Calor Gas shortage - options?

[lustyd]

It's been a whole year of Calor shortages which they seem incapable of dealing with. It's a claimed shortage of bottles but that's simply untrue since every retailer has a stack of empties ready to get filled. Does anyone have any sensible ideas on how to get empty cylinders filled? Seems insane that they refuse to supply gas just because they don't have a cylinder while I have two and the chandlery have 10.

Or am I hoping for too much from a monopoly who just don't care? Should I change the boat to something else? If so, what other more reliable gas options are available? I have no intention of changing the oven and 4 ring hob so gas options are the only realistic answer here.

 

[dunedin]

Or am I hoping for too much from a monopoly who just don't care? Should I change the boat to something else? If so, what other more reliable gas options are available? I have no intention of changing the oven and 4 ring hob so gas options are the only realistic answer here.

What “monopoly” exactly? There are many gas suppliers in the UK.
We use Camping Gas as it fits the locker better, and is easily obtained in the UK and southern Europe - albeit high price per kg, but use very little each season.

 

[lustyd]

Other than camping gaz (I'd rather not due to the higher cost but will if I have to, and the EU thing is a good point) I've not seen other bottle options in the UK which are widely available. There might be loads of suppliers for home but for bottles there seem to be just the two, but the point of my post was to understand the options so very happy to hear about others. It also seems like there should be somewhere that is willing to fill rather than exchange so curious if that's a thing. Seems odd that a company would get itself into a situation like this where they have no bottles to exchange, no new ones, and refuse to take empty ones back until they have a full one to swap.
You're probably right though, CG is a reasonably standard EU thing

 

[dunedin]

When we had a caravan we had another make of butane gas cylinder. Can’t remember make but there were lots of butane gas suppliers to choose from (all cheaper than Calor).
The challenge for boaties is that most other users of gas cylinders have more space and buy bigger cylinders, which are more economical. Whereas many boats have gas lockers designed round specific gas cylinder sizes - sometimes Camping Gas (European boats), sometimes Calor Gas (certain older UK boats).
There has been a minor issue-ette that in some markets (eg Ireland?) Calor has reportedly changed their cylinder such that the handle doesn’t fold down - which is a hassle for some boat lockers.

 

[Daydream believer]

Problem is that Calor can only be exchanged for Calor bottles. If you want (say) Shell then you have to purchase a new bottle license as well as a refill & that can be expensive, unless you can find an empty bottle of the same make in a scrap yard, ex travellers site, or a ditch somewhere
I cannot change from Gaz to Calor, as the locker will not accept the larger ( cheaper) Calor bottles. A problem that many Hanse owners regularly complain about.

 

[LiftyK]

My caravanning friend replaced his gas bottle with a Safefill bottle, which he refills himself at a garage that supplies LPG. I've not checked fit vs. Calor or Camping Gaz bottles but see they start at 5Kg.

 

[Daydream believer]

My caravanning friend replaced his gas bottle with a Safefill bottle, which he refills himself at a garage that supplies LPG. I've not checked fit vs. Calor or Camping Gaz bottles but see they start at 5Kg.

Did he have to change anything at the cooker end, ie jets, igniter?

 

[jdc]

Large Calor gas cylinders such as 19kg propane are much easier to find and get refills for, I believe it's only the little ones which are in short supply. So I keep a spare 19kg Propane Calor cylinder (cost me £10 on Gumtree), which I can swap easily for a full one for about £42, and I transfer from this to my smaller ones such as my 5kg 'gaslight' Propane cylinder.

This summer and last I've also done this for a couple of other yachtsmen who have run out of gas and can't get a refill for a small bottle.

 

[Stemar]

SOCAL in Southampton are the suppliers for a good few local chandleries. If you go on their website, you can find the bottle you want. It will be out of stock, but you can ask to be notified when it comes back in. I did this a couple of weeks ago and duly got the email. A couple of days later, it was convenient to go, but the site showed it as out of stock, so I called. Yes, they had had some, but they'd all gone within a few hours. Fortunately, it isn't urgent for me, but if you do sign up and get that email, drop everything and run - if you've got the fuel in your tank!

