No Calor Gas bottles

Hi BB, I recall my MH buddy asking me about watching TV etc whilst away, he was going to Spain in January at the time, but, as we ago in Spring /Summer sitting outside, glass in hand, is how we tend to fill the evenings.

I will suggest to him, he goes to Spain next month, to look at your post and take calculator, notepad and pen!! 

I recall the conversation as, when I asked why he needed to take DVDs watch TV etc, he said it was because it was dark and cold by 4PM ish so needed to fill the evening time.

We had not considered going away in the winter and his comments reinforced our view that it was not for us.

They also ditched it after a couple of years and now go out in late April.

As for gas cylinder availability-looking at prices last week became aware of a new supplier for Flo Gas not far from home and when I passed on Saturday I called in.

We use the Gaslight 10kg and he said he had about 60 available.........at £49.95! Mind you thats less than Flo Gas charge, and he also had lots of 6kg propane.

I don't have a mains electric consumption figure, however I found this on the Dometic website...

ca. 3.9 KWh / 460 g for electric and gas (per day?)

I Reckon I'm using 523 g per day incl hob and a bit of heating so, about right?

if I switch to mains, using the above figure, 3.9 kWh x €0.40, it would cost €1.56 a day for the fridge alone, plus gas for the hob plus either gas or mains for heat.

I think the above is about right BB. On my last winter trip to Spain 4Kw of electricity was included in the pitch price and I used to run my tall Thetford fridge from that plus travel kettle and keep the batteries topped up. Heating and cooking were with gas from my refillable bottles. and at he end of my stay the average daily electricity consumption came to about 4Kw. I had to refill my 11Kgm gaslow bottle only once in 6 weeks but the amount of gas used will always depend on how cold it is and what you set the thermostat to.

 What is the current price of LPG at the garage pumps these days in Spain?

peedee

I admire your meticulous attention to detail, for us we just go and use whatever is the most convenient, normally EHU, lots of sites in Sain give you 7kw per day free if you are long stay, which we found was just about adequate, although we normally go end of March thru June when hopefully heating is not required.

I guess we have a rather Blaise outlook on our trips over there, i.e. we are not at home for 90 days so energy costs at home very low, only standing charge for gas, minimum electric, so some of the costs for being in the SUN, which is very important for us, are somewhat of an irrelevence, however, have been doing some sums, and if you add up ferry costs, insurance, animal health certificate for 2 dogs, and now the increased price of diesel, getting worse, we could probably have an additional 1 months stay on a site in the UK, and sit outside under a sun lamp

P.S. we have a local supplier of butane/lpg who has loads of bottles of all shapes and sizes, down side is, you have to return empty cylinder to them to get full cylinder, and you need yet another connector, apparently Calor patented most of their connectors, hence the large number of different connectors in circulation  

Blimey BB sounds like your having a crash course in accountancy rather than your usual sight seeing. Bite the bullet ,energy costs are not in our control, only the way you use them, so ................on your bike and enjoy yourselves.

+1 but whilst on your travels can you report back if you see any sign of shortage of gas, diesel or petrol, I have a daughter who lives and works in Spain (Torrevieja) but apart from a large increase in price she says all looks to be ok just now.

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

My reporting was merely 'real life experience' as it's not that difficult to remember when the bottle last got changed, hardly meticulous accountancy, lol.

either way, we just do what is easiest and best...yes, plugging in is easy but will give you a large bill (at this site) at the end of your stay as long stayers get their pitch cheaper but no 'free' leccy.

additionally, we do plenty of THS sites and I have upgraded my solar to help us manage better on these when in the uk, especially when it comes to charging Ebike batteries with no EHU. This stay has given the system a good workout and me a good on-site as to what to expect in the summer when we are home on these sites for weeks at a time....no easy 'plug in' option there, I'm afraid.

so having an understanding of your gas usage and your solar capability should make for a smoother stay...

pumped LPG is €0.89 locally, so a fraction cheaper than the stand alone Repsol bottle....but not so convenient of one's van is 'set up' on the pitch.

AD, your usage is about the same as mine, my point being that without 'free' electric it would cost twice as much using electric instead of gas. Our lower pitch price more than offsets the 'free' electric that shorter stayed have...they pay more overall.

Allan, obviously Spain is in the northern hemisphere, like UK, and warm daylight hours won't start to stretch until much later in the year.

however, at 9:30-10 am here you need suncream to sit out for morning coffee/brekkie, not something we would be doing daily back home.

we come here to escape the UK winter cold, and fuel bills!!, and walk, cycle, play table tennis, eat/drink outside in the 8 hours between 9:30 and 17:30 each day, certainly not what we would be doing back home.

we have winter here, making the most of the trip over away from freezing winds and horizontal hail, late spring and summer in the uk enjoying the British sunshine and exploring our own country in the best of its weather, then over to France (or Italy or...) for those long balmy evenings sitting out with pals as you've alluded to, lovely.
throw in a couple of cruises or a dash to somewhere warm and the diary's pretty full...late autumn and Christmas with family, New Year with pals away and....time to start again...

happy to discuss some tv options if reqd, as we've been using a new mix of things this year.

ps...sunrise today was 7:22am and sunset is at 7:00pm....so a long way from being dark and cold at 4pm.

ps...sunrise today was 7:22am and sunset is at 7:00pm....so a long way from being dark and cold at 4pm.

Don't know where you got the Times from, BB, but sunrise is about 6:45 now and it's not dark until over 12 hrs later, and that's in Scotland, so very similar to your good self.

Nellie, I'm near. Valencia, in Spain, doh!.....hence my response to Allan's comment about his pals wintering here and short days.....