Spanish gas bottles – Propane v Butane, Cepsa v Repsol

[Devra]

We recently got back after touring Spain for 3 months. I have several questions which I have been pondering on for some time. Sorry about the length of this.

Two years ago in Spain, I paid €12 deposit on an 11 kg Cepsa propane gas bottle, and approx. €12 for 11 kg of gas, all from a Cepsa garage. I connect this to my German MH via an adapter. I always take a full bottle with me when I go home, ready for the next trip.

At first, I thought I might have made a mistake going for Cepsa rather than Repsol because there are Repsol garages everywhere that we go along the Med. Coast. In some areas Cepsa can be a bit rare.

Later, I was glad I have Cepsa because I think the empty weight of the Repsol bottles is much higher than the Cepsa all-steel bottles. Also, I try to get the Cepsa bottles with the blue handles and top part because they are about 7.3 kg empty, compared to over 11 kg for the all-steel bottles.

Now to my questions:

If I ever find myself out of propane and the nearby Cepsa outlets only have butane (with the red tops):

1. Would the garage swap an empty propane bottle for a full butane bottle?

2. Could I later swap an empty butane bottle for a full propane bottle?

3. Do they have the same connector on the top?

4. Can I just use butane like I would use propane, for the fridge, cooker and water heater?

5. Is one more expensive than the other?

I know that butane doesn’t evaporate until above +4°C, but assuming the coldest temperatures are above that.

Also, I believe that the Cepsa shiny bottles with red handles are aluminum and so should be even lighter than the blue ones.

 

[vwalan]

my shiny cepsa bottle is stainless not alloy.
its a butane , seems to work most winters in spain.
dont spend alot of time in the snowy areas.
got it years ago when they first came out and cepsa were giving the bottles for free back then.
as far as i know the bottle fittings are the same butane /propane.
mind i adapt to an old uk butane reg thats the same in morocco france germany etc
have fun.

 

[Devra]

Thanks for that.
Is this the shiny bottles with the red handles and top part?
Can you tell me what the Tara (empty) weight is? It should be on the bottle somewhere.

 

[SandraL]

In spain this winter we swapped a cepsa propane for a repsol propane . This was from a cepsa lorry deliverng to an aire.
Just paid for the gas, no extra charge, no problem.
But the repsol cylinder is heavier, but a few mm smaller in diameter if your gas locker is tight for space.

 

[vwalan]

top is the handles and stainless , tare is 7.7kg
is 12.5kg of gas says 26.3litres of gas butane.
cant give a price as i havnt changed it this year.

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[gus-lopez]

We recently got back after touring Spain for 3 months. I have several questions which I have been pondering on for some time. Sorry about the length of this.

Two years ago in Spain, I paid €12 deposit on an 11 kg Cepsa propane gas bottle, and approx. €12 for 11 kg of gas, all from a Cepsa garage. I connect this to my German MH via an adapter. I always take a full bottle with me when I go home, ready for the next trip.

At first, I thought I might have made a mistake going for Cepsa rather than Repsol because there are Repsol garages everywhere that we go along the Med. Coast. In some areas Cepsa can be a bit rare.

Later, I was glad I have Cepsa because I think the empty weight of the Repsol bottles is much higher than the Cepsa all-steel bottles. Also, I try to get the Cepsa bottles with the blue handles and top part because they are about 7.3 kg empty, compared to over 11 kg for the all-steel bottles.

Now to my questions:

If I ever find myself out of propane and the nearby Cepsa outlets only have butane (with the red tops):

1. Would the garage swap an empty propane bottle for a full butane bottle?

2. Could I later swap an empty butane bottle for a full propane bottle?

3. Do they have the same connector on the top?

4. Can I just use butane like I would use propane, for the fridge, cooker and water heater?

5. Is one more expensive than the other?

I know that butane doesn’t evaporate until above +4°C, but assuming the coldest temperatures are above that.

Also, I believe that the Cepsa shiny bottles with red handles are aluminum and so should be even lighter than the blue ones.

1) yes
2) yes
3)yes
4)yes
5) propane is cheaper but there is also only 11kgs in a bottle against 12,5kgs for butane

Thanks for that.
Is this the shiny bottles with the red handles and top part?
Can you tell me what the Tara (empty) weight is? It should be on the bottle somewhere.

tare varies. I have 4 here withtares varing between 7,3kgs to 7,9kgs for the stainless stell cepsa ones. The all steel repsol ones are around 14kgs tare & the blue plastic topped steel repsols have tares around 8kgs. Both have 12,5kgs gas/26litres approx

 

[Devra]

1) yes
2) yes
3)yes
4)yes
5) propane is cheaper but there is also only 11kgs in a bottle against 12,5kgs for butane

Thanks to everyone.
So, if it ever happens, I will just connect a bottle of butane and forget about it.

 

[Lenny HB]

I know that butane doesn’t evaporate until above +4°C, but assuming the coldest temperatures are above that.

In practice not much good below 10° also in much higher temperatures often causes problems with Truma Combi's as the gas flow rate is not high enough.

 

[TerryL]

I've got an empty Cepsa propane bottle if anybody wants it, free but you'll have to collect or arrange to pick up.

I originally got an older butane from a Funster and swapped it for a propane to use via an adapter in Morocco. No use for it now as the Moroccan bottles connect up fine with the adapter hose, otherwise I use Gaslow refillable bottles.

 

[SandraL]

In spain this winter we swapped a cepsa propane for a repsol propane . This was from a cepsa lorry deliverng to an aire.
Just paid for the gas, no extra charge, no problem.
But the repsol cylinder is heavier, but a few mm smaller in diameter if your gas locker is tight for space.

Ok, spot the mistake, meant to say " this was from a Repsol lorry"

So a Repsol lorry took a cepsa cylinder and gave me a Repsol cylinder.

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[bobandjanie]

Hi, we have Cepsa Propano, we have had Repsol and at the time they never did a light steel Propano, don't know if they do now !
But we only have one, and the other is a refillable bottle, that works best for us. Bob.

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi, we have Cepsa Propano, we have had Repsol and at the time they never did a light steel Propano, don't know if they do now !
But we only have one, and the other is a refillable bottle, that works best for us. Bob.
View attachment 295679

Small bottles to heat a swimming pool that size.

 

[Burgo]

If you've got those rupture protection devices fitted then you may well find you cant attach a Cepsa lightweight (i.e stainless) cylinder using a jumbo (or clip) style attachment as it fouls the all round safety cage / handle on the cylinder. The older steel ones are a similar design to the Repsol ones and and don't have a full diameter handle so they work OK.

 

[bobandjanie]

Small bottles to heat a swimming pool that size.

Thanks Lenny, got distracted, had to take some photos of her going in the pool for our friends.

If you've got those rupture protection devices fitted then you may well find you cant attach a Cepsa lightweight (i.e stainless) cylinder using a jumbo (or clip) style attachment as it fouls the all round safety cage / handle on the cylinder. The older steel ones are a similar design to the Repsol ones and and don't have a full diameter handle so they work OK.

Yes we don't use Butano, but most around here are the same with a red top.
But the old ones were a nuisance, and the old Propano were heavy. Bob.

 

[Brendan + Kath]

The fittings are definitely the same for propane and butane. A few years ago our gas stopped working and we went to a motorhome dealer who told us that Spanish butane bottles when fairly low get dirty. He asked us if he could put one of his propane bottles on and it worked straight away . Since then we have only used propane in Spain

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