Gas bottle refill

[martin & shirley]

Hi, we have just taken possession of our new Northshore fifth wheel. Included were 2 empyt 11.4kg white refillable gas cylinders, I have just been to my local BP garage who informed me I cannot fill them there. Has anybody filled at a BP garage as I was told by the dealer that it could be done there. If not able to fill them there does anybody know where else I can try.

Many thanks

Martin & Shirley

 

[hallii]

They (garage) are not allowed to fill cylinders but you can fill them yourself if they are fitted into the vehicle with a proper external filling point (just like an LPG car). In other parts of EU the rules are different and there are places that will fill anything.
Hallii

 

[Ant&Debs]

Hi, we have just taken possession of our new Northshore fifth wheel. Included were 2 empyt 11.4kg white refillable gas cylinders, I have just been to my local BP garage who informed me I cannot fill them there. Has anybody filled at a BP garage as I was told by the dealer that it could be done there. If not able to fill them there does anybody know where else I can try.

Many thanks

Martin & Shirley

Hi

We kinda had the same issue we got our 5th wheel 2 weeks ago, we new that it normally comes with white cylinders, so we opted to have a gaslow system fitted, however at the time we did not realise that the 2 cylinders were mounted either side of the unit. we are sorted now as gaslow also sell a 2.5 meter connection stainless steel hose so that we can connect 1st cylinder to second. We have kept the US regulator and just had the gaslow end connections changed so they fit the regulator.

I am sure other more experienced funsters will come along and also provide good advice. I also understand that there is an adaptor that you can buy on ebay for filling, but as you say some garages dont allow bottle filling with such devices, as the proverb goes each to there own. I know from the area we come from the 3 garages that sell LPG come out a check that you filling into a fixed filler connection.

Having said that we dont want to take the 5ver to a garage each time we need to fill up gas bottle so we have also fitted a gaslow filler socket and bracket into the pick up.

I also think that as the us cylinders also have a 80% cut of you may also be able to fit the fixed filler connection. If we had been aware of this then we would have gone that route.

Its a big learning curve lolololol

Regards

Ant & Debs

 

[lebesset]

post a picture of the connections on the bottles

 

[vwalan]

all the required fittings to give you a bulkhead fitting can be got at several places
rpi engineering ,autogas and many more even gaslow can supply them.
off topic ..bes have butane regulators on special at moment buy two get one free very cheap. think it was under 6quid for the three.

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[Ant&Debs]

all the required fittings to give you a bulkhead fitting can be got at several places
rpi engineering ,autogas and many more even gaslow can supply them.
off topic ..bes have butane regulators on special at moment buy two get one free very cheap. think it was under 6quid for the three.

Thanks alan for info. its been a few days of pulling hair out because ours is an american import it has 2 gas lockers, one on each side of the 5ver. One locker contains a fairview 2 stage auto change over regulator. The other contains a propane regulator which then runs between the lockers in a low pressure hose and then connects to the fairview regulator.

However looking on the wildcat forum many owners have had a problem that the auto changeover fails to recognise the 2nd cylinder due to the second regulator being fitted and have removed it. I am trying to find out if the system needs the 2nd regulator. Mind you my knowledge of LPG is very much niloh:

Ant & Debs

 

[vwalan]

some systems use two bottle top regs but one gives a greater pressure so that works first when that bottle runs out the other bottle takes over . i suppose they might be not bottle top regs and still work.
i like two bottles with two manual taps ,then when one runs out you know it.
am suprised you didnt use your american bottles they are for refilling.
putting a fill point in the pickup is a good idea .but its really a joke to have to do it.
another good place is combined gas systems in warrington. i was speaking to a terry daves there only this week .they are agents for my lpg pump and are getting me a spare seal kit . he tells me they do everything lpg wise.
cheers alan

 

[Ant&Debs]

some systems use two bottle top regs but one gives a greater pressure so that works first when that bottle runs out the other bottle takes over . i suppose they might be not bottle top regs and still work.
i like two bottles with two manual taps ,then when one runs out you know it.
am suprised you didnt use your american bottles they are for refilling.
putting a fill point in the pickup is a good idea .but its really a joke to have to do it.
another good place is combined gas systems in warrington. i was speaking to a terry daves there only this week .they are agents for my lpg pump and are getting me a spare seal kit . he tells me they do everything lpg wise.
cheers alan

Thanks alan

To be honest i did not know that the american bottles were 80% cut off, Had I have known then I would not have brought Gaslow system. Well we live and learn

Ant & Debs

 

[vwalan]

well i,m sure you know my view on bottles .i,m not telling you.ha ha. hope youhave lots fun in it anyway .winter is only round the corner .have van will travel .will you be out playing this winter?
cheers alan.

 

[Ant&Debs]

well i,m sure you know my view on bottles .i,m not telling you.ha ha. hope youhave lots fun in it anyway .winter is only round the corner .have van will travel .will you be out playing this winter?
cheers alan.

Yes, we are planning to leave UK for Spain Mid Sept ish

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[Neckender]

Filled my gaslow up today 20 litres, £9 at autogas etruria, stoke on trent.

John.

 

[algill]

Our 5er had white bottles when we bought it. Once they were empty we tried loads of places to get them refilled but no one would do it. In fact we were told they were illegal in this country (something to do with what they were made of if my memory serves me right) so we changed to calor.

