Exploring Lighter Gas Cylinder Alternatives

[Dorset Diver]

It's simply easier to turn off the empty bottle and turn on the full one .
Especially first thing in the morning when it invariably runs out overnights - in the rain and while I'm still semi naked in my carpet slippers

Well! That's an image I didn't need .

 

[TrudeandDall]

It's simply easier to turn off the empty bottle and turn on the full one .
Especially first thing in the morning when it invariably runs out overnights - in the rain and while I'm still semi naked in my carpet slippers

Okay, I see why... You could always change the T piece for a gaslow manual changeover valve, with the bonus of a bottle gauge built in and better pigtail connectors, eliminating the kink. https://www.caravanningequipment.co...hangeover-Valve-Gaslow-Gauge-For-Propane.html

 

[Lenny HB]

How much????

It looks worse than it is --- honest

Do it properly Alex a CS changeover is only £200.

 

[Lenny HB]

Gaslow 11kg approx 12.4 kg empty, Gasbank approx 5.8 kg.

Alugas 11kg 6.6kg, 14kg 7.5kg.

 

[Keithwill]

We stock the Safefill and the Gasbank type with the separate filler connection .
Identical cylinder but you are correct about the valve being different.
Ours isn’t branded Gasbank but identical.
nabsim has one on his van
We also stock the Aluminium Augas cylinder which has several advantages over the other two, especially the gauge but also the excess flow valve.

I have a Gasbank LS 11kg which came with a uk softpol adaptor. It has a single in/out connection. I tried refilling at Morrisons but was told they could not allow these and only allow " the grey calor" cylinders to be refilled. Can I fit an external fill system so the cylinder can be filled inside the cabinet out of sight. Thanks for any help.

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[Kthryn]

We have a gas pump that connects to the engine or leisure battery or any battery really and allows us to pump gas from red bottles into our LPG converted motorhome fuel tank or into leisure gas bottles.

It works great because we can refuel the motorhome wherever we are so its like having extra range from a bigger LPG tank.

We can even pump from a near empty bottle into another bottle so would never need to waste gas by thinking "ooh one of our bottles is nearly empty but one is half full and we dont want to run out of gas so we'd better change the empty bottle". Instead we can pump gas from the near empty bottle into half full bottle and return the empty bottle. Thats if we ever needed or wanted to pay for swapping a small bottle, we dont need to do that now because its cheaper to buy gas in a big bottle and pump it into a small bottle so we always do that instead of filling at a forecourt or buying gas in small bottles.

Some of our friends dont have a motorhome but have a static caravan and they run an LPG car. They also have a pump and think its great because they can arrive at the static caravan where there are no nearby forecourts that sell LPG and refuel their car from one of their static caravan gas bottles, it works ot cheaper than it would be filling at a forecourt and is much more convenient. They dont even have an LPG forecourt near their home so they have a bottle at home and refil their car at home too.

 

[landranger]

We stock the Safefill and the Gasbank type with the separate filler connection .
Identical cylinder but you are correct about the valve being different.
Ours isn’t branded Gasbank but identical.
nabsim has one on his van
We also stock the Aluminium Augas cylinder which has several advantages over the other two, especially the gauge but also the excess flow valve.

Sorry Basildog can I seek some clarification here please.
The implication is that both the Safefill and the Gasbank (or your version thereof) do not have excess flow valves in them, but the Alugas does? Could you also advise where Gaslow fall in terms of excess flow prevention.
I understood that the safefill does have such a valve, is that not what I have to release before refitting the POL connection after filling the bottle up?

There's lots to consider before deciding which bottles to purchase aside from the physical size of the bottles and I'm trying to get a complete picture before taking the plunge to replace my 10 Yr old Safefill.
Thanks

 

[Stealaway]

Do it properly Alex a CS changeover is only £200.

I really don't mind wet feet first thing in the morning

 

[Basildog]

I have a Gasbank LS 11kg which came with a uk softpol adaptor. It has a single in/out connection. I tried refilling at Morrisons but was told they could not allow these and only allow " the grey calor" cylinders to be refilled. Can I fit an external fill system so the cylinder can be filled inside the cabinet out of sight. Thanks for any help.

​

NO you can’t is the correct answer

 

[Basildog]

Sorry Basildog can I seek some clarification here please.
The implication is that both the Safefill and the Gasbank (or your version thereof) do not have excess flow valves in them, but the Alugas does? Could you also advise where Gaslow fall in terms of excess flow prevention.
I understood that the safefill does have such a valve, is that not what I have to release before refitting the POL connection after filling the bottle up?

