calorlite cylinder recall.

[brian_c]

Good evening all. About a week ago having heard about the recall of certain calorlite cylinders, I went to our local dealers and exchanged both my cylinders which fell into the date ranges required.
Quite happy really because one was quite low and the other virtually full.
The lady at the dealers had told my wife on the phone earlier that they only had a limited amount of cylinders for this recall allocated to them from calor and that when the batch was gone they wouldn't be getting any more. So as I said above I did my swap quickly with no problems.

However, today I was explaining to a friend about the recall and took him out to the caravan to show him how to find the dates and explained also the hole in the collar ring that showed that the cylinder had been tested and was safe whatever the date.
I suppose you have guessed the reason for my post now.
Both cylinders were 2008 and neither have the hole drilled in the aluminium ring.
In fact I feel a bit of a fool for not checking immediately on collection but must admit to just putting them in the car and driving home.
One thing I did notice though is that both aluminium collar discs had a small half moon cut out on the perimeter of the disc.

I'm wondering if this is evidence of testing or is always present.

I'm obviously going to contact calor tomorrow for clarification but was just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same doubts I'm having.
Regards to all
Brian

 

[Damian]

The marking on the cylinder collar is a 5.5mm hole, a half moon cut out is NOT a Calor marking in regard to the recall.
See here for a picture of the marking:
http://www.calor.co.uk/recall

 

[brian_c]

Thank you Damian. I was aware of the required 5.5mm hole and my two replacements don't have it.
You have cleared up my lack of knowledge regarding the half moon cuts. So it looks like I've been given two replacements with the same potential issues as the ones I've returned.
I'm wife is going to give Calor customer services a call tomorrow. To sort it out.
I'm not using the van for a couple of weeks so I've no thoughts of connecting them up.
I really should have double checked them on collection.
Regards Brian

 

[brian_c]

Calor have confirmed this morning that the bottles I've been given need returning again. They should definitely have been identified with the 5.5 mm hole if they had been examined and cleared by their inspection.
Of course when we have contacted the local supplier they don't now have any in stock.
So we are going to have to ring around various suppliers until we locate some more.
The moral is to check the bottles you are given before leaving the agents.
I still feel foolish for not having done so?
Regards to all Brian

 

[Damian]

The person who gave the cylinders to you is at fault, not you.
It is their responsibility to make sure they gave you the right cylinders, not just swap yours over for some they happen to have had laying around.

 

[brian_c]

Yes Damian My friend who I initially started explaining the recall criteria too (when I discovered that these were incorrect,) had an altogether more cynical opinion. But I've just put it down to a genuine mistake. Had I not spotted it I could have merrily gone on my way though with two bottles that had a potential fault.
The company did tell my wife that the bottles they had were delivered special from Calor to be used for the recall.
I'd be amazed if Calor had got it wrong.
I'm unable to ring them myself through being deaf and unfortunately not being able to use the phone for the past year has been the biggest obstacle I've had to negotiate.
Very frustrating in these types of situation.
Thank you for your replies.
Regards Brian

 

[MichaelE]

You shouldn't have to chase around to replace them, one thing i have noticed is where some retailers have no stock they are not taking the problem cylinders off the customers?
Why?
If the supplier is local to you surely they could issue a voucher or something otherwise you are leaving with the problem cylinders to source an exchange elsewhere?

 

[Damian]

There are several issues which have arisen, from your instance of the wrongly "marked" cylinders being given out to some outlets(not main Calor ones) charging customers for the gas if their cylinders are empty.
That is WRONG...... Calor specifically state that the cylinders involved in the recall will be swapped for FULL ones at NO CHARGE.

It seems that some outlets are trying to make a few £'s illegally, it is fraud.

I am sorry to read of your hearing problem Brian, I cannot imagine what it must be like to not be able to do things like having a telephone conversation, however I do know that there is a system in place for typing instead of speaking, and getting the other party to type the reply. I think it is called typetalk or similar,have you investigated that avenue?

 

[EnfieldBoy]

I rang a Calor distribution centre in Edmonton North London and they offered to collect my faulty cylinders from my home address and exchange them under the terms of the recall.

 

[Damian]

That is what Customer Service should be like.
Full marks to that Calor Centre for their attitude to the recall.

 

[MichaelE]

Yes agreed top marks to that Calor centre

 

[brian_c]

Thank you for your reply Damian.
Your point about possible Fraud. Was the point my friend made to me. Although his wording was a little more of an earthy nature.

