caravanning especially rallying just got cheeper

[starlightdj]

Thats not something I can say very often these days but just swopped from a Calor Lite gas bottle to the Safeflow safe fillable lpg bottle.

I realise you have to use gas to make a saving, however to justify my reasoning as we head into the winter rallying season where I will use a lot more gas, from my calculations the savings are as follows.

1 x calor lite deposit £30
each refil of a 6k or aprox 10 litre bottle = £23 direct from our local Calor depot

1 x Safefil bottle £149
each refill to show equivelant 10 litres @ 66p per litre = £6.60

A saving of apox £16.40 per refil depending on lpg price at the time of purchase.

I reacon in 7.26 refills time the initial outlay will be recouped and at the end of the day I still have a bottle which I can sell on, if I decide to give up.

I realise 7.26 bottles of calor lite sounds alot but ive just used 1 alone on our recent two weeks to Germany.

A longer term investment which should make my running costs fractionally lower is always a good sign lol

Cheers
John

 

[RogerL]

I believe that 12 litres is the equivalent of 6kg, so your equivalent refills will be £7.92, a saving of £15.08, giving a breakeven at just under 10 refills.

Still a significant saving for anyone using gas on non-EHU sites.

 

[Surfer]

Still not sure hwo that makes rallying cheaper as you have the cost of the rally plus the cost of gas as you will probbaly use up a 6kg cylinder on a weekend. Added together staying on a no facilities CC site with EHU is probably cheaper.

 

[RogerL]

Still not sure hwo that makes rallying cheaper as you have the cost of the rally plus the cost of gas as you will probbaly use up a 6kg cylinder on a weekend. Added together staying on a no facilities CC site with EHU is probably cheaper.

Non-facility CC sites with EHU are £11/night upwards. Cheapest CL with EHU I've found recently is £7/night, and it's a nice one.
How much is a rally, for 2/3 nights ?

 

[starlightdj]

Hi the rally is £8.50 per night.
the cost saving is comparing the price saved between using a calor lite compared with the new safefil.
on an average winter weekend in a new van with alde heating I could get through half a calor ie £11.50 compared to say 6 litres LPG @ 66p per litre at today's local garage price.

camp site cls with or without electric will always differ in price, so it's hard to compare prices as it's two seperate types of break away.
With rallies they are a bit like marmite you either like them or don't.
personally I like them, different location every two weeks, kids have met a great group of freinds whom see each other regularly. the comitee sets up a mar quay for everyone whom wants to meet up to get together and a bar with proper draught beer for £1.20 a pint and £1 a double, that's only if you don't bring your own which your more than welcome to do.

like any weekend away everyones type of site and price they are prepared to pay differs, that's why I'm only looking at the gas saving as with rallies you tend to use a lot more than say someone on a site with electic hook up whereby you can heat and cook by electric so have only a small gas requirement.

that's why I'm happy with my cost saving lol.
cheers
John

 

[Surfer]

John maybe I got my sums wrong but if the rally is £8.50 per night then you add on the cost of using gas at Safefill prices surely using a CC site at £11 per night or a CL at £10 per night is cheaper?

 

[Gozza]

John maybe I got my sums wrong but if the rally is £8.50 per night then you add on the cost of using gas at Safefill prices surely using a CC site at £11 per night or a CL at £10 per night is cheaper?

Surfer, I think what you've missed is that John likes going to rallies - he's comparing the cost of rallying with a traditional type Calor cylinder, against the cost of rallying with his autogas. For the kind of caravanning John likes, the cost of a site with EHU is irrelevant.
Going off-grid wouldn't appeal to my family, but I can see the attraction for some people and I can see that the saving to be made with autogas is significant.

 

[twindaddy]

Sounds great, which rally is this?

TD

 

[Gagakev]

Sounds great, which rally is this?

TD

Ditto

Come on Starlight spill the beans,

 

[starlightdj]

Hi all it he main rallies we goto are the Sterling & sprite owners club.
of to Blackpool this weekend and as it's switching to the winter months the committee switch to sites with a hall to save putting the mar quay up.

Only joined at the NEC two years ago, but your always made to feel welcome when you turn up on site, can't make all the rallies due to work commitments but do go to as many as I can.
have also tried a c&cc rally at conniston over the May bank holiday, great location and no need to book in, just turn up and pitch again for £8 a night.

