Excessive gas use and switching from Spanish to English gas

[Louisesjpp]

We're a week on the road heading from home in Spain for a long UK tour, and we've already run a gas bottle dry. This is all new to us, but we did expect a 15kg bottle to do longer than ten days.
Questions: we still have a full Spanish bottle which should get us to England. There we will have to buy an English bottle. Calor seem to seem 'calor' gas: is this butane or propane?
Where, near Newhaven, can I buy the right fittings to convert, the regulator and hoses?
The gas locker smells of gas. I can't hear any hissing, and I've brushed the joints with detergent and water to look for bubbles. I have not seen any but its a far from comprehensive test. Does the gas locker usually smell a bit?
The Truma cupboard is always hot. On eco hot water setting, the water is very hot. I'm wondering if a thermostat is down and this is causing excessive consumption.
The Dometic fridge freezer I'm sure uses a lot of gas. Is there any way to turn the freezer off, which we don't use?
With 280 watts of solar and 200Ah of lithium, would it be possible to switch to 12V on the fridge? In therms of pwoer consumption: I know I'll have to fiddle about with the wiring to make it happen.

 

[berni109]

Calor is a company and a brand. Through their agents they sell both blue cylinders (butane) and red (propane). Flow Gas is an alternative gas brand which may be slightly cheaper.

 

[Minxy]

Lenny HB can you advise ref the question about running the ff from 12v.

 

[berni109]

It is not normal for the gas cupboard to smell of gas. Sometimes you can get a slight wiff but it's normally more of a rubbery type smell.
How old are your hoses in there.

 

[Minxy]

First thing is to turn off your water heater, having it in all the time is likely what's gobbled your gas, only put it on when you intend to use the water soon afterwards.

Be prepared for the shock of gas bottle prices in the UK though, for Calor you'd have to pay a rental charge (about £50) then for a full bottle (probably another £50) so it might be better to try to eek out what you have and use 12v/EHU for as much stuff as you can.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[berni109]

Switch the water heating off and just put it on shortly before you need some.
Then you will know if that's what's using it all.
Minxy beat me to it.

 

[berni109]

Google maps will point you towards suppliers. Search 'gas cylinders' if no locals can help on here.

 

[Lenny HB]

That's quite a bit of of gas for this time of year. We use a 14kg bottle lasts us about 15 days in when it's a bit colder in March or October but it doesn't seem to be much less in summer.

If it's a big Fridge/Freeze they use around 450 to 500 grams per 24 hours more if it's hot.
Electrical power consumption is quoted at 4.2kw per 24 hours so around 350 ah per 24 hours on 12v.

You could run the fridge for a few hours a day on 12v. Ours is set up to run on 12v when the batteries are charged & plenty of solar, it switches in ½ hr block so as not to drain the batteries.

There is only one cooling element for the fridge & freezer and they can't be separated.

The Truma cupboard is always hot. On eco hot water setting, the water is very hot. I'm wondering if a thermostat is down and this is causing excessive consumption.

On Eco it should heat up to 40° C then turn off and not turn on until the water is temp is below 27° C.
I never use the Eco setting as the long hysteresis makes it useless. I just set the timer for the water just for one hour in the morning on hot for our showers, everything else we boil a kettle for.
I would never leave the water on all the time as it will use a lot of gas and will increase the build up of calcium/chalk in the boiler making it inefficient.

Calor gas bottles are Blue Butane, Red Propane, Butane is as good as useless after September in the UK and often a Truma Combi won't work as it can't deliver a high enough flow rate.


A couple of dealers near Newhaven.

Used Motorhomes in Battle, East Sussex | Andrew James Motorhomes

Andrew James Motorhomes are a motorhome Dealers located in Battle, East Sussex. Check out our stock online here now

www.andrewjamesmotorhomes.co.uk

Motorhome and Caravan Dealers

Marquis have 13 motorhome and caravan dealerships across the UK.

www.marquisleisure.co.uk

 

[Louisesjpp]

Thank you all. I have ordered a Gasflo system to be fitted next week and will stop running the hot water 24/7.

 

[berni109]

Well done. Very decisive.
Make sure you get the euro connector that you will need back in Spain.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[gus-lopez]

Does the gas locker usually smell a bit?

no.
I kept getting that when I fitted a new calor propane bottle.It had a brand new valve & It was trouble seating from the start. never showed when testing it but eventually I tightened it with a pipe on the spanner 6 the smell then disappeared

Is there any way to turn the freezer off, which we don't use?

An empty freezer would not help .you shgould have filled it with ice or chips

having it in all the time is likely what's gobbled your gas, only put it on when you intend to use the water soon afterwards.

This^^ turn it on ,use it ,turn it off

 

[rosalan]

Concerned about gas smell, there should be no smell at all if all well. Good choice to go to Gaslow, expensive initially but if you wish to travel around Europe with different system bottles in every country, it becomes essential. The gas is much cheaper too.
There are three different fittings you will need…. Uk which it will be supplied with, Spanish (best one) and French. There are others. The Spanish is a dream to use with no explosive hiss when removed. If you live in Spain you can leave it in or get the hiss when you take it off.

 

[autorouter]

With 280 watts of solar and 200Ah of lithium, would it be possible to switch to 12V on the fridge? In therms of pwoer consumption: I know I'll have to fiddle about with the wiring to make it happen.

It's not really possible to run a 3-way fridge on 12V. They are very inefficient. Typically they will use 200Ah or more in 24 hours, and you'd need a minimum of 500W of solar panels just for that. Having said that, you could switch to 12V during the day to save a bit of gas. Manual switching is a bit of a pain, but possible.

Some solar controllers, Votronic for example, have an 'S+' output that turns the fridge to 12V when the sun is shining strongly enough. It needs an 'S+' input on the fridge control board. So basically it is possible, and you could even rig something up yourself with a bit of switching etc.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Best not to use soapy water for checking leaks. Any large leaks won't necessarily make big bubbles,best to use the commercially available leak detector spray, which is a bit thicker and does show leaks up better. It's also non corrosive unlike soapy water sprays

 

[Brains]

As you have found, heating air and water burns gas.

As a FYI:
We have a 11kg GasLow bottle
(and a 6kg Calor as emergency back up - Unused for 4 yours)

11kg of gas will last us about 3-4 weeks travelling around the EU in the summer, so just being used to power the cooker and the fridge when we don't have EHU and maybe the occasional blast to get hot water (from memory only used a couple of times in 6 weeks)

The same 11kg of gas lasted about 9 days travelling around the UK in April with zero EHU.
Running heating most evenings on low, probably daily hot water blast, fridge and cooker.

As a rule of thumb we have found in our heavily insulated winterised Hymer:
>1kg per day in Winter
<0.5kg per day in Summer
But other vans will be different as it depends on the level of insulation and the individual type of use

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Joethejoiner]

Concerned about gas smell, there should be no smell at all if all well. Good choice to go to Gaslow, expensive initially but if you wish to travel around Europe with different system bottles in every country, it becomes essential. The gas is much cheaper too.
There are three different fittings you will need…. Uk which it will be supplied with, Spanish (best one) and French. There are others. The Spanish is a dream to use with no explosive hiss when removed. If you live in Spain you can leave it in or get the hiss when you take it off.

Just discovered today where the third (screw) fitting is for , Belgium.
Never used it before , but that pump wasn't working! Pump on other side had (British?) bayonet fitting