How much do you pay for your gas ?

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  • ocsid
    ocsid Forum Participant Posts: 1,395
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    edited September 2016 #92

     

    I have said before and I say again- if we want cheaper gas - much cheaper gas- then it's up to us, the little guy. By sheer weight of numbers of people calling to fill Safefill cylinders garages will, one by one realise that they can't hold the flood back any longer and won't want to! They want to sell gas!! Well, with over a million caravanners- that's just caravanners- do we really think that filling won't become easier in the future? No- who in their right mind doesn't want to sell lots of what they sell?? Keep buying Safefill cylinders folks and do yourself a favour and everyone else who has been ripped off on exchange cylinder for years!! The future is here!! 

    I think that is very wishful thinking.

    Access to LPG for our refillable cylinders it is only available because we piggy-back on its use in cars, once that goes so will the distribution infrastructure.

    Most caravanners/motor-home LPG users only buy a small fraction of the number of litres of LPG as they do of diesel or petrol; how can we believe that turnover could remotely support its distribution? 

  • Fysherman
    Fysherman Forum Participant Posts: 1,570
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    edited September 2016 #93

    The market will find its own equilibrium.

    I am totally unconcerned about finding LPG in the short to medium term future.

    Beyond that is crystal ball territory. Petrol and Diesel will disappear someday. 

     

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited September 2016 #94

    If you are right, that could be problematic for some M/homers who only have built in propane tanks.

  • dennisps
    dennisps Forum Participant Posts: 51
    edited September 2016 #95

    Maybe we need some caravan dealers to install LPG pumps, then we can top up there! It is quite possible to get a small tank (1000L) installed with an autogas nozzle attached... Doesn't need to be a big forecourt setup! Maybe I will pop into mine some time
    and ask them what they think!!

  • Fysherman
    Fysherman Forum Participant Posts: 1,570
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    edited September 2016 #96

    I know a factory a few miles away with it's own LPG pump to fill their fork lift trucks.

    Now that has given me an ideaSmile

  • dennisps
    dennisps Forum Participant Posts: 51
    edited September 2016 #97

    I know a factory a few miles away with it's own LPG pump to fill their fork lift trucks.

    Now that has given me an ideaSmile

    Worth a try!!

    Even after LPG is dead for cars, I think it will still be going for domestic/commercial properties with the associated distribution network etc.

  • Fysherman
    Fysherman Forum Participant Posts: 1,570
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    edited September 2016 #98

    Should be.

    The owner is my fyshing buddySurprised

  • briantimber
    briantimber Forum Participant Posts: 1,653
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    edited September 2016 #99

    Replenished my Safefill 7.5kg on way back from Norfolk....£5.77... laughing all the way home ....LaughingCool

  • dennisps
    dennisps Forum Participant Posts: 51
    edited September 2016 #100

    Replenished my Safefill 7.5kg on way back from Norfolk....£5.77... laughing all the way home ....LaughingCool

    There is a slightly better feeling.... filling up, and driving away from a place that has a well known gas company's name emblazended on everything... I'm not going to name names (or places) though!!

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited September 2016 #101

    If you are right, that could be problematic for some M/homers who only have built in propane tanks.

    if refillable ever became 'problematic', Id just revert to whatever was available in the market i was in at the time...

    as it is, I'll probably take a Spanish bottle when next in spain, just in case....

    however, over there, Repsol and Cepsa seem to be increasing the number of LPG equipped fuel stations, and getting LPG at many French supermarkets is still straightforward....

    as ever in these things, the UK errs on the cautious side and is often behind the curve rather than ahead of it....

  • Merve
    Merve Forum Participant Posts: 2,333
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    edited September 2016 #102

    I would agree that SAFEFILL etc will never surpass the car market sales but hey! The gas conversions for cars is dead- where to from here? We will always be able to get gas- just all depends on how far we have to drive to get it? It's a chicken and egg situation
    at the moment- if there are few filling points people will not buy Safefill etc, if they dont buy safefill it will remain as it is - not as many filling points as there should be! 

