Gaslow or Calor gas

[whitebeach]

My Gaslow bottles (11 kg) need replacing @ £400 pounds or I could change to calor gas bottles for £120 (2x 6kgs). Besides having less gas should I stick with gaslow and why?!

 

[poppycamper]

My Gaslow bottles (11 kg) need replacing @ £400 pounds or I could change to calor gas bottles for £120 (2x 6kgs). Besides having less gas should I stick with gaslow and why?!

Think your price for 2x6kg Calor a bit optimistic for new bottles and not refills..
But regardless, it depends on usage.. if you a fairly heavy user you will soon recoup the price of Gaslow..
IMPO it would be Gaslow all the time just for ease of use...

 

[MichaelT]

My Gaslow bottles (11 kg) need replacing @ £400 pounds or I could change to calor gas bottles for £120 (2x 6kgs). Besides having less gas should I stick with gaslow and why?!

Did you speak with Basildog ?

 

[NR]

Gaslow all day long and never miss an opportunity to keep full. If you venture across the water it becomes even easier as literally everywhere has gas pumps and at the min it’s €0.89.

 

[MisterB]

I am a fan of a refillable option, but since weve gone mostly 240v, i am finding that so long as we fill before we leave mainland europe, because of the way we use our motorhome, means that we dont need to refill until we return back to the EU. However our usage is now so low that we could prob manage on just one cylinder. We still have five years on our gaslow, so dont need to think about it yet, but because our use is lower, i might go for a smaller capacity and have an underslung fitted instead, when the time comes or even put the cost of replacement cylinders to a diesel combi and compressor fridge .....

And i think that how you use your motorhome (and gas) is the key to determining what you need to do. Having gaslow just for the sake of it might be a poor choice.

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[headlight]

I have considered refillable but we don't use enough gas to justify the cost.
I started a new 6kg Calor last trip 3 weeks ago.
We've done 60 nights away so far this year and that was the 4th bottle so we've used 3 bottles at £31 a bottle so £93 plus whatever we used for the 1 day this 4th bottle has been used.
Under a £100 of gas used in 12 months.
It all depends how much gas you use, for us refillable just isn't worth it.

 

[Geistguy]

I carry one refillable and one Calor, this gives me the best of both worlds. After saying that my refillable has never run out but I do fill it at every opportunity.

 

[Jewellbags]

It’s hard to make a usage comparison as we all use ehu at different rates and times but we’ve done 3 x 45+ day trips and obvs cook on gas most of the time and occasionally run the fridge on gas but upon our return I rarely put more that £7 in to fill the refillable back up .

 

[Lenny HB]

I think you would regret going down to 6kg bottles.
Big advantage of staying with refillable is no heavy bottles to lug about and you can get gas anywhere in Europe.
We run 2 x 14kg Alugas did a half price swap for my 10 year old bottles last year but you do have to go to Germany.

 

[pandas]

The convenience of Gaslow is the important part for us particularly when travelling in Europe for a long stint. We have 2 x 11kg bottles. Just wish the my LPG app would be more reliable related to who has what when.

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[dom_k]

I have been toying with this myself. Essentially a re-fillable system costs about £50 per year over the 10 year life plus the cost of gas. It’s therefore probably worth it if you use more than 3 or 4 bottles per year I think.

 

[Lenny HB]

I have been toying with this myself. Essentially a re-fillable system costs about £50 per year over the 10 year life plus the cost of gas. It’s therefore probably worth it if you use more than 3 or 4 bottles per year I think.

We use about 150 Lt a year so that is 75kg costs us about £160. If it were Calor bottles it would be £487 in 6kg bottles or £300 in 13 kg bottles.

 

[Brains]

If you never leave the UK for more than a week or two, you could downgrade to Calor.
(It will depreciate the value of your motorhome as well)

However given the choice, I'd go with GasLow every time!

Also check the renewal date on the Gaslow bottles, if I remember correctly they used to be valid for 12 years which then became 10 years. As long as they are still in pristine condition, no rust etc, in reality I suspect a Gaslow bottle would last the life of the motorhome. But it means you should be fine for 15 years or so, as long as you are not going to sell it.

 

[TrudeandDall]

I have been toying with this myself. Essentially a re-fillable system costs about £50 per year over the 10 year life plus the cost of gas. It’s therefore probably worth it if you use more than 3 or 4 bottles per year I think.

Is the £50 based on a twin bottle refillable system?
If so then forgetting the calor mentality of needing two bottles ( one on service and one to change to when the service bottle runs out) and just having one refillable bottle, that you refill long before it gets empty cuts the cost by half. £25 per year over 10 years, for the equipment, less weight to lug around everywhere you drive, a significant reduction in the cost of the gas that you use and the convenience of getting gas when you are abroad = a no brainer for me.
I just have one 11kg gaslow for the main system on the van and a 2.9kg gaslow to run the camping cooker in the summer. I have never once had a issue where I have had no gas.

 

[MichaelT]

(It will depreciate the value of your motorhome as well)

How do you work that out, doesn't matter what you've got value will be the same and most people will move their refillable system from one van to the next, one of our bottles now in 3rd van.

