Now our Eriba is on order we've started to look at all the accessories we need. One of the obvious things is gas bottles.

We plan on staying at a lot of festivals and probably off EHU sites so gas will be an essential and Safefill seems a cheaper option than Calor. Has anyone have any experience of Safefill either good or bad?

Never heard of them so had to look them up

http://www.safefill.co.uk/refilling-retailers.html

There seems to be from there map large area's of the country not covered to get it refilled?

met a vw camper some years ago that ran the engine on gas and petrol but also cooked with same gas, the gas cylinder was fixed
a new conversion at time and the gas ran out, petrol conversion not quite running correctly, we visited 5 fuel stations to find the right gas apparently there is a few types, then struggled to get the gas from pump to the tank, was a few safety measures on pump, it was early hours of day, between four of use we worked it out.

it was far cheaper to refill with gas then mess with petrol side, and cut there holiday.. certainly learnt more that night morning

shortly after met a gentleman who drove a gas truck, he had run out of gas fuel, it was amazing to learn to refill the tank it was measured in weight, in those days the nearest gas point was 90 miles from where the vehicle stopped and the weight of gas by mile was estimated.. the sister truck also ran on gas, but was no more after a small engine issue caused the sump to explode while on a motorway
sorry major drift

we noticed when we used to go to mh show for fun, years ago when the refill gas cylinder idea first appeared there were quite a few makes of refillable cylinders, but by the next show some makes were discontinued..

there was a 540 Troll at Lechlade the old Eriba dealer before Al, with a conversion, when you ran out of gas, had to take the 540 to the refill place, due to the refill point being fit to the fairing..

personally think getting a full rented cylinder is far easier, and cost effective if ring about.. but each to own.
I know nothing about safe fill..
should you decide to venture along this route, please do update .it is all interesting knowledge

P

Hi Jamie.

I 'invested' in a twin cylinder system from Gaslow with the automatic changeover facility. There are other refillable systems (Safefill springs to mind) but I bought from Gaslow because I liked their safety strapline that theirs is "the safest, most reliable refillable cylinder range in Europe." And safety, when dealing with someting highly inflammable as well as being explosive, was #1 on my list of system priorities.

So I invested, and the kit duly arrived and very good quality it all seemed to be, BUT there were no installation instructions. There wasn't a clue as to which braided hose went to which outlet/inlet. I couldn't believe it. In the end I had to resort to peering at the picture of the advertisement for their twin system on my laptop but it was too small a picture.

So, a few prods of "Ctrl +" and I was able to enlarge the picture sufficiently to be able to correctly connect ONE cylinder - I couldn't for the life of me see how the second cylinder was correctly attached, and this isn't something one should take a stab in the dark at, IMHO. So now I had one correctly ( I hoped) installed cylinder with the filler kit left rattling around in the front locker.

On my next trip away I pulled into my local Shell garage and parked up next to the LPG pump. I opened the front locker, inserted the pump nozzle into the Gaslow filler kit and pulled the trigger. Disaster! I hadn't connected the pump nozzle and filler kit correctly and ice-cold gas gushed all over my pump holding hand! I tried again, but the difficulty was because the Gaslow filler kit was loose in the locker (on my van). It should be built into the fabric of the van somewhere.

So, gripping onto the filler kit with what I hoped was a vice-like hold I reinserted the pump nozzle and tried again. Partial success. The filler kit no longer leaked but one of the hose connections did - I hadn't tightened it sufficiently. I abandoned the fill once again whilst I rummaged around in the back of the car for an adjustable spanner. Once all connections had been tightened I tried again, and this time, success! The gas went into the cylinder - well according to the pump readout it did. The Gaslow system has an 80% fill cut-out mechanism (allegedly) but after a while my bottle went and I just stopped filling at a literage point that I had calculated would give an 80% fill, because after my inexpert attempts at fitting the system I couldn't be 100% sure that I'd done everything correctly and so would the 80% cut-off work in my case?

So a right old faff initially and my resultant thoughts on the Gaslow system are:

1. The kit itself looks to be top-notch quality but the absence of any installation instructions are truly shocking. Ikea provide instructions to assemble a bin and yet this company provide nothing for a potential bomb. If there was an industry gas regulator body they should stop this company from trading until full safety instructions are provided with their products.