  • MichaelT
    MichaelT Forum Participant Posts: 1,874
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    edited September 2016 #103

    Replenished my Safefill 7.5kg on way back from Norfolk....£5.77... laughing all the way home ....LaughingCool

    Write your comments here...and therein lies the problem for the retailer. Cost to install & maintain pump, storage tank etc. All for someone to come in and spend £5.77 of which probably 80% us made up of costs, vat etc. So he may have madev12p, would you
    do it?  We only buy small amounts so unless the car market picks up I doubt there is any longevity in garages supplying Lpg.  Could be a good idea for caravan/motorhome dealers to install tanks but probably make more from calor so where us the incentive as
    for that all you need us a locked cage.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited September 2016 #104

    "Could be a good idea for caravan/motorhome dealers to install tanks but probably make more from calor so where us the incentive as for that all you need us a locked cage."

    sort of agree with the first part, Michael but not the second part about just a cage ...

    serving customers with Calor cannisters is quite hands on and labour intensive, if you sold a lot the 'man in charge' might be a bit busy....opening cages, carrying bottles about, taking cash etc...

    i belong to an onganisation called Countrywide Farmers (im not a farmer, nor have anything to do with them) who sell LPG, from dispensers at interesting locations....our local one is close to the scrapyard a couple of miles away....

    i have an electronic 'key' and a PIN number and an account already set up, paid directly at the end of each month...

    i go to the pump, put in my key, type in my PIN, dispense the LPG.....done....no people involved and pumps scattered around...though not what i would actually call ' nationwide'.

    still, it shows that there is a market, the kit is in place and the labour costs can be extremely low....

    i dont use them that often, as i know for a couple of LPG stations handy to most routes i take....but they are there as a good back up...no fee to join.

    as in your first point, perhaps a group could rent space at a few strategic caravan dealers, it still seems to be paying for NF.

  • MichaelT
    MichaelT Forum Participant Posts: 1,874
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    edited September 2016 #105

    BB you only need a cage, they are not selling gas 24*7 maybe 5 or 6 bottles a day on a busy day??

    I saw the farmers thing but it s not near me, and even you cannot spend that much on gas so I still think the samll amounts we as caravaners/MH'ers does not jsutify someone installing an LPG pump.  Our M/H was full when we collected it and is still in the
    green and we ahve been in it for about 30 nights, I know its summer so no heating yet but even if I fill it from empy its 22l so at 60p a litre thats only £13, still cheaper than calor but expensive for my local garage to fit a pump just in case I pop in....

     

  • ocsid
    ocsid Forum Participant Posts: 1,395
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    edited September 2016 #106

    Whilst it will I am sure remain extensively in use for domestic home heating, I can't see them sending a tanker over to your home to top up your 10 kg refillable even if left till bone dry; for sure not if a Calor contractor Wink

  • dennisps
    dennisps Forum Participant Posts: 51
    edited September 2016 #107

    Whilst it will I am sure remain extensively in use for domestic home heating, I can't see them sending a tanker over to your home to top up your 10 kg refillable even if left till bone dry; for sure not if a Calor contractor Wink

    No, not to fill a 10KG cylinder, but they would to refill a 1000/2000L tank at a caravan dealer!!

    Anyway, discussion has got me thinking.... I wonder how long it will be until gas is dead for caravanning completely... With the speed of development of technology, and especially electric cars, battery technology is improving a lot... higher capacity, smaller,
    lighter batteries. Also, solar panel technology is improving. How many years before we have a combination of battery and solar panel which means that we don't need gas at all, and can do everything of battery?

  • Fysherman
    Fysherman Forum Participant Posts: 1,570
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    edited September 2016 #108

    Who knows but I would not let such concerns stop me buying a Safefill now if I used enough gas to make it worthwhile.

    LPG is not going away in the next decade (or two) at the very least.

  • ocsid
    ocsid Forum Participant Posts: 1,395
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    edited September 2016 #109

    Anyway, discussion has got me thinking.... I wonder how long it will be until gas is dead for caravanning completely... With the speed of development of technology, and especially electric cars, battery technology is improving a lot... higher capacity, smaller, lighter batteries. Also, solar panel technology is improving. How many years before we have a combination of battery and solar panel which means that we don't need gas at all, and can do everything of battery?

    Gathering and storing enough energy into batteries to replace LPG is going to present some real challenges, more so if you want heating in the winter.

    Your 10 kg cylinder of propane equates to about 136 kWh.

    Our present 100 Ahr batteries when brand new store about 0.6kWh of usable energy. So we need about a 230 times improvement on that to match the 10 kgs of propane; maybe one day.

