LPG Availability
We have been using our Motorhome at home for cooking for the last few days whilst our kitchen is being renovated. Of course, using the LPG (built-in tank) for heating it ran out last night so I discovered that there is an LPG shortage in the area. There are three garages within about 10 - 15 mins and only one had supplies.
Browsing another forum (after filling up) I discovered a great website filllpg.co.uk. It identifies availability and price throughout the UK and was absolutely accurate for my area. Pity I didn’t discover it before embarking on my own version of an Easter egg hunt!
Comments
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also try www.mylpg.eu to give European wide station locations including POI files for your satnav...
it also reports recent usage (with confirmation date) to give real time accuracy...
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It looks as though the filllpg website gets updated regularly. If you touch on the symbol on the interactive map you can see all the details so I don’t think that a Sticky will add anything.
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Being very new to this game and having ordered our van with an LPG Tank fitted I am not so sure now. With my local Shell removing the Pump, seeing BP announcement etc. plus the incredibly limited number of stations on the 'LPG Map' I think I had better change our order pdq.
Any experienced Motor homer out there care to comment?
Thanks
Derek
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We have a tank and it is becoming a concern as so many pumps are vanishing. Given the choice, I would choose cylinders. Many people swear by refillable cylinders because they can be more cost effective if you use a lot of gas but I think they present the same problem as a tank when refills are needed.
It might depend where you intend to use your van most as I believe it's much easier to refill overseas. If you have exchangeable, rather than refillable cylinders though, you will not be able to get Calor in Europe and will need a local cylinder.
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Thanks Tinwheeler much appreciated. I think I am going to change to Cylinders because at least for the foreseeable future the UK is our Touring area. Cos of Brexit cant use our boat that much (its in France) so the Motorhome is a kind of early replacement its just that one day when we can no longer pull the sheets and tug her in and out the Motorhome will become the transport of choice.
Once again thanks for your advice, much appreciated.
Thanks
Derek
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I'm totally dissolutioned and disappointed. I went for refillable tanks and now am contemplating a retrofit back to bottles at some expense and loss of storage space! The pumps at garages seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate before our very eyes. How much longer will the likes of Autosleeper be fitting on-board tanks as a standard fitting to some of their motorhomes? Not much longer I suggest!
Come on Merve, much needed reassurance needed! What's your take on this dilemma?
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I have seen LPG pumps on motorway services and whilst I appreciate that prices will be higher I wonder if there is a requirement for them to maintain a supply of gas?
David
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Last time I filled up their was a car in front of me filling it’s main tank. There are also a number of LPG taxis around so hopefully there is still a demand outside of leisure use.
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Same here. I was topping up and there was a Range Rover filling up.
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I'd guess the change is prompted at least in part by the anticipated increase in electric powered vehicles and the need to find space for charging points? Also the government can't be making anything like the tax receipts from lpg that it gets from petrol and diesel and would be unlikely to concern itself on our behalf with its disappearance from the forecourt..
I have a Gaslow set-up and the sudden loss of the Shell garages provision of lpg is worrying. Much will depend short-term on where you live and travel, and just how accurate the online data is. I've come across the odd pretty crummy set-up with tricky or impeded access, suggesting some are little used - and that includes the odd one in France. One simply can't depend upon a refill being immediately available where you'd hoped it might be.
Having said that, it's been a good system hirtherto.
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Well my local garage again has no LPG at the pumps and I could not get any sense from the garage attendants as to whether they would be re-supplied. What is the situation in other areas?
Does anyone have the web address of Countrywide, now Flo Gas where they used to list depots where you could fill tanks. I have tried searching but I am not coming up with anything. Does anyone know if in fact Flo Gas has stopped selling from the depots?
Finally it begs the question are we moving more rapidly towards seeing the death of refillables than expected or is it really just a glitch in supplies?
peedee
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A few years back I considered moving over to Safefill but the lack of available fill points, and our low usage, meant it was not viaable.
Our friends, who live in Basingstoke, have a MH with Gaslow system and have said that the number of fill points has reduced considerably recently.
It must be a worry for those that have a 'built in' system.
Ironically since we decided against Safefill a fill point has been provided at the new Cornwall Services on the A30 which,although 25 miles away, is a place I regularly pass.
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Peedee
When I am driving around MK I am aware of a couple of forecourts which still have LPG on their price boards, I have not investigated beyond that. One is in Linford Wood and the other is at Broughton, both with access direct from the grid road system.
David
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Thanks David, when the brakes come off on Monday I will take a drive out to check them out. The car could do with a run out.
I would still be interesting in peoples thoughts and experience in other areas. I am seriously thinking of scrapping by dual refillable system and changing to one refillable with an exchangable bottle as backup.
peedee
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A local garage to me who sells LPG suggests it has seen its height at the turn of the century. Whilst better environmentally than others it’s still fossil fuel & destined for the bin of history🤷🏻♂️. The outlets & suppliers are losing interest & its being choked off.
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I suspect there will always be places selling LPG but probably not so many mainstream places which will impact on the convenience and probably cost effectiveness of refillable systems. If you have to travel 50 miles to fill up and not have the convenience of 24/7 fill up it may well tip the balance back to exchange cylinders despite the extra cost? Is there any evidence that it is getting harder to fill up with LPG in Europe, is the same thing happening there? One of the advantages of refillables was the fact that you couldn't get UK exchange cylinders abroad but it was relatively easy to find LPG in service stations.
David
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Peedee
The one in Linford Wood is on Saxon Street (V7) just north of CMK and the Broughton one is at the roundabout on Monks Way (H6) and Tongwell Street (V11) I have only noticed that they sell LPG from the road so haven't investigated suitability of access for motorhomes. The A421 dual carriageway is now open from junction 13 on the M1 just in case you weren't aware.
David
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Afternoon
I'd hold your horses on the exchange bottle PD. Bottle stock is virtually non existent at the minute. We, and many colleagues can't get a supply and we're told it's for the foreseeable.
JK
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That is interesting JK does it mean there is a general shortage of LPG if so I wonder why?
David if the LPG pump off Tongwell is the Shell garage on the way to Junction 14 then I have used that one many times before both for fuel and gas..Perhaps it will be wise to drive the motorhome around to all these garages and see if one of them has any, it needs a run. Others I have used are the BP station near Kingstone on the way to Junction 13 and the Shell garage over at Bleak Hall. They are all a bit out of my way but I could complete a nice circuit starting at the BP garage near Kingstone.
peedee
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Shell are removing all their LPG pumps. BP are mostly still operating the existing installations. There are a number of builders merchant suppliers who have LPG pumps. One perhaps has to hunt them out a bit but the advantage of refillables is to top up when you are near an outlet rather than give the last bit Calor back before you run out which makes the already exorbitant price even more expensive.
Given the imminent demise of Calorlites, I'd have thought caravaners with their limited payload would go for Safefill rather than a heavy steel bottle.
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At present I have one of these just in case.
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Took the MH for a good run round today and topped up with LPG. Morrison’s at Doncaster, very convenient for anyone who lives close or when passing north / south on the A1M. 57.7p a litre today. LPG pump is at far end, in front of pumps 7/8 and you can access it from either side, depending where your filler is. I would also have been able to fill with diesel without moving. The filling station is in the top RH corner of the map.
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