2. I personally love the way the cylinders are refilled. I think it is so darned convenient to pull into a fuel station when off on a trip and top up the gas from a pump next to the diesel/petrol pump. Others think this is a right nuisance but I can't understand that point of view.

Do they have cars that never need filling with fuel? We have to visit a fuel station to fill the car so why not top up the Gaslow when there? It seems so much easier to me than disconnecting a cylinder, putting it into the car, and then traipsing off to an exchange point whilst paying at least double for the cost of a full cylinder over the Gaslow system.

The only inconvenience that I can see would be if you stayed for a long time on one pitch in winter, using the gas all the time, that you might run out and have to tow the van to a station from pitch and back again. But I think if would have to be quite a long winter stay to run out of gas whilst on pitch. I do plan to be winter camping (hence the Gaslow system) but I anticipate a maximum of 6 nights before I move on to a new campsite and the move provides the opportunity for a refill.

3. The Gaslow filler kit MUST be built into some part of the Eriba so that it becomes a fixed and immovable object for when the pump filler nozzle is inserted into it at refill time. This would remove the need for the vice-like grip that I have to currently have to exert when undertaking a refill and remove the risk of gas escapes as I have described above.

This leads to a new problem - where to get such an installation done and who to do it. I spoke to Phil (service) at AL and he told me that he has seen Gaslow nozzles installed into the metal checkerplate on the A frame of Eribas, but that they cannot do it for me as they are not gas authorised for such work. After much internet searching I round a company called Rhino Installs that are authorised and experienced Gaslow installers.

I got in contact but they are a mobile service and with them being in Preston and me being in Buckingham they regretfully said, quite understandably, that I was too far for them to provide their mobile service. So on my next trip to the Lakes in November I am going to call in on them and let them (correctly) install the Gaslow system and the second cylinder which is just languishing in my garage at the moment!

My only conundrum is where to have the filler kit built into the van. Personally I would like it built into the front locker door but as this is covered both sides with a soft aluminium skin I can forsee that the fixing holes will enlarge over time as the lpg nozzle is inserted into the filler and rotated for a click lock - it is quite a forecful mechanical operation.

So my current thought is to have the filler kit built into the metal checkerplate on the A frame, but I will, of course, take the advice of Rhino Installs as they seem, given the pictures on their website, to have installed a great many of these systems.

Would I purchase this sytem again?

Yes I would. I think it is so convenient to fill up when compared to exhanging a cylinder and at least half the cost.

Yes, it will take quite some time to recoup my initial investment but I plan on keeping my Eriba for a long time.

I'll let you know how I get on with Rhino Installs...

Thanks Steve for the useful information on Gaslow.

I've looked it up online and it seems a great idea. Although it seems expensive and I'm not too keen on putting a hole in for the filling flap but it's something we will definitely research more as over the years will no doubt easily pay for itself.

What attracts us to the safefill is it's just a cylinder that does not need fitting. We could either fill it in the locker itself or remove the cylinder for filling. In theory we should be able to fill this anywhere that sells auto gas although that's probably easier said than done. However, I like the idea of not having to mess about trying to get new bottles as past experience with calor replacements for patio heaters etc, half of the time places have run out and it becomes a pain to get refills. Although not sure if this is the same for Calor lite cylinders.

We might try getting one Safefill then have one calor as well and see how it works out. Looking at the categories on the Calor site it looks as though lite bottles are now in the same category as 6kg propane and 7kg butane so might try swapping an empty butane cylinder for the lite bottle. Although this approach would also be on the basis have having sufficient nose weight capacity for 2 full cylinders

I'll keep this thread updated with what we decide to do, as I would prefer not to have to buy from the monopoly that is Calor.

If you are in the Nottingham area, Lodge Farm Leisure at Gunthorpe sell Safefill cylinders. The initial cost is high but gas then only costs just over 50p per litre, roughly £1 per kilogram. If you use a lot of gas, it could be a cheap way of buying it. The cylinders are impressive, very light but several built in safety features.

I have seen articles where a 2- cylinder gas delivery system consisted of a 1-cylinder Gaslow system together with a removable 2nd cylinder, say Calor in UK, Camping Gaz on the continent. So you use the removable system in whatever country you are in and when that runs out you switch over to the Gaslow - next day replace removable cylinder. Needless to say you need a manual changeover procedure to ensure the backup cylinder is not without your knowledge. Just a thought.

Regarding Gaslow installers, try motorhome dealerships where gaslow installations are more popular.