Safefill filling
Comments
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Agree but there are few flaws in your assumption.
Most don't empty the bottle but fill when near a suitable filling point, this means they are guessing at the weight as I assume most transient campsites are not generally equipped with calibrated weighing equipment.
You assume the person undertaking the filling has the detailed instructions and is able to read them.
You assume the person filling understands the volume weight conversion maths, possibly not.
You attribute common sense to the general public, that is just not a proven theory in fact there are many examples to the contrary.
The only proven theory is Boyles law which if I remember rightly says that overfilling a compressed gas cylinder is bad, really bad. Or something similar.
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cps23
cps23
Approved Member
5 posts
Posted yesterday at 09:04
Refillable Gas Bottles - what you may need to know
I recently bought one of these refillable gas bottles. The concept is brilliant and the cost saving potentially significant. And the quality of the 'Safefill' one that I bought, seemingly high. There is only one problem..
When I went to my local Shell garage, they refused to allow me to fill it. Apparently it is company policy. I wrote to Shell who confirmed for various reasons that they do not allow the refilling of 'containers'. I wrote to Safefill highlighting this and they say they have sold many bottles. Fine..if you happen to live in the right area. I then checked their 'partners map'. Where I am (south Hampshire), if you draw a line from Bournemouth through Southampton, Fareham, Guildford, Basingstoke, Winchester, Salisbury and back, there are only two suggested outlets that will allow refilling. This is clearly a significant area and 'a bit of a blow' having just forked out £170. In a more generous radius of 35 miles from where I live..an area of getting on for almost 2000 sq. miles, there are 3. I bought mine from 'The LPG Shop' and there was no reference to the potential shortage of outlets in some areas in their Ebay ad. Maybe I'm just in the wrong area.
So do your research! Because although The LPG Shop have agreed to refund me, this doesn't answer the problem and won't help if you make your purchase, from whatever manufacturer, only to find you can't refill your bottle locally1 -
Unfortunately, the "Safe Fill" cylinder can be overfilled with some serious consequences.
On three occasions, my bottles have been overfilled at a professional LPG station.
I was suspicious the first time when my calculations based on weight was about 3 liters less than the amount dispensed. I made a visual check and could not see any gap at the top of the cylinder.
Contacting SafeFill, I was told to disconnect the bottle from the Caravan, open the valve (with a regulator attached) until no liquid was expelled. Despite my concerns about safety, I did this in a remote area. It took 20 minutes until just gas vapor was flowing.
The cylinder was replaced. But since then I have had 2 more occasions where this happened.
I am aware of 2 other caravanners who have suffered the consequences of using an overfilled cylinder unaware. The result was damage to a heater caused by a small explosion as the liquid gas reached the burner and caused the exhaust cover to detach from the van.
I purchased "Safe Fill" because it was stated as "not possible" to overfill because of the special "Overfill Protection Device".
Clearly, this is not the case and I advise caution.
H
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cps23- sorry to hear your problem. This is a complaint we have heard before. Johnny57 is working on a new map and database. There are more outlets than at first thought- however, I am not surprised that some areas are less catered for than others. I have always rung ahead to suppliers either on route to site or near to site and have never had any trouble. Since The rewriting of the RED GUIDE which now accepts the filling of user owner cylinders, there is absolutely no legal reason why you shouldn’t be able to fill up anywhere but unfortunately, either the word hasn’t reached these outlets or there are other reasons as to why they won’t fill them. It is up to us as a group to keep educating these outlets as to the fact that refillables are here to stay and they are losing business by their continued refusal to fill.
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