There's lots to consider before deciding which bottles to purchase aside from the physical size of the bottles and I'm trying to get a complete picture before taking the plunge to replace my 10 Yr old Safefill.
Thanks

The Alugas and Gaslow cylinders both use the same multi valve which incorporates the excess flow valve.
Most other cylinders don’t bathe excess flow valve built in so you would use the GOK or Truma rupture protection hoses that have the valve in conjunction with a drive safe / crash safe regulator that allows you to leave the gas on whilst travelling.
The valve on Safefill is there to prey on from inadvertently removing the filling gun and suddenly having the gas coming out if you didn’t close the hand wheel shut of valve.

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[landranger]

The Alugas and Gaslow cylinders both use the same multi valve which incorporates the excess flow valve.
Most other cylinders don’t bathe excess flow valve built in so you would use the GOK or Truma rupture protection hoses that have the valve in conjunction with a drive safe / crash safe regulator that allows you to leave the gas on whilst travelling.
The valve on Safefill is there to prey on from inadvertently removing the filling gun and suddenly having the gas coming out if you didn’t close the hand wheel shut of valve.

Basildog, thank you for the comprehensive reply, much appreciated

 

[Kthryn]

The Alugas and Gaslow cylinders both use the same multi valve which incorporates the excess flow valve.
Most other cylinders don’t bathe excess flow valve built in so you would use the GOK or Truma rupture protection hoses that have the valve in conjunction with a drive safe / crash safe regulator that allows you to leave the gas on whilst travelling.
The valve on Safefill is there to prey on from inadvertently removing the filling gun and suddenly having the gas coming out if you didn’t close the hand wheel shut of valve.

Dont the external LPG filling points have there own built in valve that doesnt allow gas to escape when you disconnect the forecourt pump?
If you fitted a T connector could you connect one end to an external filler one end to the bottle and other end to regulator through a rupture protection hose?
I think one of our friends has set up like that he showed it to us

 

[SSILVO]

I went for a 38kg underslung tank from Autogas 2000 in Thursk...Great job and works well

 

[LithiumConvert]

There's lots to consider before deciding which bottles to purchase aside from the physical size of the bottles and I'm trying to get a complete picture before taking the plunge to replace my 10 Yr old Safefill.

With the 10 year old Safefill bottles you could see the level of the liquid in the bottles

With the new ones (and presumably the new Gasbank bottles) it is very difficult to see the level of the liquid.

 

[1967bowesj]

Dont the external LPG filling points have there own built in valve that doesnt allow gas to escape when you disconnect the forecourt pump?
If you fitted a T connector could you connect one end to an external filler one end to the bottle and other end to regulator through a rupture protection hose?
I think one of our friends has set up like that he showed it to us

Not if you don’t want high pressure liquid gas passing through your regulator you don’t!

By the time you rig up some bypass contraptions you might as well buy the real thing and be 100% safe

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[Clive Mott]

Alugas is what I fitted as payload is precious.

 

[Lenny HB]

Dont the external LPG filling points have there own built in valve that doesnt allow gas to escape when you disconnect the forecourt pump?
If you fitted a T connector could you connect one end to an external filler one end to the bottle and other end to regulator through a rupture protection hose?
I think one of our friends has set up like that he showed it to us

Sounds like a very unsafe bodge.
Compared to the cost of a Motorhome it's not that expensive to do the job properly.

 

[ED O'DARAC]

My Gaslow's are getting a bit long in the tooth and in the quest for lightness I wondered if these may be a good alternative. Any experience or comments?

GasBank Cylinders

HI, we have two SafeFills. Amazingly light.
They seem to be under half the weight.

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

We went for Alugas

 

[Pedro Pallent]

My Gaslow's are getting a bit long in the tooth and in the quest for lightness I wondered if these may be a good alternative. Any experience or comments?

GasBank Cylinders

I have 2 x Alugas supplied by autogas2000

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[two]

If weight is a problem and you are considering refillable, have you not considered just one refillable?
It's all you need and easy to manage if you have a gauge fitted.

 

[helzie2020]

This is what Autogas 2000 Limited fitted to our PVC:

• Two 11kg Alugas cylinders
• GOK Caramatic Drive Two (crash safe regulator with automatic changeover)
• External fill point in bumper

 

[Go_buddy_go_]

1 safe fill so extra space in the locker for ramps,cables,hoses etc

 

[Kthryn]

Not if you don’t want high pressure liquid gas passing through your regulator you don’t!