Al

 

[vwalan]

there as always been a dont fill bottles thing going on in uk. you can get nice plastic ones now.
its like petrol tanks at one time anything but steel was banned but now you find it hard to get a steel tank on lots cars. and petrol cans.
in fact every bottle being filled is supposed to be strapped in to the vehicle. but if you dont ask and dont wave it about you can fill them. if its connected to a outside bulkhead fitting slip a strap over the bottle bobs your uncle, done.
get a tank in your garden they tell me its cheaper.

 

[martin & shirley]

Found a local garage this morning that sells autogas so went along to see what we could do. They said that they could fill the cylinders but the bayonet fitting that screws into the cylinder would not lock onto the nozzle on the pump seems to be slightly to long although the fitter at the garage said it looked the same as others he had seen.Will have to see if i can get a couple of millimetres taken of the end and hopefully that will do the trick.

 

[Sundowners]

we have been filling our 'white' bottles for some time-------but we only do 1 at a time and do it VERY discreetly-----DON'T ask---- just do it (they may say no!!) have never been stopped --yet.
our adapter came from WWW.abp-accessories.co.uk
Make sure they know it's for US bottles, Maybe not cheapest but they work !!
Nigel & Pamala
BTW IF we stay in one place for a few weeks in winter, we intend to set up an 'extendastay' and use big calor bottles
10 am 73 F in Houston

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[lebesset]

when I had an american motorhome it had a fixed tank with acme thread

but I remember people coming to the same pump and filling bottle on trailers like yours with the same fitting

don't your bottles just have acme fittings being american ?

 

[martin & shirley]

Yes the bottles have a screw fitting for the gas pipe on the van, and the adapter that i have for filling screws into the valve i belive it is called a Dutch Bayonet this is the part that will not fit onto the pump at the garage.

 

[lebesset]

in that case it is simple , you have a faulty adaptor ; the dutch bayonet as used in uk is a standard size as are the pistols on the pumps ...make them change it for a properly made one

incidentally , for reasons unknown to anyone but themselves , BP have decided that you can't used adaptors at their stations

adaptors are a normal part of many installations for LPG powered vehicles , so they are forbidden from going to a BP station

ludicrous ...I presume people just ignore BP ,I always did when I ran an lpg powered vehicle

 

[martin & shirley]

That was my thought on the adaptor will have to try and change it.

 

[lebesset]

just a thought , but I have known the dutch adaptor to be badly made in so far as it was too short ; it all depends on how far inside the acme thread the thread for the adaptor is

in other words is it that you cannot push the pistol on far enough to twist it around the lugs ; if so , you need a longer adaptor

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[martin & shirley]

Will post picture of adapter tommorow.

 

[martin & shirley]

Adaptor pics

Pictures of adaptor

 

[martin & shirley]

Gas filling update

:thumb:Went back to BP garage and spoke to a different member of staff who said they had no problem with the filling of gas bottles. So after a quick check to make sure adaptor fitted ok,it did i filled both bottles. Price for each one approx £17.50 to fill.Capacity of each bottle 11.4 kg the equivilent size from Calor is a 13 kg which at my local dealer would cost £24. Not a bad saving i thought. Have two spare bottles so will go along and fill these as well.

 

[lebesset]

how many litres did you put in each , and what was the price per litre ?

sounds awfully expensive to me

 

[vwalan]

well if it was your first time filling bottles can you let us know other than getting it to fit was it /did you find it hard to do. be honest give us your words. please.
cheers alan.

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[Sundowners]

Hi Alan
We fill the white bottles, they take Very few minutes and once you get used to the fitting (we fit the adapter before we go into the filling station) they are very easy.
10 PM 82 F in Houston (they had 1-2 ins. of rain ) but we had it dry all day , south of Houston.
Nigel & Pamala

 

[Ant&Debs]

Gas Bottle Refiller Point

Finally got round to fitting the remote gas filler point in the pick up. Fitted it same side/area as the vehicle LPG filling point.

Ant & Debs

 

[GregM]

well if it was your first time filling bottles can you let us know other than getting it to fit was it /did you find it hard to do. be honest give us your words. please.
cheers alan.

Would like to read this aswell. I have an adaptor but as of yet not been to fill the cylinder up yet. It's like your first date, a bit of first time nerves. (NO darling I didn't compare our first date with filling the gas cylinder)

 

[vwalan]

hi nigel and pamala. hope your having fun.
gregm i do the same as n+p fit it before you go .i just wanted to hear a first timers experiance.
a mate of mine was like a virgin in portugal but now as bought his own.
every body is nervous first time .its like starting a new job or new school.
we are all children underneath. life is just a big game.
go on do it ,but do it carefully dont rush.
cheers alan.

 

[lebesset]

martin and shirley ,
now I am REALLY confused
you say you couldn't fit the pistol on the adaptor , but now you have filled elsewhere , but the amount of gas doesn't sound correct for a bottle of the size you have stated

when you said the pistol wouldn't lock onto the adaptor , was it because when you pushed it on it wouldn't go far enough to allow you to twist it so you could pull the lever to lock , or was it when you twisted it then pulled the lever it didn't lock ?

as you can see [I hope ] from the picture of one of my adaptors , the lugs on yours look rather short [ both of mine are as in the photo ] ; the shaft on yours certainly looks long enough though , so I find it hard to believe that you couldn't push the pistol on far enough to twist it

I accept that there could be tiny differences between the different brands of pistols , but it would hardly be acceptable to have an adaptor that wouldn't work on all of them !

btw , do you intend to go anywhere where they use italian cup , like france ?

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