Yes my hearing problem has had a major affect on my situation. I woke one morning last year in September unable to hear a thing.
I must add that my right ear has never worked all my life something which I've never been able to get an explanation for.
Well I was backwards and forwards to the doctors for a couple of weeks then finally checks at the hospital mri scan etc. and fortunately no underlying issues are present but again no real explanation for my sudden loss.
I have a very strong hearing aid now that gives me hearing provided I'm very close to someone and looking straight at them. But any background noise and I have no chance.
I've heard of type talk but not looked into it, I've spent quite a bit of money buying adapters, special phones neck loops etc but nothing really works and nothing enables me to use the phone.
Still as my mum used to say, "you just have to get on with things, there is always someone worse off"
One of my selfish pleasures in life is occasionally going off alone with the van for a few days fishing. Something that I was reluctant to do since. However my daughter gave me a talking too and I've been twice this year for four days each time. My wife booked me into CL sites explained my situation and I've been great.
(Nice and quiet and peaceful)
I've even bought a device that couples with the smoke alarm in the caravan that goes under my pillow and shakes me awake in the event of the alarm going.

again thank you for you comments.
Best regards Brian

 

[Gozza]

That is WRONG...... Calor specifically state that the cylinders involved in the recall will be swapped for FULL ones at NO CHARGE.

It seems that some outlets are trying to make a few £'s illegally

The Calor main dealer in Southampton told me they would charge for replacing a totally empty cylinder - since I was changing an almost-empty and they replaced it free I didn't make a fuss, had I been changing an empty I would have done, and showed them the statement in the Calor website

 

[mealsonwheels]

Thanks for this info Brian and Damian.
Checked our cylinders this morning and both had to be returned. A nearby marina supplies ours and they said they have been inundated and could only let us have 1 cylinder at the moment or they would run out. At least we've got one to use for our forthcoming trip.

 

[MichaelE]

Did they also take the other ones and issue you a voucher?

 

[Gafferbill]

Calorlite seems to me yet another time wasting caravan orientated innovation that causes hassle and is an expensive way of sourcing gas.

I can fit a 13kg Calor propane cylinder in the gas locker of my Swift and the gas is half the price of Calorlite gas and the MTPLM of the caravan is still only 1150kgs........just my opinion.......each to his own

 

[Gozza]

Fair enough Gaffer, but I can't be the only caravanner who would struggle to LIFT a 13kg Propane into the locker - whether it fits is only half the story!

OK, when I need to lift that weight I will, but I'll plan to lift a lighter weight where possible, personally I think the extra cost is a fair trade off.

 

[Sproket]

Fair enough Gaffer, but I can't be the only caravanner who would struggle to LIFT a 13kg Propane into the locker - whether it fits is only half the story!

OK, when I need to lift that weight I will, but I'll plan to lift a lighter weight where possible, personally I think the extra cost is a fair trade off.

I decided to purchase a Safefill refillable cylinder ...the blue one, it weighs 17.5 kg when full, that's less than two full Calor light cylinders hmy: I have a 13kg Calor bottle that will now be used just for the bbq at home, they weigh in at around 30kg when full or about the same as two of the older six kg Calor bottles the advantage is as Gafferbill has pointed out is the cost of the refill @ about £26 to £28 for twice the amount of gas that is in a Calor light bottle.

When i took my 13kg bottle out of the front locker I weighed it @ 27kg so straight away i have roughly the same amount of gas now back in the locker but with a weight saving of 10kg

This blue one holds 10kg or 20lts of lpg @ 0.71p per ltr it ( cost me £14.35p to fill it up ) I know it will take time to recoup the initial cost of the bottle but at say for a round figure of £25.00 to fill a Calor light that's only six refills and the bottle is paid for

 

[RogerL]

Fair enough Gaffer, but I can't be the only caravanner who would struggle to LIFT a 13kg Propane into the locker - whether it fits is only half the story!

OK, when I need to lift that weight I will, but I'll plan to lift a lighter weight where possible, personally I think the extra cost is a fair trade off.

That's my sole reason for using Calorlite, compared to a normal 6kg Propane cylinder let alone a 13kg - the reduction in total weight is important when you get old & decrepit - incidentally, my original Calor rental agreement, which I still have, specifies the old Aluminium Butane cylinders which have long-since been discontinued.

 

[Gafferbill]

.......yes the weight is the big drawback of a 13kgs Calor propane but they are readily available almost anywhere in the UK.
I often stay on sites without EHU and that is where the larger cheaper cylinder comes into its own.
I usually use a 6kgs cylinder if the site has EHU.
Newer caravans also seem to have much reduced payloads........mine being older has a 210kgs payload.

Refillable cylinders are not readily accepted for filling on forecourts in the area where I live so would be a problem.

