Retesting LPG Refillable Cylinders

[ramsthom]

Contacted Autogass 2000 regarding two refillable cylinders installed 9 years ago and what's required when the reach 10 years. I was surprised to learn it would be uneconomical to do a retest and would need replacing at a cost of £900. Anyone been advised the same.

 

[DumfriesDik]

It must be heck of a test. What are you going to do?

 

[ctc]

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[ramsthom]

I asked the same question and the reply was the interior of the bottle had to be inspected and all the valves renewed so it was uneconomical. The don't supply the old red 6kg cylinders which I have and replacements would be Gaslow ones.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

I asked the same question and the reply was the interior of the bottle had to be inspected and all the valves renewed so it was uneconomical. The don't supply the old red 6kg cylinders which I have and replacements would be Gaslow ones.

Even gaslow ones would not cost £900 to replace and someone on a low budget would buy your older bottles.

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[ramsthom]

Just checked on the Gasit website and it's not mandatory to have them rechecked after 10 years if they are privately owned. Its only advisory.

 

[pappajohn]

If you ask how much is uneconomical I bet they don't give a price.....ummm-ing and errr-ing will amount to 'cant really say'
I just can't see removing valves and inserting a flexible camera then pressure testing coming anywhere near £900.

 

[Tonks]

Just checked on the Gasit website and it's not mandatory to have them rechecked after 10 years if they are privately owned. Its only advisory.

It's a good job gas cylinders with dangerous faults only kill or injure those who don't privately own them....

 

[bobandjanie]

I did a thread on this, sounds like someone is talking b@llox . Bob.

Thread 'Refillable gas bottle good for another 10 years. ' https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...as-bottle-good-for-another-10-years-😎.224317/

 

[Basildog]

Contacted Autogass 2000 regarding two refillable cylinders installed 9 years ago and what's required when the reach 10 years. I was surprised to learn it would be uneconomical to do a retest and would need replacing at a cost of £900. Anyone been advised the same.

I own Autogas 2000 and yes we do give this advice as currently we don’t know of any companies that can carry out the correct cylinder retesting / replacement of cylinder valves .
At 10 years your regulator/Hoses will also probably need replacement too .
The only company we know of in the U.K. that will retest cylinders has a minimum of approximately 1500 cylinders at a time .
As others have mentioned we understand that it may be possible to have your cylinders retested / revalved at the Alugas factory in Germany but you would have to travel in person as used gas cylinders can’t be sent by courier .
Sorry we can’t offer any more encouraging news .

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[Basildog]

It must be heck of a test. What are you going to do?

The price Quoted was for new cylinders/ hoses etc .
We aren’t able to test cylinders unfortunately.

 

[Basildog]

I asked the same question and the reply was the interior of the bottle had to be inspected and all the valves renewed so it was uneconomical. The don't supply the old red 6kg cylinders which I have and replacements would be Gaslow ones.

I believe your red cylinders are the ones branded as RV bottles ?
These are the same as Gasit currently sell but we have moved over to the more modern types of multi valve cylinders with their additional safety features and more accurate gauges that Gaslow and Alugas supply.
Gaslow have had some cylinders retested and revalved but probably won’t be doing more .

 

[Basildog]

If you ask how much is uneconomical I bet they don't give a price.....ummm-ing and errr-ing will amount to 'cant really say'
I just can't see removing valves and inserting a flexible camera then pressure testing coming anywhere near £900.

The price was for a system replacement not for testing, definitely not any umm-img or err-ing here as we don’t test cylinders period .

 

[68c]

Refillable bottles not looking so good now. At £900 for a ten year life. Not sure I use £90 of gas in a year.

 

[Basildog]

Just checked on the Gasit website and it's not mandatory to have them rechecked after 10 years if they are privately owned. Its only advisory.

We are actually well aware that Gasit interpretation is not in line with our Autogas 2000 Leisure Ltd understanding of the requirements for refillable LPG cylinders, Gaslow also agree with our interpretations of the various industry standards/ codes of practice.
There is no link to this information from Gasit and in fact they keep saying that they recommend a 10 year retest / revalve .
We are also required to check the refillable cylinder / tank before refilling too and it clearly states 10 years in that document too .
Just to add that the valve manufacturers also state that they should be replaced at 10 years .

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[Lenny HB]

Refillable bottles not looking so good now. At £900 for a ten year life. Not sure I use £90 of gas in a year.

It's not just about money but ease of getting gas in any country and not having to lug heavy cylinders about. Worth every penny IMO.
Getting them tested is only advisory and my gas locker is inside the garage so not subject to the elements like a lot are.

