Calor Gas alternatives

ProDave said:
Calor's policy on cylinder exchange is NOT helping the situation. I have 2 empty 4.5kg butane cylinders and an in use 3.9kg propane. I would hapilly exchange all 3 for a 6kg propane, a cylinder exchange size that should be possible but has been suspended for some time. So they want me to surrender the unused cylinders for free and pay for the cylinder rental on the 6kg. Dream on. Until that policy changes, the empty ones will remain out of use.

In the mean time I have refilled the two I am using, and could not get either of them "full" I am about 1kg short on on both of them, so safe, but not ideal. The cooling the recipient cylinder to reduce the vapour pressure helped a but but I just could not get them "full" any advice?
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The last bit is always very slow. For me it is the last half kg. I sometimes splash water over the receiving cylinder or wrap a damp cloth around.
 
As we have 2 x 4.5kg cylinders and due to the shortage, just wondered how people are going about self filling their 4.5kg cylinders from a larger cylinder?

Dtd
 
Ink said:
Does anyone know, for certain, what the actual problem is with 4.5kg bottles of Butane?

Is it a shortage of LPG?
Are Calor phasing out the 4.5kg bottle and replacing it with a taller bottle?
Is this shortage due to Br3xit?
Is it due to the start up of people going sailing again and things will eventually catch up?
Is it due to the number of new motor homes on the road?
Is it a mixture of all of the above?

Does Calor monitor these forums? Because it might well be in their interest to let the customer know what the f is going on.

Ink
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It’s just a badly run company. They have the gas and there are clearly thousands of empty cylinders in cages, our marina has about 50. If they chose to they could fix this situation, but their monopoly position means they don’t have to. It’s now been a couple of years and retailers still aren’t moving to other suppliers, that’s the bit I find odd. If some other supplier managed to get bottles in cages for convenient swapping I’d change tomorrow, and no I wouldn’t return the Calor bottles!

I’d like to see Yachting Monthly or PBO write this shambles up and shine some light on it
 
Is it something the RYA should be weighing in on? If people are resorting to the measures described earlier, or making crude pipework alterations, it is a serious safety issue. Calor need to explain why they are walking away from their contracts when they sold the bottles in the first place with an entitlement to only a partial refund.
 
I’m not sure you can describe bottle filling as a serious safety issue, if it’s done correctly, decanting gas of various sorts is standard practice in many industries. Not difficult to weigh a cylinder and work out how much to fill.
 
chrisD said:
Is it something the RYA should be weighing in on? If people are resorting to the measures described earlier, or making crude pipework alterations, it is a serious safety issue. Calor need to explain why they are walking away from their contracts when they sold the bottles in the first place with an entitlement to only a partial refund.
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If the pipework is 'crude' and people don't know what they are doing then it maybe is a safety issue. The same could apply to these same people connecting up a gas bottle to their barbecue or patio heater.
 
lustyd said:
It’s just a badly run company. They have the gas and there are clearly thousands of empty cylinders in cages, our marina has about 50. If they chose to they could fix this situation, but their monopoly position means they don’t have to. It’s now been a couple of years and retailers still aren’t moving to other suppliers, that’s the bit I find odd. If some other supplier managed to get bottles in cages for convenient swapping I’d change tomorrow, and no I wouldn’t return the Calor bottles!

I’d like to see Yachting Monthly or PBO write this shambles up and shine some light on it
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I suggested this on the Moody Owners' website. There is a definite reluctance to get involved.

Ink
 
I think the problem is easing. Last week I tried one shop for a 4.5kg just after a Calor delivery, they said that 2 had been delivered and they were selling them to the first two on their waiting list. I then tried a garden centre near home ( 100 miles from the coast) and they had two in stock. So I suggest you keep perservering and not just the usual coastal shops.
 
PabloPicasso said:
How do you decant from. Calor to a camping gas bottle?

Where do you get the fittings from..
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Suppliers have been listed on here before.
Personally, I just made up the adapters to refill Camping Gaz 907s from bigger cylinders.
When melting lead with a burner from a water heater (500kg of ballast), when the supply cylinder looked to be suffering from being too cool to gas off, I just played the heat gun on the cylinder. That kept the flame up.
The same could be used to transfer from a big to smaller cylinder. Certainly speeds things up
 
The adapters are actually hose tails that are used to remotely mount the regulators, get one of each to suit the bottle connection and then the required straight connection coupling to join the two hose connections together. I found the connectors via the local hydraulic trade counter. For the camping gaz one is an adapter that converts the top connection to standard calor regulator.
 
Rafiki said:
So I suggest you keep perservering
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Why? The ONLY reason anyone has a Calor bottle is because Calor are available everywhere due to their effective monopoly. When I run out and change I plan to drill a hole in the cylinders out of spite for the unfulfilled contract. Hopefully shops and marinas will start doing the same. My marina has 50 empty bottles, that’s a lot of lost revenue.
 
lustyd said:
Why? The ONLY reason anyone has a Calor bottle is because Calor are available everywhere due to their effective monopoly. When I run out and change I plan to drill a hole in the cylinders out of spite for the unfulfilled contract. Hopefully shops and marinas will start doing the same. My marina has 50 empty bottles, that’s a lot of lost revenue.
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God. I'd hate to cross you.
 
Ink said:
God. I'd hate to cross you.
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The situation they’ve created for the last couple of years has affected a lot of businesses and individuals in a negative way. The least they could do is offer an honest explanation or gracefully exit the market. I signed a contract with the understanding I could exchange cylinders for full ones, I’ve only managed to do so once and this has made sensible planning for big trips almost impossible.
Their customers have a right to be angry, and ought to get a refund. This lack of cylinders excuse is demonstrably a lie as every cage in the country is full of empties which could easily be refilled.
 
lustyd said:
..........This lack of cylinders excuse is demonstrably a lie as every cage in the country is full of empties which could easily be refilled.
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I get the impression that 'dealers' won't release empty bottles unless they get full replacement ones. A bit of a Catch 22. Still down to calor to resolve it though.
 
Boathook said:
I get the impression that 'dealers' won't release empty bottles unless they get full replacement ones. A bit of a Catch 22. Still down to calor to resolve it though.
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Absolutely down to Calor to resolve it. Not hard to collect, fill and return bottles. We’re now a month into a two month trip and almost out of gas with no hope of more from Calor. I won’t be returning my bottles when I inevitably have to change to FloGas, if they need them back they can return my deposit!
 
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