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[L' Hobo]

My Gaslow bottles (11 kg) need replacing @ £400 pounds or I could change to calor gas bottles for £120 (2x 6kgs). Besides having less gas should I stick with gaslow and why?!

Why does your Gaslow bottle need replacing?

 

[Lenny HB]

Why does your Gaslow bottle need replacing?

10 Years old I expect.

 

[Northernraider]

How do you work that out, doesn't matter what you've got value will be the same and most people will move their refillable system from one van to the next, one of our bottles now in 3rd van.

Can't say I've ever moved bottles from one van to another. But everytime I've bought one It's came with refillables or I've haggled off the cost of fitting refillables to it ...so I guess it does entice or put off some buyers.

When I bought my frankia , I used the fact it had no bottles and no solar and a few other things to knock £6k off the asking price

 

[VXman]

What is your usage pattern? Do you do off grid a lot? Or do do EHU at campsites? If it's the latter you are probably better off with Calor as gas usage will be quite low.

 

[L' Hobo]

10 Years old I expect.

That's what I expect but who knows, it might be leaking so urgent.

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[gus-lopez]

When travelling I use 1 x 6kg calor propane every 3 weeks .mainly fridge.That will just leave the gas usage for hob & water. If I can find a 6kg gaslow or similar when I am next in the Uk I will be fitting it so as to have refillable.
Changing to a 12 v compressor fridge when I have finished cactus culling.

 

[Brains]

How do you work that out, doesn't matter what you've got value will be the same and most people will move their refillable system from one van to the next, one of our bottles now in 3rd van.

I'd sell my motorhome 'as is' in full working condition.

I'd be really annoyed if the seller removed a major bit of equipment that effectively stopped my new purchase being used.
It would be enough for me to decline to buy, unless they knocked off more than the cost of the (new) replacement item.

Also once you have a refillable system installed, the filler point, the regulator etc. why would you remove part of the system ?
Would you also remove the steering wheel, the awning, the loo, or the fridge or the cooker ?

To me that would be a con done by a shady dealer, hoping to sell you back the kit they have removed.

 

[MichaelT]

I'd sell my motorhome 'as is' in full working condition.

I'd be really annoyed if the seller removed a major bit of equipment that effectively stopped my new purchase being used.
It would be enough for me to decline to buy, unless they knocked off more than the cost of the (new) replacement item.

Also once you have a refillable system installed, the filler point, the regulator etc. why would you remove part of the system ?
Would you also remove the steering wheel, the awning, the loo, or the fridge or the cooker ?

To me that would be a con done by a shady dealer, hoping to sell you back the kit they have removed.

Well as I said I've moved one bottle twice and the other once so are you calling me and Lenny HB shady?

I thought the consensus on here was all the extras add no value to a van maybe just more saleable. If you buy a new one you don't get a gas bottle, why would you on a used one?

 

[PaulW2]

Also check the renewal date on the Gaslow bottles, if I remember correctly they used to be valid for 12 years which then became 10 years. As long as they are still in pristine condition, no rust etc, in reality I suspect a Gaslow bottle would last the life of the motorhome. But it means you should be fine for 15 years or so, as long as you are not going to sell it.

That's sort of been my hypothesis too. Is it a view that is widely shared or do some argue strongly for adhering to the 10 year limit?

 

[Tumerc]

Had our gaslow system replaced last week as coming up to 10 years old it's not just the bottles that time out but the feed pipes as well, I feel I have bought peace of mind, was fitted by those lovely people at Autogas near Thirsk N/Yorkshire.

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[PaulW2]

Had our gaslow system replaced last week as coming up to 10 years old it's not just the bottles that time out but the feed pipes as well, I feel I have bought peace of mind, was fitted by those lovely people at Autogas near Thirsk N/Yorkshire.

My hoses are a fair bit newer but the bottles are at the limit.

Obviously the bottles themselves (no hint of rust, etc) won't give way but I think part of the argument was that the internal components may eventually deteriorate.

 

[hja]

For us having gaslow installed was just a no brainier. Obviously the gas is cheaper, but it is just so much more convenient. No need for an empty bottle before filling. No lugging bottles about, and as we get older that is even more an advantage. We don’t camp overseas but we don’t find it difficult to fill up in the uk, at least not so far.

 

[gus-lopez]

f you buy a new one you don't get a gas bottle,

It isn't fit for purpose then & how have they tested all the equipment? I'd insiat on a working gas system as what am I going to use the first night?

 

[MichaelT]

It isn't fit for purpose then & how have they tested all the equipment? I'd insiat on a working gas system as what am I going to use the first night?

They can attatch a bottle, test it then remove it. Of course you can either negotiate a bottle or buy one.

 

[royandsharont]

Purely on a usage aspect, as there is a lot of bias in favour of refillable amongst those that have them , I use 240v most of the time but do cook a lot in the gas oven and had the fridge on gas when needed in my old Bessacarr.

For every 8 week trip onto the continent in May/June and September/October I never ever used more than 2kg of gas and often 1.4kg. I’m terrible at recording on the bottle the contents so can guarantee this is correct in my case.

Never even had to swap bottles whilst away over the past 12 years and I carried 2 x 6kg calor or flogas.

So for me the outlay would have been £800 + the gas used based on your figures and I have used about 50kg of gas as a guesstimate of calor/flogas, probably less.