Hi Sel,

We're doing the same thing, leaving on 20th April. We had Gaslow fitted for the benefit of not having to search for different gas bottles and being able to fill up at LPG gas stations along the way.

We only have an 11kg bottle but I think that will be enough for our needs. It's difficult to justify the cost in terms of recovering the money in lower cost gas ( about £10 per fill up) but for sheer convenience it takes some beating.

Shop around for someone to fit it as the cost does vary, and I would recommend you don't do it yourself although it isn't very difficult. Just more secure having an expert do it.

Good luck and happy travels.

 

dont forget that you still have the bottles to sell again if you want, and if you motorhome for some time you still need gas, so buy em, use em, and sell em. dennis

 

We had it fitted before our last trip and think that although it was quite expensive it was worth while.
You cannot change UK bottles on the continent.
If you have the usual size locker you cannot get a continental bottle that will fit through the door. (Though I think that current Swifts do have a larger door and might be OK) (This was our first choice - a french "Le Cube" but it would not fit)
So you are left with:
Being very tight on gas and ending up bringing an unused bottle home because you were not sure if you would run out; and swapping partly filled bottles in this country to go off with full ones.
OR Camping Gas that won't work if it is cold and is very expensive.
OR Gaslow. The real boon is being able to fill up on the continent, but you do slowly get some of your costs back. This is not just because the gas costs less but also because you do not give Calor a half full cylinder every time you go abroad.
If I only went for two week periods I would be happy with Calor or better Flogas, but as we do Gaslow has removed a source of stress.
We have one small cylinder and fill up quite soon after the cylinder gauge starts to indicate that we are less than FULL. This is about 6 litre and is about the minimum that you can buy. Remember to use the cylinder gauge. The in line gauge next to the regulator measures gas pressure and will only show a drop when you are about to run out. It is, however, a useful check that there is no gas leak. We also have a small Calor propane just in case but have never actually used it.

When filling up we have used motorway service stations because it is easier to get the van in the right position than in a supermarket outlet. It is a little more expensive but not much.

 

hi all,
we`ve had gaslow btls for years 5+ and no probs. ref cost about 10 refills and you save money, on the new campers with combi boiler running in the winter with no electric you will use 22ltrs in 5-7 days.

we always have 1 gaslow btl and all the connectors for foreign countries so when in spain as lpg hard to find we use spanish btl then cash it in at border when rtn to uk.

tramp

 

Gaslow

We have an 11kg Gaslow on a changeover valve shared with a Gaz bottle. The idea being if for some reason we do run out of Gaslow we just switch to the Gaz and you can get Gaz refills antwhere in Europe.

We go away for 60 day stretches and have yet to fill the Gaslow abroad.

Dead easy to fit yourself

Can't think of any cons.

Steve

 

I fitted 2 x 11kg Gaslow bottles for our second Jan/Feb Spain trip - after a stressful time on the first trip trying not to run out of gas in our UK Calor cylinders.

Easy to fit yourself, probably take forever to get your money back but so convenient to be able to top up when you want.

Can't recommend them too highly! You won't regret it.

 

I have two 6kg bottles with an auto changeover which changes colour when it has switched over. This is a good indicator that you should fill up at the next opportunity.

Make sure you have the the adaptors for the countries that you are visiting.

We toured France for a month without any aggravation.

Would recommend Gaslow. I fitted mine but the installation has been checked just for safety.

If you can fit it with the filler on a bracket in the locker it saves having holes cut in the side of the van, and you can swap to your next vehicle without leaving anything behind.

Gaslow's stainless steel hoses are a good investment if they come within your budget.

Alec

 

Gaslow

Hi - speaking from experiece and having had three different Gaslow systems in three vans....

1) No lugging cylinders about
2) Easy to refill, UK and further afield

Downsides...

1) Cost - but you can of course remove the Gaslow system and transfer it to another van
2) LEAKS - three different leaks, one of which was a steel pipe with a split in it

I am using 2 x 13kg Calor and so far, in one cylinder lasted 7 weeks and the other lasted 12 weeks. I have had no leaks from the Calor set up either. My gas use is documented in another thread. I will add that I am in the motorhome daily and use the oven daily etc.

Russell

 

I fitted 1x11 and 1x6 in my Lunar premier, they have been fantastic. I had a recent issue with a sticking non return valve and Gaslow sorted it within days, at home and at a time that suited.
I have a back problem and I can no longer lift gas bottles, so this system is worth its weight.............. in :? gas :lol: I never have to lift another bottle again, more than enough reason to buy..... and the price of Autogas compared to rip off Calor...........

 

LPG Gas

We had a LPG Tank fitted - expensive but marvellous when travelling in Europe. (Also leaves an empty locker).

We opted to keep our existing Regulator with a Spanish Connector, as contrary to what is often said, it is still hard to buy LPG in Spain!

This allowed us to buy a Spanish Bottle then changed back to LPG for the rest of Europe.

This can apply to Gasglow too, if you have room, fit one bottle with change over for a Spanish Bottle.

 

thank

thanks for all your advice everyone it's appreciated

 

Same as Tasha. 100 litre bulk tank and at 80% full is 40 kG of LPG. With the new van this tank is about right to keep up with winter camping and Alde heating.
Inside fuel gauge etc.

Previous van I fitted a 55 litre bulk tank.

