BP Gas Light/ MacGas Light
 

I bought us into this system five or six years ago - 5Kg or 10Kg plastic see through propane bottles, much, much lighter than the steel bottles and you can see at a glance how much gas you have left. Besides which, I didn't like Calor's monopoly - I have 2x 10Kg.

I found an independent local to me gas supplier, who sold the 10Kg refill for £22-50, which worked fine for the first few years, but was a bit of a panic when away from home, because our only other source was Homebase. Homebase then, would not provide a refill unless you could prove you had paid them for the original bottle deposit and they charged £38 for a 10Kg refill, but would not offer a refill. You started again with £45 + the £35 bottle deposit - so my only sensible sources were the impossible to find independents, some of whom wanted to charge £45.

BP sold the system out to MacGas, which might have been a chance to make supplies easier to obtain, but..

My £22-50 local independent were forced by Calor to stop dealing in the BP bottles, then I found another 30 miles away charging £25, the owner of which lived near us and was willing to bring a full bottle home with him for us.

A nice system, made unusable by difficulties of sourcing and variable cost. A couple of years ago I was in south Wales, ringing round trying to find a source which didn't involve paying a new bottle deposit to Homebase. The nearest source I could find was a 300mile round trip away - luckily the gas lasted.

I complained frequently to BP, then to MacGas, Homebase and to the Monopolies Commission about the whole situation.

I was so stressed by the whole situation, that I had been trying to find a means to decant gas from one part empty 10Kg, into a second part empty - so as to at least allow me to swap an empty for a refill without wasting gas.

Whether my complaints worked, or Homebase at last saw sense I don't know, but....

Homebase will now provide a refill without need for a proof of purchase from them and they charge a much more sensible £28.32 for a 10Kg refill. There are 3x Homebase's within 10 miles of where we are planning on going in June. Hopefully, no more concerns about ensuring I have enough gas with me for the entire outing. I will be a taking 1x 1/4 full, 1x 1/3 full which might be enough, but now no panic if it is not.

I seem to recall BP gas was the most expensive (though nice plastic bottles), followed by Calor, who also do a lightweight though still metallic cylinder. FloGas was cheaper and was still reasonably available (more from hardware stores than camping ones) and Energas, who I use, are the cheapest I've found at around £13 for 6Kg propane (don't think they do butane) from the local merchant. There's not many places that sell it, but I always take two full cylinders with me so never run out on a normal length stay.

In fact a few years ago I was regularly getting gas cylinders for free, though I was storing probably an illegal amount in my back yard - don't do it any more though as I don't travel around much now.

I have not costed it for a good while, but the BP gas was cheaper than Calor if you could get it from one of the cheaper sources. Paying Homebase's charge, £28-50 per 10Kg's I suspect is now probably on par with Calor's charge for the light weight bottles.

We don't use much gas, so replacement cost was never a big factor - I bought into them because they are light, you can check gas remaining with a glance, easier to handle and because it helps break the stranglehold that Calor has.

The Safefill (self refillable bottles) are identical to the BP version, they only differ in the gas connection at the top and the upper plastic is red instead of green.

I am looking to source a 27mm clip on Gasboat connector at a sensible price (if anyone might have one surplus?). All of the 27mm clip on connectors include a one way valve that only allows gas out of the bottle. The valve on the Gasboat can be easily defeated, so as to allow gas / liquid in or out. That would then allow me to decant from one partially bottle to another, allowing me to carry just the one bottle.

Not quite so urgent to be able to do that now, since my potential sources for the gas bottles increased dramatically, when Homebase dropped their insistence on your having a bottle deposit receipt, before they would offer the refills - but it would still be handy to be able to decant.

I am having to take a 1/3 and 1/4 full bottle with me for our summer fortnight. 1/3 might not be enough - How much easier to be able just pour the 1/4 into the 1/3 full one.