 

[CazPaul]

We are actually well aware that Gasit interpretation is not in line with our Autogas 2000 Leisure Ltd understanding of the requirements for refillable LPG cylinders, Gaslow also agree with our interpretations of the various industry standards/ codes of practice.
There is no link to this information from Gasit and in fact they keep saying that they recommend a 10 year retest / revalve .
We are also required to check the refillable cylinder / tank before refilling too and it clearly states 10 years in that document too .
Just to add that the valve manufacturers also state that they should be replaced at 10 years .

Is that the same for underslung tanks as well, totally replace in 10 years?

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

I had 2 x11 kg gaslow revalved under warranty and the cost was £50 each for replacing valves( valves supplied by gaslow foc) and testing.but had to take them to an authorised gaslow fitter to have them done.

 

[CazPaul]

I had 2 x11 kg gaslow revalved under warranty and the cost was £50 each for replacing valves( valves supplied by gaslow foc) and testing.but had to take them to an authorised gaslow fitter to have them done.

So can everyone just do this?

 

[Basildog]

Is that the same for underslung tanks as well, totally replace in 10 years?

Yes that’s what we tell our customers, here’s a 12 year old tank we are changing today .

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[CazPaul]

Yes that’s what we tell our customers, here’s a 12 year old tank we are changing today .

I imagine they are not all like that though after 10 years or so, I have to say it’s a bad selling point when someone is considering what system to get, I imagine a new underslung and associated pipes etc is now well over £1000.

 

[Basildog]

I did a thread on this, sounds like someone is talking b@llox . Bob.

Thread 'Refillable gas bottle good for another 10 years. ' https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/refillable-gas-bottle-good-for-another-10-years-.224317/

We can’t retest the cylinders ourselves and don’t know of anyone in the U.K. that will test small volumes.
In fact as none of the refillable cylinders are manufactured in the U.K. I would guess that Alugas in Germany would be the only option so as we tell our customers it’s not economically viable to retest for most .

 

[Basildog]

I imagine they are not all like that though after 10 years or so, I have to say it’s a bad selling point when someone is considering what system to get, I imagine a new underslung and associated pipes etc is now well over £1000.

No that one has been looked after ,so many we see need replacement much earlier in fact as many installers don’t provide any stone chip / corrosion protection.
We also recommend a yearly maintenance / inspection which many owners don’t carry out.

 

[68c]

I suppose one problem is how few vans/caravans use a lot of gas as a percentage of the population. No incentive to set up a testing system, easier to just sell new set ups to a starry eyed new Moho owner. Not sure how long refillable system have been popular, fifteen years? Perhaps folk will rethink fitting them as the life limit becomes more well known. Then throw in the insurance issue, perhaps a van fire could deemed to have been worse due to our of date bottles. Having said that I will probably continue to use mine as it is in good locker with no surface rust. Did replace the regulator though.

 

[Ninjabob]

Strange isn't it when you think you can get Scuba Diving/Air Rifle tanks tested at your local refilling shop (at least you used to be able too). I would think Scuba tanks are pressurised to a much higher psi than gas cylinders.

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[Basildog]

I had 2 x11 kg gaslow revalved under warranty and the cost was £50 each for replacing valves( valves supplied by gaslow foc) and testing.but had to take them to an authorised gaslow fitter to have them done.

You are talking about something completely different from a retest of a cylinder.
Yes Gaslow will replace any faulty cylinder valve on an in date cylinder, but they won’t be retesting / recertifying the cylinder.
A properly recertification will involve many different processes and involve shot blasting, repainting etc , once revalved it will have an new aluminium test plate fitted too .

 

[Minxy]

Yes that’s what we tell our customers, here’s a 12 year old tank we are changing today .

Makes me glad I've got refillable cylinders!

 

[cyberyacht]

Based on my last year's gas consumption (90L), I've saved around £150 over the cost of Calor exchanges so, depending on your usage, you can write off the capital cost of cylinders over far less than their lifetime. If you are always on hook-up and only use your van for four or five weeks a year, then it is probably not worth getting refillables otherwise it's a total no-brainer..

 

[Basildog]

Makes me glad I've got refillable cylinders!

Still really need retest/ replacement at 10 years

 

[Basildog]

These UKLPG requirements for the operation of a filling pump also state 10 years and they are now putting the responsibility onto the filling operators to check too .
So as a company we really don’t have much choice other than to recommend replacement to our customers.
Most customers have resold their vans long before they get anywhere near this age in our experience.

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