Butane V Propane
Is Propane any better than Butane for summer caravaning
Comments
-
The only time my butane froze was during the really long, very cold spell a few years ago. SWMBO had intended to use the caravan's oven as an over flow oven when cooking Christmas dinner ...... but was unable to. Other than that, we've never had a problem
with butane even when caravaning in snow.0 -
agreed, Pippa, no need to faff about....
golden rule, if you caravan in very cold places for prolonged periods you will probably be relying on gas to supplement your heating so choose propane.
for summer only campers, butane will do the same job....
but choose one or the other for your type of camping....
0 -
Luckily we stick with propane all year. We had holiday up on Hadrians Wall and Northumberland last June. Early in the month, we got up to find the water in our dog bowls frozen solid...in June! You never know!
0 -
With our first caravan, we had a cylinder of each.....having been told that butane was in some way better but propane was needed for winter (and we did experience 'frozen' gas using butane).
In our current caravan, we have two bottles of propane and have not had any problems in 10 years.
Just use propane and you will be fine.
0 -
Is there any advantage to Butane - unless you only have the blue cylinders? Empty the blue and restart with red propane ones then there is no issue.
Butane burns at a higher temperature than propane, so one will use less gas especially if using ones oven and have the fridge on gas.
0 -
Is there any advantage to Butane - unless you only have the blue cylinders? Empty the blue and restart with red propane ones then there is no issue.
Butane burns at a higher temperature than propane, so one will use less gas especially if using ones oven and have the fridge on gas.
In air* pure butane burns at 1,970 C° whereas pure propane burns at 1,980 C°. Of course most suppliers provide a mixture which tends to vary slightly over the year. Delivery pressure also affects the performance but for the most part we as users are unlikely
to notice any difference when using a euro standard 30 mbar gas regulator.*Air, consists of about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and less than 1% of argon, carbon dioxide, and other gases.
That's me told then!!
However I don't understand what the final statement has to do the OP!0 -
I believe that you get a bit more Butane comparing size for size and it burns a bit hotter. I used BP light which is a mixture now I have s built-in LPG tank and that's a mixture
If you have a Homebase neer you I would go for Gas Light (formerly BP Light) but if not then Calorlite is probably the best option
0 -
Plan B.
Have refillable containers and then worry about lpg being a mixture of propane and butane and what rate the two burn off together. Also does butane get left behind in the cylinder in colder weather.
Not easy being a caravaner !
Rgds
0 -
No one seems to have quantified the differences between butane and propane usage very clearly yet. I hope all interested have looked at the refillables eg Safefill for a cheaper alternative. I have no regrets buying a large Safefill cylinder the savings
are great. My central heating (such as it is) is LPG so I am no stranger to the business! But the rip off rate for calor particularly Calor lite is stunning!0 -
Which statement is troubling you Nellie?
Sorry DD, I missed the * in the first line. However hitchglitch seems to think that Butane burns hotter than Propane. Wonder where we got that idea from.
0 -
DD have just looked on WIKI and comparing Specific Heat Capacity, Propane's is 73.60 JK-1Mol-1 compared to Butanes's 98.49. Physics is certainly not my subject though so my thought that the gas with the higher SHC burns hotter could well be misplaced.
0 -
Thanks for all your info, some of you have said about refillables, but all my local garages say it is iligle to refiill them, probly preasured by the likes of Calor
0 -
The ability of butane to "gas off" from liquid begins to reduce at 7C. The point at which it refuses to gas depends not only on the temperature but the installation which obviously varies. Just use Propane all year round and forget about such issues.
It is not illegal to refill a cylinder with a proper overfill protection system as fitted to all Safefill cylinders. The reason they are telling you differently is because of either ignorance or belligerence. You can do something about the first, nothing
about the second.0
