Thinking about getting a Safefill cylinder

investing in a different tech/system is always going to be a balance between cost/usage/availability...

for those who 'always' camp on sites with EHU, gas usage will be low, very low...buying it dear from Calor hurts, but not very often....

at the other end of the scale is the THS site user, who is there for weeks at a time relying on solar and gas, add in some other impromptu touring stops and the usage rises dramatically....

do that impromptu stopping abroad where its far easier and its pretty certain that LPG availability also increases.

i wouldnt expect an 'ehu only' caravanner who would also never just pull in for a couple of impromptu nights somewhere to even thinking of refillables, the 'value' equation is all wrong.

however, for us its a no brainer the other way...

Hi BB, as you say it suits you to have it so thats great but it is quite usual to see refillables touted as THE answer when, as you say, that may not be the case.

I take the mix and match route, as you, but with a Gaslight 10kg and a Flogas 6kg. The 6kg is my BBQ supply, in the van for positioning flexibility, and at home and the Gaslight stays in the van.

Our MH buddies have Gaslow and he now has to resort to a trip down the M3 to Fleet services as 3 LPG pumps near him have all closed.

As an added consideration, if I was ever to consider weeks on end on non EHU sites I would soon be made aware this was not a realistic option!

im not sure where your pals live but id be using the M3 station if I was perhaps heading SW or returning to home NE....but for travelling, say, north or east id be looking for other outlets along those routes...

like diesel, there are other outlets on other routes and its not imperative to get gas from the same place prior to the start of a journey.

i do have an open Esso LPG station which is on a nearby major road, so it is easy for me to start most of my trips (South, East, West) with a full tank.

if i knew my 'next trip' was going to be North, id fill on the way home at the Esso station.

maybe, if a caravanner is heading off to just one, say two week, destination then any large deviation for LPG might be annoying, whereas our tours (especially in a normal uk Summer where we are using THS sites dotted all over) we dont always have a set route in mind and this might lead to a bit more flexibility if LPG supplies appear thin... 

my point about the two cylinder flexibility, which in the uk (if i were here permanently) would be one Gaslow 11kg and one large Calor allowing for swaps at sites or top ups on the road..

my gas Cadac uses small cannisters, i carry a couple of spare ones. i also have an outdoor leccy 'hot plate' so flexible there for EHU and non EHU sites.

like you, we also love full fat top class sites (obviously) with EHU, but we also make good use of the C&CC THS sites which are usually situated very close to town centres. here we would be using more LPG.

does your last para mean your OH 'would rather not....?'.

its funny, ive always found the tea tastes the same whether the water is boiled in an electric kettle or with a gas one on the hob. similarly, the shower feels the same whether the Combi heated the water with electric or gas. my iphone/ipad seem to charge/work identically from the 12v socket whether that power gets to the battery from a mains charger or solar panel, and TBH the heating actually works better on gas than on electric.

whats not to like? go on, you know you want to

Just to update. Some 2 months after ordering, my Safefill cylinder arrived on Friday - so yes, they are still alive and well. I filled it with a restricted first fill 10 litres at my local Morrisons for £5.80 or so.

I have also now received my Flogas self service key. The outlets do appear very restricted but every little helps.

KR, are you also keeping an exchange bottle with you? it will give you great flexibility when either LPG or swaps are 'tricky' in the area you are touring.

bu all means use the Safefill as much as possible, but a Calor will give your system resilience...

Yes, I still have 2 Calor Lites one of which is full and the other less so. I will be touring with a full Safefill and and 1 Calor Lite. Initially my stays will be limited to 4-5 days as I have 2 100AH batteries (spare in car) and no solar panel. I think the ultimate length of stay will be determined by the lack of a hair dryer for 'er indoors.

Unquestionably, Safefill bottles have been unavailable for several months, with an imported batch having arrived during the last four weeks. It seems that they have all? been bought via prior orders.

Unquestionably the number of garages selling LPG has reduced.

Unquestionably, Calor have let Calorlite users down, as they become increasingly difficult to source. Let’s remember that we paid extra for Lites over traditional 6kg bottles.

It’s a fact that an empty 7.5kg Safefill bottle weighs less than an empty 6kg Calorlite.

As to the future - as more motorists ‘go electric’ forecourt LPG sales will reduce, leading to further outlet closures. If left without serious protest, Calor will continue to treat their customers with contempt.

Whether the current increase in UK based holidays will be sustained as COVID vaccinations reopen the door to foreign flights, can only be guessed at. Hedging your bets with a Calor/ refillable hybrid, as many on this forum have done, makes sense to me, while the jury is out. Long term, I suspect that forecourts selling LPG will become so few and far between, that they’ll become impractical, accelerating closures. Hopefully someone, somewhere, will mount an effective challenge to Calor. We can all dream.

"Hopefully someone, somewhere, will mount an effective challenge to Calor. We can all dream."

BP did, particularly with their Gas lights, but few other users either realised this or opted to change. Their collaboration with the then Homebase strangled the retail network, and perhaps accounted for the lack of adoption and ultimate "failure" in that original venture.

Much has changed with Homebase's change of ownership, and the Flo-gas purchase of the product. IMO it is an extremely practical alternative to Calor's leisure range.

Along with this, Flo-gas has expanded its retail outlets so its 6 kg steel bottles have become widely available, making it an alternative to Calor's physically identical 6 kg bottles.

Though, presently Flo-gas along with Calor are not offering "new" rentals, but I am having no trouble getting refills for my 6 & 11 kg Flo-gas bottles or my 10 kg Gaslights.

IMO the "jury is not out" on the forecourt demise of LPG, it is well underway. With no new domestic cars being sold with factory fit LPG systems, it can only be a matter of time, probably very short before all forecourt LPG pumps are history. Forecourt space is so expensive, few, if any, major retailers are going to carry on for the small turnover of the camper taking a few kgs, the only hope is where a healthy converted taxi market exists.

It reminds me of that famous comment by the receptionist in " Trains, Planes and Automobiles" when a frustrated Steve Martin can't find his car!!!!

We seem to be moving to a possible situation where the supply of gas for caravans and motorhomes will become even more expensive for exchange cylinders and the prospect of it becoming more difficult to fill up refillable cylinders. I just don't think anyone from our hobby is going to be on the winning side?

David

Will there be an increased demand for all electric vans? Didn't Bailey make one but it didn't sell well at all? I did see one being used as a static or seasonal on a site once.

peedee