Calor Gas shortage - options?

[Daydream believer]

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.

The other problem ( for me anyway) is that I carry 2 bottles. Nothing more annoying than running out of fuel in some remote place with no chance of a replacement. So swopping could be a bit expensive, if one has to have 2 bottles. Then there is the problem of whether they fit in the silly little gas lockers manufacturers install. I have to keep my spare on deck 24/7

 

[Iliade]

In the MH my spare is a Calor bottle...

 

[mattonthesea]

What I find so frustrating is that in many places I could take my 3.9 propane bottle to be filled. But I live in the UK, not A Coruna, Caribbean etc.

 

[Lucy52]

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

I into using a Safefill cylinder. You can fill the cylinder on the forecourt, but have to show the cylinder to the attendant before they will turn the gas on. That is at a Morrisons filling station, there are others.

A 5 Kg cylinders cost about £170, refills are cheap, but the cylinder probably won't fit your gas locker, if it does, you may need a longer pigtail. There is a refill piece that screws on to the cylinder which you may need.

Safefill | Safe and easy to refill LPG Gas Cylinders

 

[Birdseye]

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.

I have found it quite easy to refill camping gas bottles from a big calor cylinder and I am sure that you could do the same with calor cylinders. Obviously do it in the open air away from any ignition source and weigh the cylinders you are filling both before and after filling on decent digital scales.

 

[lustyd]

Crisis over for now, I turned up at the marina yesterday and asked on the off chance and the had two full cylinders!
thanks for the advice all, I learned a lot here and may still look at changing the gas systems on board to prevent these issues in future.

 

[geem]

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.

Just paid €15 for one today in Ohlao, Algarve. In the UK they were £38!

 

[Bru]

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.

So that people know the score ...

Filling refillable portable cylinders such as GasLo is permitted *only* on forecourts which have a variation on the standard licencing. Morrisons, for example, have an arrangement with said company and all their forecourts (those that have LPG anyway) are suitably licensed

Other forecourts may also have the appropriate authorisation and, of course, you may get away with it elsewhere if the staff don't notice, don't understand the restrictions (in other words badly trained) or simply don't care (which is not uncommon - it get's a bit wearing after a while being subjected to abuse from customers for doing your job and then not being backed up by the senior management. If you detect more than a slight note of bitterness there, you're not wrong)

And the above notwithstanding, before investing in such cylinders (and like everyone else, I'm considering solutions to the ongoing supply problems) be aware that LPG on the forecourt is gradually (or in some cases not so gradually) disappearing. It's no longer economic (aka profitable) to maintain the on site storage and the pumps due to declining sales volumes and a bunch of people filling a couple of gas cylinders a couple of times a year isn't going to change that!

At the moment, the only long term viable answers I've come up with is to either bite the bullet and switch to Campingaz, accepting the significant extra cost of the gas, or make a significant up front investment in sufficient refillable cylinders to last us through a six month cruise (probably 3, maybe 4) and double the size of the gas cylinder locker (which we're in the position of being able to do but it's not an option for everybody). Trying to find somewhere to refill a cylinder in, say. the Northern or Western Isles (where we plan to spend a lot of time) half way through the season is a recipe for stress IMO!

 

[dom]

I’m happy with either Calor 3.9kg propane or 4.5kg butane .

I have 3 cylinders with 1 at home to change at leisure. Never needed it as only occasional blips in supplies on SE Coast.

 

[Robin]

So that people know the score ...

Filling refillable portable cylinders such as GasLo is permitted *only* on forecourts which have a variation on the standard licencing. Morrisons, for example, have an arrangement with said company and all their forecourts (those that have LPG anyway) are suitably licensed

Other forecourts may also have the appropriate authorisation and, of course, you may get away with it elsewhere if the staff don't notice, don't understand the restrictions (in other words badly trained) or simply don't care (which is not uncommon - it get's a bit wearing after a while being subjected to abuse from customers for doing your job and then not being backed up by the senior management. If you detect more than a slight note of bitterness there, you're not wrong)

And the above notwithstanding, before investing in such cylinders (and like everyone else, I'm considering solutions to the ongoing supply problems) be aware that LPG on the forecourt is gradually (or in some cases not so gradually) disappearing. It's no longer economic (aka profitable) to maintain the on site storage and the pumps due to declining sales volumes and a bunch of people filling a couple of gas cylinders a couple of times a year isn't going to change that!

At the moment, the only long term viable answers I've come up with is to either bite the bullet and switch to Campingaz, accepting the significant extra cost of the gas, or make a significant up front investment in sufficient refillable cylinders to last us through a six month cruise (probably 3, maybe 4) and double the size of the gas cylinder locker (which we're in the position of being able to do but it's not an option for everybody). Trying to find somewhere to refill a cylinder in, say. the Northern or Western Isles (where we plan to spend a lot of time) half way through the season is a recipe for stress IMO!

Late comers to this thread we have just joined the throng. Our Calor 4.4 ran out mid cook today and we switched to our spare, however a call to onsite chandlers tells me we too are s***T out of luck. pending delivery of Gaz to Calor adapter and having to purchase a 907 Gaz or maybe 2 if the problems are continuing. T he alternative being discussed is a swtich to calor red propane plus new regulator assuming local dealer will play ball on swapping 2 blues for 2 reds As live aboards red wouldbe good on cold morning. Additionally we dug out our leccy infrared hob and test fired it up to use and delay the run out of our newly connected blue 4.5kg in case Calor are still playing hardball whilst blaming all others.