 

[eribanaut]

When I tried [ unsuccessfully ] to change mine at the calor depot in Swindon, I was informed that Calor can only empty, inspect and refill 200 suspect cylinders a day, with 170,000 to do that's over 3 years work

 

[ProfJohnL]

When I tried [ unsuccessfully ] to change mine at the calor depot in Swindon, I was informed that Calor can only empty, inspect and refill 200 suspect cylinders a day, with 170,000 to do that's over 3 years work

Hello eribanaut

Do not forget that you do not own the cylinder, you have only hired it. Part of that rental agreement will include the option of the owner (i.e. Calor) to ask you to surrender the cylinder immediately if they have any safety concerns.

The Calor statement is
"Product Recall

Calor Gas Ltd is issuing a product recall with immediate effect on all 6kg CalorLite® cylinders manufactured between 2008-2011 inclusive. All such cylinders must be returned to a local CalorLite® stockist immediately.

Upon return, the customer will be issued with a free of charge replacement 6kg CalorLite® cylinder."
See
http://www.calor.co.uk/recall

This is a very robust statement, and males it imperative the user returns the affected batches of cylinders. It has the urgency associated with Safety recalls, and every Calor deal must accept any affected cylinder to remove them from service.

Ideally the dealer should replace it with a proven cylinder of the same type, but if the haven't got available stock they should still take the cylinder and either provide a guarantee to supply a replacement when stocks are available, or ( with consultation with Calor) an alternative cylinder type as a temporary replacement.

I strongly suspect if a dealer refused to take a cylinder or a user refuses to allow a dealer to take the cylinder they will be in breach of Health and Safety regulations for endangering the user or the public by allowing a faulty appliance (Cylinder) in service. Such inaction is a criminal offence.

I don't think Calor can limit the scope of the recall to just Calorlite dealers, although you should not expect an immediate exchange from non Calorlite dealers.

 

[eribanaut]

I'm not quite sure what you are attempting to say, my post was just to say at the present rate it will take them three and a half years to complete the recall and inspection of the suspect cylinders

 

[Damian]

I think that the situation is being made more of than it really is.

For a start Calor have not said whether or not there have been any failures but there "is a chance", therefore, unless they contact every single user by letter they cannot hope to reach everyone who uses these cylinders by the use of Internet forums.

Secondly, unless they have in excess of the number of cylinders checked and out there for Calor dealers/resellers to exchange, they cannot hope to get all the affected cylinders back in quick time.

Without diminishing the possible seriousness of a possible fault, as long as users take some extra precautions like checking to see if they have a smell of gas in the locker before attempting to use it, there should be no problems.

I think everyone knows the possible implications and responsibility of the supplier but in the real world it "aint gonna happen overnight"

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello again, eribanaut and Damain

Manufacturers do not issue recall notices lightly. There are many costs to running a recall operation, and if there is a safety concern then that exposes the organisation to legal action if any of the affected items fail and cause a loss of any sort, let alone injury.

Recall notices are worded very carefully, because of the implications of getting it wrong twice. I am certain high level legal advice from their insurers will have been sought about the wording, so do not dismiss the notice casually. there either has been an issue somewhere or someone has spotted a serious flaw, which could easily become a safety matter.

Calor's recall notice uses the phrases "with immediate effect" and "All such cylinders must be returned to a local CalorLite® stockist immediately." These are not light touch phrases. The're "light the blue touch paper" phrases and in the context of a gas cylinder it almost certainly refers to a real safety risk.

If the problem was more of an inconvenience to customer rather than a danger, then Calor could have waited for cylinders to be returned for refills in the normal way and taken them out of service progressively. I think it is also pretty certain Calor did not see this one coming, as this thread has shown the dealer network is not ready, and there are only limited supplies of tested cylinders, so as you say its not going to happen overnight.

As for the effectiveness of the recall notice on the web, I seriously doubt that Calor could contact every customer direct, they simply will not have the details of every hirer, as they are normally handled by the local stockist. They will have taken advice about how best to reach the widest possible number of users, and perhaps they feel the internet is the most effective solution.

I suggest ALL Calor dealers should grabbing them back and either issuing:

a tested cylinder in exchange
a credit note redeemable against a tested cylinder when they are available
a cylinder of a different size on a temporary basis

If the problem is not hazardous, then Calor have shot themselves in the foot.

eribanaut's posting said:-

When I tried [ unsuccessfully ] to change mine at the calor depot in Swindon,...............

Now that implies eribanaut tried to return his cylinder but the dealer either refused or he decided not to go through with it. Either way the situation is unsatisfactory as a suspect cylinder is still being used against the safety warning of the manufacture. I suggest you either find another dealer or return to Swindon and insist they relieve you of it and manage it in the ways I have suggested above.