Changing gas bottles to French ones

[Anna]

Hi

We bought our MH in the UK and, as we live in France, are now in the process of registering it here.

My question today is about changing the gas bottles to French ones. Can someone please tell us which would be the best gas bottles to buy here in France, preferably ones which will also be easy to buy replacements in other continental countries.

Any other info/tips you have on this would be much appreciated!

Anna

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna
I expect you are on your travels now... We live not far from you in S Vienne!

Just got our MH in the UK and its got a Calor gas tank fitted...! Did you manage to sort out your gas bottles and register the MH ok? We are just about to embark on all that! Any tips or info appreciated...

Happy New Year!
Val

Hi Val

Just opted to keep our gas bottles French for the time being. We've just arrived in Portugal and, as we intend to be on sites where we can have electric hook ups, hopefully we'll be able to conserve our gas supply and make it last until we get back to France. Depending on how it goes, we may look at other options for next time!

Re registering your UK camper in France, it really all depends on if you can obtain a European Certificate of Conformity.

If you can, then it should be a piece of cake! If you can't and that would be because it's too old, then it's a bit of a pain in the derriere! The latter, while not impossible, will be expensive and time consuming.

If your camper falls into the latter category and you need help, let me know because, if we had known what we know now, it could have taken us at least half the time, although it would have still been the same cost!

We read a lot and were given a lot of well meaning but incorrect advise! While we were able to obtain COCs for the chassis cab (in our case, from Fiat) and
for the chassis conversion (in our case, from Alko), we were unable to obtain a COC for the cellule (French for the camper habitation part, in our case, from Swift), due to the age of the camper. Modern campers will come with one complete COC.

Although my paperwork is at home, I think I should have most of the stuff on
my laptop, which I have with me.

Knowing what order to do everything in would have made things easier too!

Best wishes for a Happy New Year.
Anna

 

[Stonemags76]

Can I ask how to buy a French gas bottle if you have no French address ( except the campsite of course)? Will they accept a British address? In Spain we have had to have a Repsol inspection, but luckily they accepted the campsite address. Is it the same in France?
Thanks

 

[Rugeley Tim]

Having moved to Germany with the forces last year we have been through the same problem with the certificate of conformity as we have had to go through the export process for both our car and autotrail apache. The van is a 2008 but autotrail did not issue the COC as standard until 2010, although we could have got a coc from a specialist garage in Germany for around 800 euro we eventually found a loophole in the German law which states that any vehicle under 3500kg needs a COC but anything over does not as our van is plated as 3500kg I contested the need for my van to have one as it was not under 3500kg (although it is not over) and the respose from Munchengladback was a rather stoney silence and and eventual respose that I could register it without the COC but that the law would now change to include vans plated as 3500! how lucky was that:Cool:

 

[Anna]

Can I ask how to buy a French gas bottle if you have no French address ( except the campsite of course)? Will they accept a British address? In Spain we have had to have a Repsol inspection, but luckily they accepted the campsite address. Is it the same in France?
Thanks

Hi
You don't need an address to buy a gas bottle in France! You just roll up at any petrol station and buy one.
Anna

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[ValinFrance]

Hi Anna
Hope you are enjoying your travels - its been snowing here and we have just sent off to Hymer and Citroen now to get the Certificates of Conformity.

Just wondered if you went through the Veritas gas installation checks and what you put in to satisfy the inspector - type of regulator (i.e. a special campervan one). I read somewhere about new rules coming in... :Sad:

We will most likely use propane...
Thanks in advance
Val

 

[missbusybusy]

Hi so if you have a LPG system that you fill at Fuel service stations can you easily connect an exchange bottle to this system ?

 

[Wildman]

With a fixed tank lpg system it is easy enough to have a plug in connector fitted so that you can plug in an external BBQ or indeed another bottle (via a regulator of course). So if you carry a length of hose with the appropriate plug on you can fit it to whatever regulator you need to.

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna
Hope you are enjoying your travels - its been snowing here and we have just sent off to Hymer and Citroen now to get the Certificates of Conformity.

Just wondered if you went through the Veritas gas installation checks and what you put in to satisfy the inspector - type of regulator (i.e. a special campervan one). I read somewhere about new rules coming in... :Sad:

We will most likely use propane...
Thanks in advance
Val

Hi Val

Yes, really enjoying ourselves, thanks! In Portugal and although today has been dull and drizzling now, on the whole, weather has been mild with 19°C inside during last night without any heating on, so not complaining!

If you can get a COC from Hymer and Citroen, I don't understand why you would need to go through any other checks, far less Veritas! Why do you think you need that? The only reason we had to go through the rigmarole was because we couldn't obtain a COC from Swift. If you have both COCs from Hymer and Citroen and, if you have an Alko chassis conversion, you will need one from Alko and that should suffice.

If you do require a Veritas check, it was fairly straighforward and we just fitted a normal French regulator (same as for a French house) and must be a Propane bottle.