As Tasha said it gives you a spare locker and in the old van the EFOY fuel cell and 5 litre Methanol just fitted inside a treat.

http://www.motts.org/GASKIT.htm for more info.

 

Bulk tank

Hi

Remember though that too large a bulk tank may prevent you from travelling on the Eurotunnel services.

Russell

 

It really all depends on how much gas you use. If you tend to use sites and EHUs most of the time then it is definitely not cost effective to fit Gaslow even for a couple of summer months touring the continent when you should be able to quite easily manage with a couple of 6kgm Calor bottles. Of course if you cannot manage to change bottles very easily because of a disability then the cost of Gaslow is immaterial but there is another reason to change to Gaslow especially if you have 13KGms Calor bottle/s in your van. You can half your weight carried by fitting Gaslow. This was the driving force for me and I shed two 13Kgm bottles in favour of a single 11Kgm Gaslow and a 6KGm Calor lite bottle as standby. I saved an estimated 30Kgm in a drive to get my vehicle weight within plated axle loads.

peedee

 

Made enquiries to fit gaslow this week but told no 11kg bottles delivered till end of month as none in the country at the moment for delivery. Check your local fitters and get it booked in and ordered before you go. We will have ours fitted at the Welsh show in Carmarthen 2 weeks time now.
Chris

 

Chris,

Have you tried Outdoor Bits?

 

Gaslow will have 11kg cylinders in stock today/tomorrow, so plenty of stock available for the Carmarthen Show.

 

thanks again Happy hols and more sel

 

We have single 6kg system. we use gas for heating, cooking and hot water (when away from sites which is most of the time)

Flippin' marvelous.

Cost me 3.50€ to fill up yesterday (6.7L) which I did when filling with diesel at the same time. Used 20L on this trip alone so without Gaslow we'd be stuck.

My dealer Roy Wood Transits supplied and fitted as I didn't want to drill through blind holes in a panel van where I knew there was stuff behind! They sorted it all okay.

 

Colonel
I am in thre group that want the professionals to INSTALL IT. We will be having the filling cap in the skirting so want a knowledgeable firm to drill holes for us.
Thanks anyway and thanks for the info motorhomewales. We are away for at least 6 days so better go easy on the gas as do not want to buy a full bottle between now and fitting. Off to lake district Friday.
Thanks
Chris

 

lpg gaslow refillable -pros and cons

Hi, I have a single 11kg Gaslow cylinder and I have just recently begun to really appreciate its benefits.

We arrived in Germany a couple of weeks ago and shortly afterwards the weather turned very cold. We had checked into an ACSI site and started to use the electric hookup to heat the van. We hadn't realised that the ACSI discount only allows for 5kwh of electricity and one must pay for anything over the limit.

After two days the site manager informed us that we had been using a lot of power and we would incur a bill at the rate of 50 cents per kwh. This had never happened to us before and we immediately switched to gas for heating. Unfortunately it had cost €16 before we learned of our error.

Since then during our journey we have been using mainly gas heating and have refilled our cylinder twice while using mostly Stellplatz sites which charge for electric hookup usage where available.

The weather has been very bad and we have been almost snowed in a couple of times so the Gaslow has been invaluable. I am seriously considering a second cylinder for peace of mind in future.

Apart from the convenience of a refillable cylinder and not having to worry about different cylinders and connectors, the system has started to recover the initial costs. I'm sure there are benefits from having a fixed tank but Gaslow may be moved if you change to a new vehicle as I did not so long ago.

P.S. We are on a Stellplatz in Fussen southern Germany with FREE wifi but they charge €1 for 1.6kwh electric so the Gaslow is working overtime.

 

Got 2 x 6kg cylinders in ours and it's brilliant. If you are hard nosed and go just by the initial expense numbers you'll probably never get a Gaslow, but the sheer convenience of it.... pull in fill up, pay pull away. No lugging and no worries. A bit pricey, yes but if you were trying to save every penny you wouldn't buy a motorhome anyway, would you??

Plus - I have every intention of taking the system out and putting it in the next van......

Gofer it!!

 

We have an MTH system with 2 11kg cylinders, and I have nothing but praise for it. I believe this system gives us around 56 litres total capacity which reduces to around 44 litres usable capacity at 80%.

I doubt I will ever recover fully the installation costs but the sheer convenience more than makes up.

Our recent 2 week trip in pretty cold conditions meant quite a lot of gas use, so at our last fuel fill I also topped up the lpg (Soo easy with the filler set into the rear bumper). It took just over 16 litres at around £8.

Such a shame about the demise of MTH, but whoever supplies it a refillable system, properly fitted, is so much more civilised than mauling heavy bottles about.

Paul

 

I wonder who is going to be the first manufacturer to fit them as standard?

peedee

 

Done it!

Just had 2 x 11kg bottles with changeover etc fitted to our van by carafit at the Carmarthen show this weekend.
Waiting for our card from Countrywide farmers to fill up now.

They charge 45p as long as you say it is domestic use. Saw a garage on way back selling it at 59p so further savings can be made if you lookaround!

Before the fitters drove off a very nice man came staright to us and bought our 6kg calor bottle off us so started to reclaim the cost straight away. Will take us about 20 plus full fill ups at least to reclaim the cost but the convenience is our main reason for buying.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Now what are the warnings for the first fill up then?

Chris