Calor witholding Calor Lite Bottles

[JulieandStuart]

Been planning to change from Butane to Calor Lite for some time now, did my research, spoke to local Calor Agent, etc. and planned to swap once 1st Butane bottle ran out.

So, bought my changeover gauge, pigtails, etc. and this week my 1st Blue bottle ran out - so off I trot to local supplier who tells me that Calor will now ONLY SUPPLY Calor Lite to existing users - i.e. no swap from blue/red bottles !!!!

So I am left with 'hobsons choice' stay with butane, migrate to 'heavy' propane -or- pay to join the Calor scheme again by buying a new Calor Lite bottle at full price and presumably mothballing my blue bottles.

Is this Calor simply aiming to make loadsa money as the 2009 caravanning season gets underway; maybe most of their board are MPs on 'flexible' expenses.

I feel as though I am being bullied into buying another Calor Bottle!!

Julie.

 

[Suzac]

If it's true must be a new policy because I changed both my old blue butane bottles for Calorlite 12 months ago. If it is true might be worth a trip to your local recycling centre where you can often pick up unwanted 6kg Propane cylinders for a few pounds and then swap them for Calorlite.

 

[Suzac]

Oh but don't think you can swap the real big 'uns for 6kg - make sure it's 6kg for 6kg.

 

[Mikey1]

You can can swap big for small and visa versa on either butane and propane.

The demand for calorite is extremly high at the moment and at present calor will only exchange if you have a calorlite bottle to swap which makes sense as you wouldnt want to drop back to original heavier bottles after you have make the swap.

Exchange for a 6kg propane then exchange when calorlite is freely available again

 

[Heethers]

Was at bury Park CC last weekend,thopught l may run out of Gas enquired about Calor Lite they said they could swap the heavy bottles for calorlite for an extra

 

[bigbilly]

I swapped two 13Kg bottles for two Calorlite bottles last month at a main Calor dealer for just the normal cost of Calorlite.

Bill

 

[Glensmate]

Julie,

I changed a butane 13kg bottle for a 6kg Calor Lite propane at Discover Caravans on Saturday. No extra charge just

 

[JulieandStuart]

The variety of responses suggests that Calor providers are interpreting the rules in different ways - viz: at my local supplier two different members of staff responded in differing ways, e.g. one guy said that I could not change from Blue/Red to Lite whilst a second guy said no problem to change at all - trouble was the first guy was the boss and his word was law!!

It was pointed out to me that the new ruling from Calor had only just been made, so maybe it has not yet cascaded down to all shops/CCs.

For now I am running on 1xBlue and 1xRed until such time as I can find a supplier who will replace my Blue with a Lite bottle. Any suggestions for the Bolton/Manchester area?

Cheers Guys

xx

 

[GregClaire]

I use BP gas lightweight bottles.

Am I the only one?

 

[theothertom]

This may sound like a stupid question but is there any diffrence between Calor and B P butane ,or is it the fittings that are diffrent?

Many Thanks,

Tom.

 

[Rick1]

I use BP gas lightweight bottles.

Am I the only one?

no you not he only one I use BP Lite too change them easy enough at homebase

 

[mauron]

Hi Julie,

Similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago. When I went to change bottles I was told Calor had ended the offer.

I e-mailed Calor UK who said that as far as they were aware the swap was still operating.

I then phoned my local Calor depot (Preston) who denied any knowledge of this offer!

After making enquiries it seems that Calor have been swamped with customer demand and the Calorlite bottles are in short supply. Until a further supplies received Calor will only exchange like for like. The bottles are (I think) made in Denmark.

Unless anyone knows different

Ron

 

[JohnGriffiths]

I have also been told by my calor dealer the only way to get Calor Lite is to buy a new bottle at nearly

 

[MagsAlan]

On the strength of this thread, i sent Alan out to replace our empty red bottle with a lightweight. He went to our local 'Go Outdoors' and it was swapped without a problem for the refill price of

 

[Guest]

Just to throw tuppence worth into this thread. I have butane cylinders with 7 kg of gas in them. For interets I looked at the disc around the tops which gives the tare weight of the cylinder. One read 18 lb 8 oz, the other 19 lb. Converting to kilos gives weights of 8.3 kg and 8.6 kg respectively. Calorlite will save 49% of the cylinder weight so I could technically save 4 kg per cyulinder. As I only carry one cylinder I am not so sure that a saving of 4 kg to have 1 kg less gas is really worth all the hoo ha.

 

[JulieandStuart]

The comments made by Ron, and Mags&Alan support what I have found, i.e. a lack of consistency in knowing whether you can or cannot currently upgrade. When my next blue (4.5kg) runs out I will attempt to again upgrade to 6kg Lite, may try Go Outdoors - let's see what happens.

Scotch Lad - for me the benefits are more gas, greater flow rates, and as I caravan all year the fact that propane will not let me down in the winter months. I carry two cylinders and a changeover system to prevent having to change a cylinder at usually the most inconvenient times, i.e. late at night, middle of cooking a meal, etc. so having Lite bottles will mean to me that I can have more gas for pretty much the same weight as I had with the 2 x 4.5kg Butane.

The issue I have is that I paid

 

[Guest]

I appreciate what you are saying. I used to have 2 by 7 kg bottles but as we usually use EHU we found that we never used the 2nd bottle in less than 2 or 3 seasons, so why carry the extra weight. I also use a Camping Gaz bottle as back up as it can be refilled easily in Europe and also runs the BBQ.

I am also a hot weather babe and the thought of cold winter nights in a caravan holds no pleasure to me, although I appreciate others love it. Too many Scottish summers put paid to that thought.

The Calor Agreement you signed does state that exchange is only on a like for like basis and the option to get another size is down to Calor. You can of course cancel your Agreement and get a refund of 70% down to 25% depending on how long you have had the Agreement. Not ideal I agree.

As others seem to be getting the swop OK, hopefully you will alos get the same. I am sure once sufficient supplies are available then Calor will be more accomodating. If it is any comfort if you try for the BP bottle they will want a new deposit as well.

 

[JulieandStuart]

Scotch Lad,

Had not realised I could get an agreement refund of up to 70% and then buy a new Lite bottle, may well look into that as an option, cheers

Julie

 

[HenryB1]

This page on Calor website shows you the categories of cylinder that you should be able to exchange. https://secure.calor.co.uk/OrderCalorCylinders/SuitableCylinderExchange.asp
HenryB