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Gas bottle level indicator recommendations

K

kevemo

After years of caravaning and allways just hopeing the gas doesnt run out, i was wondering if anyone has anything they use that works to tell you the amount of gas left in the bottle.
Ive seen something thats magnetic that sticks to the side of the bottle and are only a few pounds but thinking surely that cant work.
 
We used to have amagnetic indicator which was put on the outside of the bottle, Completewaste of money,
We have now, since the acute supply issues with Calor changed over to GasLight. The level of liquid gas can be seen through the composite cylinder walls - and two x 5kg cylinders weigh about thesame as one Calor 6Kg butane !
 
The magnetic one you refer to works like a thermometer.
The simplest way to explain is that your gas bottle contains LPG in liquid and gas form. When the gas valve is opened the pressure is reduced in the bottle and the liquid LPG expands and becomes gas which occupies the space above the liquid. There is a temperature difference between LPG in its liquid and gas state. So you would place the magnetic thermometer low on the bottle where it will read the temperature of the liquid. As the gas is used the level of the liquid will drop accordingly. When the level of liquid falls below the level of the thermometer the reading will change, which will give you an idea of the amount of liquid left in the bottle.
The downside is that you have to note and regularly check the reading which probably won’t change for weeks dependant on how much gas you use. Also, If you fix the device to a partially full bottle you must make sure it is below the level of the liquid. If you place it above the liquid it will read the temperature of the gas, never change and you’ll run out of gas without warning.
To be honest, they are a bit hit and miss with their accuracy. Even the one made by Calor with an audible alarm aren’t that brilliant.
I’ve gone the same route as Challenger with refillable bottles where you can actually see the level of liquid inside.
I hope this makes sense.
 
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An addendum to Paullus's comment. the temperature difference between the liquified and vapour phases only occurs when gas is being used, so if the bottle is just standing thee temperature's of both the vapour and the liquid will equalise.

Truma used to sell a device that would measure the depth of the liquid left in a bottle using ultrasonic sonar techniques.

There have been other devices that measure the pressure in the bottle. This is not a precise method, becasue the pressure of the vapour over the liquid is affected by the ambient temperature, and as long as there is any liquefied gas remaining you cannot reliably determine the volume by pressure alone.

The most reliable method of determining the amount of gas is to weigh the bottle, and subtract the tare weight of the bottle to reveal the weight of any gas remaining.

A more practical way is to lift and shake the bottle a bit. You can quickly get the feel of how much liquified gas by the feel of it sloshing around.
 
The problem is all these devices mean you must still go outside and check.
All a waste of money. As the cylinder runs out whilst in use you get a warning. Smell and flickering flame. Out you go and swap cylinders. 😜
 
Dustydog said:
The problem is all these devices mean you must still go outside and check.
All a waste of money. As the cylinder runs out whilst in use you get a warning. Smell and flickering flame. Out you go and swap cylinders. 😜
Click to expand...
The Truma system had a remote indicator.

I prefered to use an automatic change over system, (in the days of regulators on bottles) where one regulator was designated the main, and the other as reserve. There was a bottle pressure indicator on the main side, so you could quickly see when the mains had expired. If you checked daily then you'd quickly detect when the main had been used up, and that indicated time to replace it, which automatically reconnected the system to the new full main bottle.

Using this system it took me literally years before the reserve bottle was nearly empty.

After using it for a few trips. I gained a sense of how many days the main bottle would last so I knew when to start checking.

I also used a bulkhead change over system for a long term continual test project, which indicated when it changed over from bottle A to B or vice versa. Simply had to disconnect and refill the empty bottle. In my opinion this was the better system as each time you changed a bottle it was always full, and there was no concern about how much may be left in reserve bottle.
 
I have calor lites with guages, but they are very approximate. I also have an auto changeover valve. I think this gives an indication of which bottle is being used but it is out of sight, so useless. I just use one bottle at a time and change over when empty. Foolproof and simple.

John
 
I have a calor lite which has been running on slops for about a months use. I know exactly when it will run out. Its when the wife will be using the oven , the gas rings, at night and it will be raining.
 
Thought the magnetic ones were a bit cheap.
Think i will go down the gaslite bottle route ,seems to be the best option.
 
Gaslites are jumping on the bandwagon for the cost of gas. A 5kg £35.
A 6kg calor (heavy) £26.75. but more realisticly £29.
I see you can get calorlites refilled on Ebay for £25.
 
One of the reasons i chose a Gaslow bottle,. It has a proper float mechanism connected to a gauge, which shows the exact level of the liquid.
 
littlebasher said:
One of the reasons i chose a Gaslow bottle,. It has a proper float mechanism connected to a gauge, which shows the exact level of the liquid.
Click to expand...
I keep hearing that places to refill the gaslow bottles are getting fewer? And that LPG station will not always allow filling of bottles that are not in vechiles or caravans.
Have you found that at all ?
 
I use the weighing method, which is infallible but requires a bit of effort.

I always inwardly smile to myself when this topic comes up and people want to know how much gas they have left, when in fact they want to know how much liquid they have left. 😉
 
Hutch said:
I keep hearing that places to refill the gaslow bottles are getting fewer? And that LPG station will not always allow filling of bottles that are not in vechiles or caravans.
Have you found that at all ?
Click to expand...

There are 4 petrol stations local to me that have LPG, fortunately never had an issue refilling bottles
 
We have a Truma gas bottle level indicator, can’t remember what it is called but it is the ultrasound one. It goes beep. We are a sucker for any gadget that goes beep. It seems to tell the level of gas left well enough, but I am still of the don’t bother catagory. To my mind, the gas bottle is empty when the gas runs out, at which point swap it, or use the microwave or go to the pub. We are rarely off ehu. Otherwise you are just wasting gas.
I guess if you caravan off grid or are going to a country like France where refills are rather more hard to come by, knowing how much gas you have is more useful.
Mel
 
My neighbours brother runs a calor gas outlet, and my neighbour never buys a cylinder, he takes a cylinder that has been handed in, in exchange, as they are normally good for a weeks worth of gas, sometimes even a 1/4 full.
FORO. Fear Of Running Out.
 
I had two 6 kg cylinders and normally would only carry one unless when I shook the installed one it felt to be getting low. Then I would install the second one for when no1 cylinder ran out. Going to Europe I always took two cylinders as one would be on bbq duties. After a while you get a feel for your usage as fundamentally we are all creatures of habit.
 
When we had the caravan we use to carry two propane one 6kg and 3.9kg and had a fitted inline gauge a good safely device .but we always use electric hook up on site
 
10 kg Safefill bottle.
You can see the level just by looking though sometimes the use of a torch makes it easier.
No need to wait for it to run out before topping up. Safety valves stop it overfilling.
Last top up took 16 litres of LPG for less than £15!
Bottles aren't cheap but if you use a decent amount of gas they soon pay for themselves.
 
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