Gas For Camping

Types of gas used for camping, Butane, and Propane or a mix of these.
Generally Butane is packaged in blue canisters, and Propane is in Red canisters.

To a large extent the difference between the gases is academic as far as camping is concerned; all gas appliances can be used with both types of gas

The main difference between butane and propane is:
Butane (blue bottles) will freeze when the weather is cold;

Propane (red bottle) does not,

Smaller disposable canisters where the gasses are mixed allow the canisters to be used in more extreme conditions i.e. up a mountain!

They are sold by many companies; there are 2 methods of sale, large bottles which are exchanged when empty for full ones, or smaller canisters which are disposed of when empty.

We stock Calor Gas, generally only available in the UK, and Camping Gaz, which is readily available in Europe.

Regulators attach to the valve on the bottle which allows the gas to escape at the correct pressure when turned on, for the appliances to be used safely, via a hose that is attached to the equipment.

Propane bottles all use the same regulator.

Calor butane uses different ones, screw on type for 4.5kg, the 7kg &15kg use clip on type, Camping Gaz regulators screw into the top of the bottle when the handle is removed the same sort fits all sizes.

Cadac gas bottles are not available in this country, items imported from South Africa will not work; we do have adapters or replacement stems to allow connection to our bottles.

Some caravans & motorhomes have external outlets fitted, they require a Gemini nozzle or similar to make the connection.

Poor gas pressure can be caused by a blockage in the regulator or jets on the appliance. Blue gas will be slow if it is cold!

Customers will often assume a bottle is empty when in fact the gas is just too cold

Regulators with gauges are not very successful, they often say a bottle is empty when it is not, but magnetic level idicators are available and work well.

How can I monitor how much gas is left in a cylinder?

For all cylinders, the empty tare weight can be found on a metal disc on the shroud, this gives the weight of the cylinder in pounds and ounces.

To convert this to kilograms multiply this number by 0.453592.

Once you have the empty weight of the cylinder you can put it on some scales, then you will have the total weight, so you can now take the empty cylinder weight off the total, this will give you how much gas you have left in the cylinder.