Refilling 4.5kg Butane

[rotrax]

AFAIK Calor leave pricing to their dealer network.

My local dealer is very reasonable, as is the nearby Garden Centre.

Another nearby source is 20% more expensive.

 

[Refueler]

I read that Calor have agreed to not phase out / stop the small 3.9 and 4.5kg cylinders ... but have said that due to the lack of cylinders will only replace like for like ... and unlikely until production replenishes stock to issue new cylinders.

Page 13 RYA Spring 2024 Magazine.

 

[arc1]

Where from ?

James Watt Dock on the Clyde.
They seem fairly confident of supply and believe that most of the Clyde marinas have them in stock.

 

[FairweatherDave]

Filled 3 4.5 kg cylinders today from a 15kg. First time trying the sink in the water technique. Two points. Donor Cylinder in the sunshine and receiver in the cold water. It sunk in less than five minutes, so a lot faster than one might have expected. And that was about 80 % full. Second point is that I was more relaxed by the third cylinder and didn't stop the transfer immediately it sunk to the floor, I made sure the entire base rim was in contact with the bottom of the bucket. End result was the cylinder had 4.5 kg of gas. More than I planned, 4kg was the target to be on the safe side. I'm just saying how easy it is to overfill. I have a lot of faith in my digital scales btw otherwise I would have transferred some gas back...or maybe just let some out.

 

[snowbird30ds]

A tip for weighing when refilling, the 4 digits embossed on the aluminium collar of a calor bottle is its empty weight in lb/oz so easy to work out when full.
I put my 4.5kg bottles in the freezer first, temp gradient makes it much faster.

 

[VicS]

A tip for weighing when refilling, the 4 digits embossed on the aluminium collar of a calor bottle is its empty weight in lb/oz so easy to work out when full.
I put my 4.5kg bottles in the freezer first, temp gradient makes it much faster.

My freezer is full of food!

 

[snowbird30ds]

My freezer is full of food!

Fill your bottles after a good pigout then.....
I guess it depends on the size of your freezer, we have a big chest freezer so can normally squeeze a 4.5kg bottle in.

 

[FairweatherDave]

A tip for weighing when refilling, the 4 digits embossed on the aluminium collar of a calor bottle is its empty weight in lb/oz so easy to work out when full.

Absolutely, the tare weight. However I'm a bit of a pedant weighing things and I think it is a bit of a faff trying to weigh on digital scales AS you are filling..... the pipe might be pushing down or lifting the cylinder etc and disconnecting it to find exactly how much you have filled is a pain. So I quite like the water method. And I still weigh afterwards.

 

[snowbird30ds]

Digital scales are a pain as they usually time out and switch off while filling, I use an old spring balance that I checked against some calibrated weights at work, for an old luggage scale it was surprisingly accurate.

 

[lustyd]

15kg Propane donor bottle-£50 at Didcot Calor

Bye Bye rip off Calor.

If you want to get away from Calor you'll need to stop buying from Calor.

 

[ProDave]

If you want to get away from Calor you'll need to stop buying from Calor.

My doner is a 47Kg Flogas bottle.

 

[rotrax]

I'd not heard of that technique. Interesting.

Works for me-when negative bouyancy is achieved its done. Checking the weight shows it is not quite full, so well safe.

Good enough for me.

 

[rotrax]

If you want to get away from Calor you'll need to stop buying from Calor.

The larger donor bottles work out at less than half the price than a 3.9 Propane.

Good enough for me.

But I do see where you are coming from.

In NZ, a 9 kilo gas bottle refill was 36 NZ Dollars. £18 Quid for more than twice the weight of gas.

 

[yotter]

James Watt Dock on the Clyde.
They seem fairly confident of supply and believe that most of the Clyde marinas have them in stock.

Kip have them in stock (£26 I think), so just swapped back from Flogas to Calor. Looks like Calor is going to be more available than Flogas this year.

 

[lustyd]

Looks like Calor is going to be more available than Flogas this year

Sad but true. This is how monopolies work and we've seen a textbook playout in these forums with most choosing to stick with Calor, preventing competition from forming. It's all been very British though, demanding that the punishments continue and then complaining about it

 

[yotter]

We

Sad but true. This is how monopolies work and we've seen a textbook playout in these forums with most choosing to stick with Calor, preventing competition from forming. It's all been very British though, demanding that the punishments continue and then complaining about it

We only use perhaps 2 x 4.5kg a year, wish it was more, since that would mean more sailing. When I hopefully get more time for sailing, I may go the DIY refilling route (well away from the house!). Our marina was kind to take the Flogas in exchange for a Calor at no cost. I still have a Flogas, so will keep both with both regulators for more flexibility going forward.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Sad but true. This is how monopolies work and we've seen a textbook playout in these forums with most choosing to stick with Calor, preventing competition from forming. It's all been very British though, demanding that the punishments continue and then complaining about it

If i still had gas (new boat is all electric) i would rather poke wasps up an orifice with a sharp stick than "go back" to Calor.

 

[CJU]

I decided toe check the shut off ball valves on my Camping Gaz cylinders using the wet finger over the hole method. There were a few bubbles indicating that there was a very small leak past the ball valve. All was ok with the tap or blanking plug screwed in, no leaks whatsoever.
Is the small leak past the ball valve just normal? I tried the test on 3 cylinders and all had a very small leak, even after I vented the cylinders.
Anyone else found this?