 

[ProDave]

I had the calor dealer here yesterday delivering a 47Kg refil (for the home cooker) which do seem to be available and have not YET gone up on price with the present "gas shortage"

He dis say they only ever this season get 1 or 2 small cylinders with each delivery and predictably they go immediately. I am needing a small refil for my caravan (won't need it until next year now) but the chance of getting that is slim. Ideally I would like to swap an empty 3.9Kg Propane for a full 6Kg which according to the calor website is an allowable swap but the local dealer says they won't do that even if they had the cylinder I wanted. They are not taking on new customers at all at the moment.

It looks like over the winter I will be reading up on self refilling the little cylinders from the 47Kg one, which at less than £2 perKg of gas is also very much cheaper.

 

[st599]

Gaslow now do a CampingGas sized refillable bottle.

 

[Iliade]

We have Gaslow in the motorhome. We do carry a spare Calor bottle in case of intransigent forecourt staff, but would never willingly go back to bottle exchange systems. We only carry that bottle because we have it. It is also much more 'international' if you carry the adaptors.

Far cheaper than any exchange refill
No rejetting required (I'm using the Gaslow regulator.)

I used to use Calor propane when I lived aboard. Required a propane regulator but nothing else - the same jets and no noticeable performance change from butane, except it still worked in the cold :0)

 

[Bran]

We have Gaslow in the motorhome. We do carry a spare Calor bottle in case of intransigent forecourt staff, but would never willingly go back to bottle exchange systems. We only carry that bottle because we have it. It is also much more 'international' if you carry the adaptors.

Have you had any issues refilling the cylinders at a fuel station? Are your cylinders built in or do you remove them to fill on the forecourt? I do wonder because there may be more of an issue with loose cylinders being refilled on the forecourt.

 

[Iliade]

Mine are loose cylinders inside a locker but the refilling is through a built-in socket so the filling station would perhaps assume fixed tankage. I have only once had issues in the UK, but some countries disallow these systems. I cannot recall exactly where at the moment, but I think it was Croatia and maybe Spain?

 

[Sandy]

Gaslow now do a CampingGas sized refillable bottle.

Gosh, they don't come cheap!

With my current usage it would take me about 15 years to pay for the set up costs, by which time I'll be 75. Perhaps if I was 20 years younger I'd splash out.

 

[Bran]

Mine are loose cylinders inside a locker but the refilling is through a built-in socket so the filling station would perhaps assume fixed tankage. I have only once had issues in the UK, but some countries disallow these systems. I cannot recall exactly where at the moment, but I think it was Croatia and maybe Spain?

Thank you, I am considering using them loose, I think this would create issues on the forecourt when filling. More research needed I think!

 

[LiftyK]

Did he have to change anything at the cooker end, ie jets, igniter?

I believe no changes were made to the cooker end in his caravan as he has one Safefill bottle and when it runs out he switches back to a regular bottle until he refills his Safefill bottle. In any case I’ve asked my friend to comment further and will report back.

 

[LiftyK]

I received a prompt reply.
“Nope, didn't have to change anything. It has the same connection as a calor propane cylinder (the red one), but not the same as a butane cylinder (the blue one). “

 

[Daydream believer]

I received a prompt reply.
“Nope, didn't have to change anything. It has the same connection as a calor propane cylinder (the red one), but not the same as a butane cylinder (the blue one). “

Pity, I would imagine that the majority of yachts use butane.

 

[Iliade]

They do, but for no good reason. Propane is much better suited to our climate.


Also I suspect many are unaware that despite being in blue bottles:

Campingaz, formerly Camping Gaz, is a brand of compressed, mixed butane/propane gas supplied in small, lightweight, disposable canisters and larger, refillable cylinders designed for use as a fuel while camping and caravanning. The fuel gas is compressed to a liquid and sold in characteristic blue metal containers. [Wikipedia]


A 907 refill is £36.99. The 'equivalent' Gaslow bottle is £128 here albeit £167 direct from Gaslow. Working on £1/L refill cost that's about £5 per go, so payback in about 4 refills, 5 at the full price and 8 if you have to buy the filling kit.