Cheers
John

 

[twindaddy]

Thanks John

we love rallies, the children have much more freedom when not confined to a hardstanding pitch with a single parking space and of course the cost is vastly different. We do the wells-next-the-sea rally during the school summer holidays for 3 weeks.

 

[MichaelE]

I rally quite a lot and through winter too and only use 3-4 6 k bottle a year

 

[Surfer]

I rally quite a lot and through winter too and only use 3-4 6 k bottle a year

Is that when off EHU?

 

[MichaelE]

No mainly non EHU, have done 4 x 5 days this year plus lots of weekends, hasnt been that cold and i turn the alde hot water off so do not leave on all the time.
The 2 long weeks we have done were on EHU.
Im afraid we dont do our main holiday in the caravan anymore as the cost towing to the south of France is not cost effective anymore.

 

[johno1]

Hi starlight,

I also have a safefill bottle and refilled it a short time ago and 3/4 refill cost £7.60 you will soon get your money back I only hope the government keep their hands off regarding tax!

P.S. the initial fill wil be 15 liters

 

[Gozza]

I hadn't thought of this before, but the ability to refill a Safeflow bottle from part empty must also mean you can start every caravan trip with a full bottle. Must be more convenient than carrying a second bottle, or always wondering if you're going to run out overnight and not be able to cook breakfast!
Caravan is laid up for the winter (or will be once it's had its annual trip down the motorway to the service man in a couple of weeks), but this looks like something I'll have to think about next year - does anyone have any figures on how this gas (which I believe is a butane/propane mix?) behaves at low temps compared to propane? Before anyone thinks that's an odd question for someone who doesn't use the 'van over winter, I like to run the heating when I'm in the 'van doing winter maintenance jobs

 

[RogerL]

Autogas LPG has to cope with the same low temperatures in a car as it would in a caravan.
Maybe, like diesel, it has a different formulation for summer and winter.

 

[Surfer]

When we were making inquiries about Safefill, we checked their website for localities to refill. The two nearest to us no longer exits and have not for over a year. I emailed them to update them and received a reply thanking me, but these two still show as refill stations for Safefill in Worcestershire. The one is the "3 Counties Caravans" which is now a block of flats and the other is "Bromsgrove Accessories".
In my book that is known as being deceitful and any company that carries on a business based on deceit is not worth dealing with!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Autogas for motor vehicles is based on Propane. This is because the quantitiy of gas being consumed by an engine causes the gas LPG container to self cool, and as such it is very likely if the gas were Butane based it would stop vapourising and cause fuel starvation.

 

[starlightdj]

Hi yes you can refill the bottle at any time, just plug it in at the petrol station open the valve then press the button on the pump, it automatically shuts off when its 85% full.

Just had our two weeks in Germany which half the time was off ehu, then two rally weekends, topped the bottle up, 7.63 literes aprox came to £5.03.

Re the concern over their site and list of petrol stations, I have considered one of these bottles for over a year but was put off as I live in liverpool and the nearest listed site is 10 miles away, however on my lunch a couple of months back walked by a local private run garage by work & noticed they sold lpg, went in and asked if I could fill up, They said no problem.
If you are considering buying one rather than rely on the website, just make your own enquiries locally ive now found two petrol stations more within two miles which will allow me to fill up. (all not listed on the web site)

With more & more garages now selling lpg, I cant see the supply issue being a problem.

Im not by any means saying buy one, but if you use enough gas in an average year and long term want to reduce your gas bill, it is an option worth considering, and works for me.

Similarly you also have gaslow, but from what ive read this system is fitted, so to fill up you have to take the caravan to the pertol station which as ive got a t/a, i dont relish the thought of negotiating it round the other pumps lol.

Cheers
John

 

[Surfer]

Thanks John but where can one find a list of garages selling LPG? Living in the sticks, our nearest garage is over 5 miles away.

 

[starlightdj]

Hi Surfer

Re a list of LPG Garages, if you do a google search of your local area this may help or try
lpgmap.co.uk
getlpg.org.uk
autogas.ltd.uk

Most Asda's now sell autogas too.
however ive yet to find a definative list or one that actually shows all up todate stockists.

one thing I never considered, I only looked for suppliers where i live, but never considered where my van was stored or the area where i would tow it too. This could open up even more suppliers.

If you find one, It might be worth checking directly with the individual garage too make sure they allow you to fill up, ie Morrisons used too, but as there auto gas is supplied by Calor, for some reason they now dont allow safefill cylinders.?? (wouldnt have anything too do with the huge difference in price would it?)

Hope this helps
John