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,383
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    edited September 2016 #110

    Whilst it will I am sure remain extensively in use for domestic home heating, I can't see them sending a tanker over to your home to top up your 10 kg refillable even if left till bone dry; for sure not if a Calor contractor Wink

    No but I am told you can go to their depot and use their LPG pumps. I was made aware of this sometime ago but there are no depots near me. Checkout >Countrywide< Their prices are also cheaper than garage prices.

    peedee

     

  • KenofKent
    KenofKent Forum Participant Posts: 209
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    edited September 2016 #111

    Such a shame they do not operate in or near Kent. There are a couple of main service stations on routes that I use but from what I read they would not allow refillable cylinders to be refilled.

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited September 2016 #112

    The name is a bit of a misnomer. Outlets would appear to be lacking north of the midlands and anywhere east of the A34

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,383
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    edited September 2016 #113

    I would have thought there are others covering those areas, it is probably just a case of knowing who they are. I am fortunate in that my local garage sells LPG currently at 48.9p.l. and I know of three others within 12 miles.

    peedee

  • MichaelT
    MichaelT Forum Participant Posts: 1,874
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    edited September 2016 #114

    I would have thought there are others covering those areas, it is probably just a case of knowing who they are. I am fortunate in that my local garage sells LPG currently at 48.9p.l. and I know of three others within 12 miles.

    peedee

    Write your comments here...but how often do you top up peedee? 

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited September 2016 #115

    I would have thought there are others covering those areas, it is probably just a case of knowing who they are. I am fortunate in that my local garage sells LPG currently at 48.9p.l. and I know of three others within 12 miles.

    peedee

    Write your comments here...but how often do you top up peedee? 

    ...i only top up my wife's Fiat 500 (with a full tank at just over £30) every 10 days or so.....so Sainsbury dont make much out of me...

    however, there are many other cars that need fuel...

    in the same way, many vans need gas, not filling very often, but Shell and Esso are still happy to pick up many small transactions on LPG....

    as i said, several supermarket chains in France have LPG pumps at virtually all their outlets alongside their normal fuel pumps.

    yes, the demand has to be there to support the investment, but at the moment, customers are loathe to consider refillable, preferring the 'safety' of a £25 exchange....Undecided

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited September 2016 #116

    just to add, it also depends on how/where you tour....

    some can tour all over europe, stay on sites with ehu all the time and hardly turn their gas on....

    however, we have a MH which we use for impromptu stopping, aires, countryside, the odd supermarket, where we use gas for our cooking and hot water...

    so, i have a system that allow us to top up our gas (with as much or as little as i like, and wherever its convenient) anywhere in europe....exchange bottles would be a pain as you cross borders....

  • MichaelT
    MichaelT Forum Participant Posts: 1,874
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    edited September 2016 #117

    just to add, it also depends on how/where you tour....

    some can tour all over europe, stay on sites with ehu all the time and hardly turn their gas on....

    however, we have a MH which we use for impromptu stopping, aires, countryside, the odd supermarket, where we use gas for our cooking and hot water...

    so, i have a system that allow us to top up our gas (with as much or as little as i like, and wherever its convenient) anywhere in europe....exchange bottles would be a pain as you cross borders....

    Write your comments here...same here BB however I still say that it is not worth the expense to isntall a lpg pump just in case the odd M/Her or caravanner pop in for £7 worth of gas.  I know that if I install a diesel and petrol pump 99.9% of the vehicles
    that go by need my service but for lpg its only 0.01% of vehicles and then they only need my service say 3 times a year, maybe less and then they are going to buy say 20l whereas a vehicle filling the petrol/diesel tank its going to be 30-90 litres depending
    on the car and they will do this 12 times a year maybe more.

  • Fysherman
    Fysherman Forum Participant Posts: 1,570
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    edited September 2016 #118

    It's all academic really, there are loads of places to fill up and thats not going to change for as long as I have got left.Surprised

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,383
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    edited September 2016 #119

    Write your comments here...but how often do you top up peedee? 

    So far this year I have only topped up 3 times and have only used half my average consumption but I have not been out in the winter yet. My average consumption per year is 158 litres or 79Kgms. The average number of times top up visits is 6.75 times per year.

    Well you did ask!

    peedee

  • mbee1
    mbee1 Forum Participant Posts: 557
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    edited September 2016 #120

    I actually don't care how much I pay for gas!  I buy it when I need it.  Rarely go off grid but, even if I did, I'd still buy it when I needed it and wouldn't bother about the cost.  We've invested in our caravan to enjoy it and wouldn't baulk at the cost
    when it came to using it.

  • Fysherman
    Fysherman Forum Participant Posts: 1,570
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    edited September 2016 #121

    At my current average annual gas consumption a refillable system saves me £75 per year. 

    I am not exactly on the breadline but that is not to be sniffed at