Calor lite 6Kg gas bottle
I am going to France and I currently have two bottles. One has been used for some time and the other is full. My dilemma is how much is left in the used bottle. It is not possible to buy this type of bottle in France. Should I simply get a replacement here even though it is not empty? Or is there a way to know how much is left?
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Mr H, How long will you be there? My experience in the past has always been that provided I have one full & unstarted bottle, 6 kg is more than enough to last two-three weeks. Just how much gas do you expect to use? These days we use it only for cooking. I do appreciate that many French sites EHU's are lower amperage than most of ours, but provided you are careful you should be able to run heating on low power if necessary.
If you are still unhappy buy another bottle/cylinder.
TF
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Also depends on how much gas you use and how long you are going for. I changed one that had about a quarter left before going for 6 weeks, however on our return we had probably not used half of one cylinder. My thinking was if there was a problem and we had to use the fridge on gas we would have it available. Short of something like that happening I think we could go for 3 or 4 months with no problems.
Just to say we do use gas for cooking, either the cooker or BBQ via external point. We don't have an electric hob, or mini cooker. Do use an electric kettle for heating water though and a microwave for cooking some of the veg.
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Thank you for each of your responses. We are going for just under 3 weeks. We only cook on a gas stove and a gas barbeque. As we have only used the caravan very spasmodically over the last two years is the reason we cannot remember when we changed the cylinder last. We do not have a gauge on either cylinder.
When they say 6kg is that the weight of the gas. If that is the case I could weigh both cylinders and see the difference.
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6kg is the weight of the gas and so if one is full indeed you could do a comparison weigh.
Calor say TARE WEIGHT (EMPTY) 4.1-5kg
GROSS WEIGHT (FULL) 10.52kgSo some variance on tare weight. I would be surprised if tare not on bottle somewhere
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Subtract the weight of the part bottle from the weight of the full bottle ..... that's the weight of gas used from the part bottle. Subtract that from 6kg gives you the weight of gas left in the part bottle.
In practice though I just pick it up ... give it a shake & decide whether it's nearly full or empty
A full bottle & a part full/empty bottle will very likely be more than enough for a few weeks cooking in France.
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Far be it from me to suggest that you give gas back to Calor but with that type of cylinder you have no choice. Makes you wonder why they designed it that way doesn’t it?? 🤣 Since owning a Safefill cylinder I have never had that problem. Perhaps you should look at the Safefill- perhaps 1 of each might be the way to go. You can see what gas you have left with a SF and they are lightweight and rustproof.
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Trouble is Merve, as good an idea as it is, for low users such as Mr H, it's a very expensive way to get a bottle ...... it'd take him years for it to start paying him back. We got 2 calor 6kg 20 months ago, I replaced one a few weeks back at £22 .......
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Merve Molly is right, we have considered Safefill in the past, but have discounted it due to the initial cost.
On my way now with a set of scales to our storage site to weigh each cylinder. That should give us an idea what is left in the used one. Then if I need to change it for a full one, there is the issue of calor lite cylinders becoming obsolete. It appears there is very limited stock and only certain dealers have stocks. Apparently they will change it for a standard 6kg cylinder which is obviously heavier. Also I seem to remember paying £10 more for the reduced weight of a lite one.
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Merve Molly is right, we have considered Safefill in the past, but have discounted it due to the initial cost.
Indeed. A 3.9kg bottle will last me 80 nights and is convenient to refill on site in UK. I carry two and do around 120 nights a year. Works out at about 20p a day
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I have toyed with the idea of Safefill but have decided to stick with Calorlite for the present. One of my Calorlite bottles was completely empty and the other was almost empty. I was beginning to wonder what to do. I like 2 bottles but can't get 2 Safefill into the compartment. Fortunately, this week, I stumbled on a supplier who had plenty of Calorlite in so I took the opportunity of swapping both. That's me sorted for another 18 months. I'll think again further down the line.....
David
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The tare weight used to be on a collar around the neck in pounds and ounces -typical Calor!
6kg will last forever provided you do not use gas for heating or refrigerator.
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Yes, I see that MM- low users will take forever to get their money back on a Safefill. However, for me it was never about getting my money back quickly although being non EHU, of course I did. The fact that I could see how much gas I had left, the lightweight cylinder and the end to rust marks and never having to give gas back to Calor all played their part. A decision I have never regretted.
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I have just exchanged our Calorlite for a full one at GoOutdoors. They seem to have a limited supply but always been able to exchange so far.
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you could invest in a 'butane' pigtail which terminates a LH threaded 21.8 mm nut which just happens to fit some French bottles...
as a back up, just in case you run out...
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Well that was a worry over nothing. I weighed both bottles using a suitcase weight checker and the unused one weighed 10.2 kg total and the used one 9.8Kg. So now I feel confident ther will be no worries in France.
Thanks to everyone for your advice.
Brian
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David, the idea of a refillable is that you don't 'need' two bottles, the system works just as well with just one....and with a car and a Safefill, you know when you need gas (it's clear) and you have a car to call in at a LPG station anytime after (say) 2/3 empty....
i know you use a second bottle for your BBQ, perhaps this could remain as a Calorlight, if required?
i have room for another Gaslow, but we don't do long enough stops totally away from civilisation to bother with another....we pass so many LPG stations that I can top up when getting diesel.
what I do have is a second pigtail which can support a bottle from any country (even Calor
) should an 'emergency' arise....but it hasn't yet.0 -
The Tare weight is stamped on the bottom rim of the bottle. It is designated "T" followed by a hand marked number. Mine are all 4 point something.
Since reading this thread, I weighed all three of my bottles. The full one was exactly 6K heavier than the Tare weight. The others that show in the low sector weighed in at 1.92Kg of gas with the gauge just in the black sector and the other weighed in at 1.5Kg of gas with the gauge just over half way into the black sector.
So giving me almost 1/3 of a full bottle in one and the other being 1/4 of a full bottle.
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