Calor Gas - Shortage!

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May 24, 2014
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Today, I rang all the near CAMC sites, all my local dealers inc Calor and a few builders merchants that have been known to stock lites. Eventually, I have had to do a 120 mile round trip to get two bottles, exchange only from a firm that always has stock. They are telling me that when these are gone, they dont envisage getting anymore. They also said, that when the empties are taken back by Calor, they arent releasing them back into circulation. If this is true, and I specify IF, Calor arent playing the game and they arent telling us the whole story.
 
May 11, 2021
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Yes - no new issues are being supplied by Calor to the distributors, so they can't sell you a new one. Cylinder exchanges can still be done assuming stock is available at stockists.

I had this frustration a few weeks ago - I bought a first caravan and need a cylinder - no stockists could supply one without an exchange cylinder. I found one for sale on Facebook Marketplace so am now "in the system". I made a plea for help in locating cylinders and got lots of responses about all the places nearby that had cylinders in stock, but this was not very helpful as they would only supply on an exchange basis. Calor have effectively capped the number of cylinders in circulation meaning there is no 'official' way of joining their ecosystem.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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I have never come across or heard of a Flogas Lite, but it has been mentioned recently?
It was the grp cylinder developed by BP and originally BP Gaslight. Now marketed by Flogas. Who seem to be trying to become more active in the leisure market. It would be very good if they could really provide a counter to Calor. Flogas will take virtually any steel cylinder in exchange except Calor
 
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Jul 15, 2008
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........it has always seemed a "no brainer" to me that Calor should have a deposit scheme on their cylinders.
Their £7.50 payment for the return of unwanted cylinders is way to low, it should be the same as their new cylinder rental price .
In the current situation they would get many more empties returned which they could fill and return to circulation .
Two of the cylinders I used to exchange were originally found empty dumped in a local wood!!
There will be thousands of unwanted cylinders sitting around.
 
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JTQ

May 7, 2005
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I have never come across or heard of a Flogas Lite, but it has been mentioned recently?

Now traded as "Gaslight", a product acquired I recall via Flo gas subsidiary McGas from BP, and now available [stocks permitting] via any willing* Flogas dealer, directly from Flogas or from original BP gaslight dealers. My local B&M retails exchanges.

LINK

*"willing", it seems any can get it if they want to be helpful, some hold it as a stock line.
 
May 11, 2021
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You and your colleagues ended up with an excellent product for our use, pity your sales team did not do as good a job at getting a higher percentage of caravanners and motorhome users, to realise it.
As I said, I dipped in and out of it. It was quite an exciting project though and I felt it was a genuine innovation with practical benefits. I was a bit sad when I learnt it had been sold off. One small issue that did come up was that because the cylinders were composite they were quite good thermal insulators, meaning in high-burn applications like patio heaters the evaporative cooling inside the cylinder would eventually lead to a drop in gas pressure that was enough to prevent use, meaning a cylinder that was apparently still part-full would not sustain any use until it was left to warm up again. I can’t see this would be a problem in caravan/motorhome use though. One benefit I loved was that in a fire situation these cylinders were unexpectedly better than steel, in that they would not explode but simply go off with a bit of a pop. Another issue was that the cylinders quickly became very tatty-looking, which was at odds with their ‘lifestyle’ use (but then again, steel cylinders are hardly the last word in aesthetic appeal).
 
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Sep 16, 2018
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You and your colleagues ended up with an excellent product for our use, pity your sales team did not do as good a job at getting a higher percentage of caravanners and motorhome users, to realise it.

Hardly heard of them until recently, but fed up with Calor and having a noseweight problem we just switched to 2 x 5kg gaslight, saving 14 kgs. Cost was 69 for each cylinder plus 20 for connector and horsetail. All recouped by selling the Calor cylinders.
 

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Jan 3, 2012
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Hardly heard of them until recently, but fed up with Calor and having a noseweight problem we just switched to 2 x 5kg gaslight, saving 14 kgs. Cost was 69 for each cylinder plus 20 for connector and horsetail. All recouped by selling the Calor cylinders.
I hope you happy with your purchase and no more nose weight problem :)
 
Jan 10, 2009
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The gas lites are a bit harder to get hold of in normal circumstances, as for the sales team not doing a good job, when we first got ours may 12 +years ago, our caravan dealer stopped stocking them. He told us that Calor would not let them stock Calor along side the BP gas lites
 
Nov 11, 2009
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The gas lites are a bit harder to get hold of in normal circumstances, as for the sales team not doing a good job, when we first got ours may 12 +years ago, our caravan dealer stopped stocking them. He told us that Calor would not let them stock Calor along side the BP gas lites
That’s right as Calor have a tight grip on their outlets. Also Flogas will accept any steel cylinder for exchange except Calor cylinders as these are “ rented” to the original purchaser.
 
Sep 16, 2018
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The gas lites are a bit harder to get hold of in normal circumstances, as for the sales team not doing a good job, when we first got ours may 12 +years ago, our caravan dealer stopped stocking them. He told us that Calor would not let them stock Calor along side the BP gas lites
Must say we had no problem, Homebase had a good stock of the Flogas light cylinders, 5kg and 10kg and had no problems selling us new cylinders. Whereas 6kg Calor bottles refills are very hard to find and they're not renting any new ones.
 
Oct 3, 2013
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Folks will you please stop coming down to Devon and buying up our 6kg propane gas, please bring your own with you :)
Well here's a tip..... if you don't bring your own you will struggle to get any down this way,
indeed though the problem Im told is more wide spread.
Went to two outlets yesterday ....none
Local dealers today.....none ( They reported a national shortage)
Another two out lets today and the last one had one bottle left which I had.
I'm still searching for the second one which is a calor lite bottle, wont hold my breath!!
As long as you don't come north looking for gas !
We ran out of gas last week,managed to get a refill (Butane) at the fifth stockist.
 
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Sep 16, 2018
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I hope you happy with your purchase and no more nose weight problem :)
Thank you, very happy, but sadly not there yet, almost empty front locker but still over 100kgs. Only option now is to add weight in the back under the bed. I can't help feeling the axle should be further forward !
 

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