water is electric and we use the electric ring in priority to the gas ones.
We never go off grid. It surprises me that not more new models aren't all electric.
0 -
Afternoon
Sales of calor refills on our sites are run by the site staff not the club. Shortages are similar to what you describe though. It varies in different areas. Here in north Devon we've given up with gas altogether on site.
JK
1 -
The problem with having all electric plates is that you would probably be tripping the power supply if you used more than one on full power, especially if you are on a site where the supply is limited to 10 amps or below. Then how would you cook a meal?
0 -
In one pot.
one pot roast does wot it says on the tin 
Do different elements of the meal in sequence, putting the cooked in a reasonably insulating dish/ cover with foil. Bit like how we do cadac meals.
This camping lark is supposed to be an adventure, after all.
0 -
One option would be to use a Slow Cooker, they use the equivalent of a 100 watt light bulb. The downside of course is that it take all day to cook your food and you have to like one pot meals!!! That could get a bit boring after a while?
David
0 -
Ahead of us this year we have a week long rally and a stay on a non ehu site so we might need to conserve gas. Until recently we used a kettle on gas but have swapped to a small electric kettle, maybe a toaster next. We have one electric plate on the stove but could take a portable plate and we also have the microwave. There are lots of small electric cooking appliances out there. Personally I can see all electric sites coming up as gas will become more expensive and less available generally.
I don't see the club reacting except to raise prices.
0 -
Hopefully there continues to be enough LPG sites for us to refill our Gaslow system on our travels. Since getting the MH we have dispensed with electric kettle, toaster, microwave and coffee maker etc and use gas. So much less clutter. Although both caravans and the MH have / had one electric ring on the cooker, they haven’t been used more than about ten times in total in 17 years. In fact I have removed the knob from the cooker in the MH, as it was too easy to catch when passing and turn it on.
0 -
Although we use very little gas in view of the supply problems, and my caravan hob being all gas, I have recently purchased a small electric hob. It is 1500 watt so drawing about 7 amp. Will just have to be careful on some of the continental sites where the supply is only 4 - 6 amp; then it will have to be the Cadac with Gaz cylinders!
0 -
For those thinking about refillables I came across this announcement from the Motor Fuel Group which could be a worry for many as it seems the number of outlets selling LPG will dramatically decrease by 2024
https://www.petrolprices.com/news/mfg-is-planning-to-end-the-sale-of-auto-lpg-on-its-forecourts/
David
0