By the time you rig up some bypass contraptions you might as well buy the real thing and be 100% safe

Sounds like a very unsafe bodge.
Compared to the cost of a Motorhome it's not that expensive to do the job properly.

I was answering to a question about being able to refil a purpose designed forcourt filling bottle but one that only has a single connector that doubles as both fill port and regulator port so youd normally have to remove it from the van to refill at a fourecourt.

What i mean is instead being able to refil it without removing it from the van by using an external filling point fitted on the van which would save having to disconnect pipes and removing the bottle from the van only to be told by the forecourt that they dont allow you to refil that kind of bottle because its the wrong colour or something even if it is purpose designed to be refilable at a forcourt and does have a fill limiter built in.

Been led to think that motorhome regulators can normally take liquid gas and not be damaged or it cause a problem arent they 2 stage and have cutoffs built in? But anyway to stop a regulator getting liquid gas when filling from a remote filler at a forecourt a tap could be put between the regulator and the pipes that normally conect the external filler to the bottle and the regulator then before goingt to refil you just turn the tap off instead of having to get the bottle out of the locker. Not a bodge because the tank is designed to be refilable at a forecourt if you remove it so the only difference is adding a remote filler?

How much difference is safety between say filing a purpose designed one port self filable bottle remotely doing like i said with a tap between rest of pipework and regulastor and filing a purpose designed two port self filable bottle remotely? If you already have a one port bottle but would have to buy a 2 port bottle what would the difference in cost and safety be?

 

[Kthryn]

I dont want to go on about gas things too much but while on the subject I thought Id show you our pump that allows us to refuel with gas anywhere. Our van engine runs on gas LPG so we use a lot more gas than most van users. Think Ive found out how to put pictures on now fingers crossed but Ill try. Not our pictures but pictures I got from the fella who converted our van to run on LPG who sells the pumps

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[Lenny HB]

Been led to think that motorhome regulators can normally take liquid gas and not be damaged or it cause a problem arent they 2 stage and have cutoffs built in?

Don't know about liquid gas but I wouldn't think it a good idea.
Bulkhead regulators have a max of 230psi, pumps tend to run at around 140psi but it can bea lot more. Not worth the risk regulator in my van is over 200 quid.

 

[Basildog]

I dont want to go on about gas things too much but while on the subject I thought Id show you our pump that allows us to refuel with gas anywhere. Our van engine runs on gas LPG so we use a lot more gas than most van users. Think Ive found out how to put pictures on now fingers crossed but Ill try. Not our pictures but pictures I got from the fella who converted our van to run on LPG who sells the pumps

View attachment 872791

Crazy

 

[Basildog]

I was answering to a question about being able to refil a purpose designed forcourt filling bottle but one that only has a single connector that doubles as both fill port and regulator port so youd normally have to remove it from the van to refill at a fourecourt.

What i mean is instead being able to refil it without removing it from the van by using an external filling point fitted on the van which would save having to disconnect pipes and removing the bottle from the van only to be told by the forecourt that they dont allow you to refil that kind of bottle because its the wrong colour or something even if it is purpose designed to be refilable at a forcourt and does have a fill limiter built in.

Been led to think that motorhome regulators can normally take liquid gas and not be damaged or it cause a problem arent they 2 stage and have cutoffs built in? But anyway to stop a regulator getting liquid gas when filling from a remote filler at a forecourt a tap could be put between the regulator and the pipes that normally conect the external filler to the bottle and the regulator then before goingt to refil you just turn the tap off instead of having to get the bottle out of the locker. Not a bodge because the tank is designed to be refilable at a forecourt if you remove it so the only difference is adding a remote filler?

How much difference is safety between say filing a purpose designed one port self filable bottle remotely doing like i said with a tap between rest of pipework and regulastor and filing a purpose designed two port self filable bottle remotely? If you already have a one port bottle but would have to buy a 2 port bottle what would the difference in cost and safety be?

Really

 

[Orion]

Has the title of this thread somehow changed to “Exploding Lighter Gas Cylinder Alternatives”?

 

[Lenny HB]

Has the title of this thread somehow changed to “Exploding Lighter Gas Cylinder Alternatives”?

Cheap bombs for terrorists.

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