 

[geem]

I into using a Safefill cylinder. You can fill the cylinder on the forecourt, but have to show the cylinder to the attendant before they will turn the gas on. That is at a Morrisons filling station, there are others.

A 5 Kg cylinders cost about £170, refills are cheap, but the cylinder probably won't fit your gas locker, if it does, you may need a longer pigtail. There is a refill piece that screws on to the cylinder which you may need.

Safefill | Safe and easy to refill LPG Gas Cylinders

We have been using one since they first came out. It helps having an lpg car as we fill the cylinder when filling the car.
Ours is an 8kg cylinder filled for less than £12.
We have ours mounted in a custom s/s cradle on the pushpit. The whole think is hidden under a sunbrella cover. We also carry camping gas for ease in Europe. In the Caribbean they will fill anything, normally with propane. As long as you use the correct pressure regulator for the gas the cooker works perfectly on either gas

 

[Robin]

I’m happy with either Calor 3.9kg propane or 4.5kg butane .

I have 3 cylinders with 1 at home to change at leisure. Never needed it as only occasional blips in supplies on SE Coast.

N o problems here on the IOW either until now but now no 4.5kgs exist though our local onsite chandler has some red 3.9 kg propane ones and suitable new regulators. If we switch one to red we would need a fixed regulator not cylinder mounted ones, to allow switch over, no room in our gas locker to do that, plus we could only get refills in UK. So the easiest solution is to switch to GAZ 907 cylinders, intitially change just one with an adapter do-hicky screw on valve type do-hicky to go from Gaz to Calor, keeping one Calor in case they ever do get their act together.

Being a cynic i suspect all this kerfuffle suits Calor/Campinggaz perfectly as threy can 'rationalise and make a fortune -win win forthem PITA for all of us with fixed gas lockers.

 

[Bru]

Late comers to this thread we have just joined the throng. Our Calor 4.4 ran out mid cook today and we switched to our spare, however a call to onsite chandlers tells me we too are s***T out of luck. pending delivery of Gaz to Calor adapter and having to purchase a 907 Gaz or maybe 2 if the problems are continuing. T he alternative being discussed is a swtich to calor red propane plus new regulator assuming local dealer will play ball on swapping 2 blues for 2 reds As live aboards red wouldbe good on cold morning. Additionally we dug out our leccy infrared hob and test fired it up to use and delay the run out of our newly connected blue 4.5kg in case Calor are still playing hardball whilst blaming all others.

Sadly 3.9kg propane is as rare as 4.5kg butane (we use the former)

Nor will they currently let you swap one for the other because Calor have stopped new contracts on smaller bottles (swapping 4.5 butane to 3.9 propane is a new contract)

 

[Momac]

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. [Wikipedia]

Yes for the small disposable canisters
But a 907 refill is Butane.

 

[dom]

Sadly 3.9kg propane is as rare as 4.5kg butane (we use the former)

Nor will they currently let you swap one for the other because Calor have stopped new contracts on smaller bottles (swapping 4.5 butane to 3.9 propane is a new contract)

Are you sure? No mention on their website:
https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/advice/returns#gas-bottle-exchange

 

[Momac]

What “monopoly” exactly?

According to the marina where I keep my boat Campingaz refilling in the UK is provided by Calor.
It seems Calor also supply lpg to roadside filling stations and as said lpg at roadside filling stations is in decline.
So who are the competition in the UK ?

 

[Bru]

Are you sure? No mention on their website:
Returning a gas bottle? All you need to know here

Yes

An exchange is handled as a return of one bottle and a new contract on the new bottle

And the dealers have been told no new contracts on small bottles

Granted there is nothing on the Calor website about it but try doing it and you'll be told "sorry, no can do" by the dealer as they cannot raise a new refill agreement for the replacement bottle

So I was informed about six weeks ago by our local Calor main dealer (an extremely reputable and invariably helpful company with whom we've been doing business regularly since the Dark Ages!)

 

[Robin]

Sadly 3.9kg propane is as rare as 4.5kg butane (we use the former)

Nor will they currently let you swap one for the other because Calor have stopped new contracts on smaller bottles (swapping 4.5 butane to 3.9 propane is a new contract)

Although our onsite chandlers have red propane 3.9kg, we are going the expensive 907 route because these should be universally available including in France. We can even retain the existing regulator by connecting it to a 907 via the GAZ to CALOR adapter already ordered via Amazon and due in a few days.

 

[Robin]

According to the marina where I keep my boat Campingaz refilling in the UK is provided by Calor.
It seems Calor also supply lpg to roadside filling stations and as said lpg at roadside filling stations is in decline.
So who are the competition in the UK ?

That was my understanding back in our many years living in Poole when we carried both Calor and Gaz. The local filling centre filled both from very same source. we were told where we usually obtained ours at Parkstone YC, where we were berthed in those happy days. We started with Gaz only but switched to Calor to save money IIRC the first cylinder exchange saved more than the cost of the changeover

 

[Bru]

Although our onsite chandlers have red propane 3.9kg, we are going the expensive 907 route because these should be universally available including in France. We can even retain the existing regulator by connecting it to a 907 via the GAZ to CALOR adapter already ordered via Amazon and due in a few days.

despite the extra cost, but given that we don't use huge amounts, I'd go the same route except for the drawback of switching back to butane from propane

But if the bottle situation doesn't improve that's a bullet we'll probably have to bite