Calor 4.5 Butane and 3.5 Propane to be discontinued

[Whaup367]

It's no rumour the 4.5kg bottles are in short supply. I'd say since the October '21 recall.

Agreed. The rumour is that 4.5 withdrawal is Calor policy. We don't have any written evidence to suggest so; in fact, contacting Calor suggests the opposite (see post no 10, above). Supply problems, yes; discontinuation, no.
In case anyone hasn't been following this- they had both a recall and a major failure of some sort at one of their big refill centres and this overlapped with a demand peak due to lockdown. These factors combined with their poor management and crap communications have, to put it mildly, not helped their customer relations.

I get the impression that some of the people at dealerships have heard the "discontinuation rumour" and are passing it on. Might even be that they are removing some dealerships from their 4.5 distribution network... I dunno!

Well the official distributor I spoke to this morning seemed pretty definite that they'd just received notification of discontinuation and that 4.5 could be exchanged for 7 as from the 1st of Feb. That seemed a trifle harder than unsubstantiated rumour to me.

In theory 4.5 & 7 are part of the same "cylinder group" (small), so normally one would be able to swap them, though this was suspended for a while due to the shortage of full cylinders. They should be reinstating this as and when (if?) they can resolve the supply issues, anyway.

Ask for evidence from Calor- has the distributor posted the notification on their office wall to help with customer comms? Can they show you the email? Do they have a URL for the announcement?

 

[Refueler]

From the Calor website. (I've highlighted relevant text in bold). I get the impression Calor are taking the 4.5kg Butane bottles out of circulation.

Strikes me we'll have to switch to FloGas.

Service Statement


Gas cylinder availability
If you’ve got an empty gas bottle, you can exchange this for a like-for-like replacement at one of our Calor retailers nationwide. We recommend calling your local retailer to check availability and opening hours before travelling.

There’s currently a hold on new cylinder issues so if you’re looking to buy a new bottle, I’m afraid we won’t be able to help just yet. Gas bottles are also unavailable on our online shop at present.

We encourage customers to return any empty or unused cylinders to improve availability. If you have a gas bottle to return, please call your local Calor Distribution Centre (CDC), who will be able to advise accordingly.
For all information regarding Returns, Refills and Exchanges please see our Gas cylinder area.

So appears that Latvia is not alone in Ballon shortage !!

 

[lustyd]

Again I have to agree with Whaup367 on this, until Calor officially comment to the public it's a rumour. Their retailers have been saying this stuff for three years (yes, it was 2020 the supply issues started) but now and then cylinders are released.

As I said though, it's not a religion and you're under no obligation to punish yourself on Calor's behalf. 4.5KG FloGas are easily available accross the country including home delivery and refils at distribution centres. They also accept pretty much any cylinder other than Calor for exchange. Their gas is also cheaper. Seems a no brainer to me, but their disciples were out in force on the other thread trying to get people to wait and stick it out, or use an unsuitable size cylinder instead. All kinds of solution were considered except simply changing supplier.

 

[jimi]

Agreed. The rumour is that 4.5 withdrawal is Calor policy. We don't have any written evidence to suggest so; in fact, contacting Calor suggests the opposite (see post no 10, above). Supply problems, yes; discontinuation, no.
In case anyone hasn't been following this- they had both a recall and a major failure of some sort at one of their big refill centres and this overlapped with a demand peak due to lockdown. These factors combined with their poor management and crap communications have, to put it mildly, not helped their customer relations.

I get the impression that some of the people at dealerships have heard the "discontinuation rumour" and are passing it on. Might even be that they are removing some dealerships from their 4.5 distribution network... I dunno!



In theory 4.5 & 7 are part of the same "cylinder group" (small), so normally one would be able to swap them, though this was suspended for a while due to the shortage of full cylinders. They should be reinstating this as and when (if?) they can resolve the supply issues, anyway.

Ask for evidence from Calor- has the distributor posted the notification on their office wall to help with customer comms? Can they show you the email? Do they have a URL for the announcement?

I've phoned around other suppliers and there seems to be a 50/50 split with half saying they are being discontinued and the other half saying its just a temporary supply issue!

 

[lustyd]

I've phoned around other suppliers and there seems to be a 50/50 split with half saying they are being discontinued and the other half saying its just a temporary supply issue!

Indeed, and if you ask, not one of them will be willing to leave their masters at Calor and offer an alternative even after three years of this. I was told off for using the word monopoly on the other thread, despite Calor being under investigation for monopolistic behaviour and with a previous conviction.

 

[Whaup367]

I've phoned around other suppliers and there seems to be a 50/50 split with half saying they are being discontinued and the other half saying its just a temporary supply issue!

Will any of the discontinuers share the official announcement, though, or are they just "trying to be helpful"?

How do you kill a rumour?

 

[lustyd]

How do you kill a rumour?

Easy, supply some full cylinders. They've had a lot of opportunities to quash the rumour in the last three years.

 

[jimi]

Will any of the discontinuers share the official announcement, though, or are they just "trying to be helpful"?

How do you kill a rumour?

Easiest way to kill a rumour is to prove it false by supplying the wretched things. Otherwise you are just rumouring it is a rumour!

 

[Whaup367]

Easy, supply some full cylinders. They've had a lot of opportunities to quash the rumour in the last three years.

Needs to be more than just some, though. I saw several freshly painted full 4.5s in my local marina's calor cage in November and reported it here... yet still the rumour persists.

 

[jimi]

Needs to be more than just some, though. I saw several freshly painted full 4.5s in my local marina's calor cage in November and reported it here... yet still the rumour persists.

Have you got dated photographic evidence of their existence plus signed certificates of their weight to prove they weren't empty?

 

[lustyd]

Given the numbers it's just as likely some enterprising person filled and painted some they had in their cage empty for two years. On the bright side, in the meantime people are testing electric alternatives on behalf of us all.

 

[Boathook]

Doesn't say here that they are discontinuing 4.5Kg Butane Gas Bottle | Camping Gas Bottles | Calor Shop

Looking here 404 Not Found (calor.co.uk) it shows pictures of the bottles and most seem out of stock but the 4.5kg butane cost £22.50. Not sure why it says 404, etc. Their website as well as bottle distribution seems in a mess.

 

[Refueler]

Luckily for me - approx 1km from my house is a Gas Seller - with small ballons ............. I have sympathy for you guys back Blighty.

 

[Laysula]

I would guess it's probably a supply issue. There must be hundreds of thousands in circulation. Not just boats but caravans and campers. There's no way a company is going to kick a market this big into touch.

 

[lustyd]

I would guess it's probably a supply issue. There must be hundreds of thousands in circulation. Not just boats but caravans and campers. There's no way a company is going to kick a market this big into touch.

No, it’s a management issue. People have been trying to return the cylinders so it’s not an issue with supply.

 

[dunedin]

I would guess it's probably a supply issue. There must be hundreds of thousands in circulation. Not just boats but caravans and campers. There's no way a company is going to kick a market this big into touch.

Which people might have accepted when it started in 2020 after end of first lock-down. 3 years later it is incompetence

 

[justanothersailboat]

Just a word of warning that there is a size of Calor 4.5 which is more compact than the Flogas 4.5. If you have an old boat the locker may be too small. Lugging the wretched thing down to the boat to find this out, then home again and getting Flogas to take it back, isn't much fun :-( On 2.7 campingaz padded out with wooden blocks now, much more expensive per litre but I'm not a heavy user and the ease of getting a replacement wins out.

Seems crazy that Calor are so big they can just choose to dump an entire market segment... something weird there.

 

[Martin_J]

Jimi

You have the same height gas locker as I do with no room for anything taller. I have not tried getting a 4.5kg refill recently but I might have to before the summer.

I believe you also have to make sure that even if you do get a 4.5kg replacement, that it has the original height handle and not the newer taller handle.



[Photo copied from a previous forum post]

 

[superheat6k]

I can imagine similar chaos if, for example, MK decided to re-design the ubiquitous UK 3 pin plug and socket. Amazing that a business would make a decision to self destruct such a massive market sector it had ruled, essentially, for ever.

 

[LadyInBed]

People have been trying to return the cylinders so it’s not an issue with supply.

A driver shortage issue, no one to collect the empties and return them to Calor for refilling!