Calor Gas - Alternatives?

[mrbounce]

I have a gas-fired space heater in the garage (just a small Clarke Machine Mart one), and my Calor Gas Propane cylinder has just run out. It was the smallest version which is 3.9Kg (see below).



So off I trot to my local gas supplier to replace it. It turns out that Calor discontinued their smallest cylinders back in early 2023 - which shows how little gas I use each year. Normally I would just chop the small one in for a bigger one, but I was also advised that Calor are no longer accepting the little ones back, so I would have to start a whole new contract with them. This of course means a pretty hefty deposit compared to the price of just the new cylinder, which I am not particularly happy about. 

Are there any alternatives out there? 

[ChasR]

I don't think many folks will fill other bottles for you. The fact that they won't take the old bottles back however, is surprising. I used to work for Calor, so I can ask if this is the case, and maybe even a reason why. I have a suspicion as to why it is.

FloGas may do something similar, but they may have decided against it as well.

I do have a spare Calor Gas bottle, which I may be willing to do a deal on. However, it's rather large!

[generallee]

I have a small 6kg Mac Gas propane bottle if you want it, it's in Staffs but you might need to go to the north of England or Scotland to swap it.

[mrbounce]

Jan 7, 2024 11:45:46 GMT ChasR said:

I don't think many folks will fill other bottles for you. The fact that they won't take the old bottles back however, is surprising. I used to work for Calor, so I can ask if this is the case, and maybe even a reason why. I have a suspicion as to why it is.

FloGas may do something similar, but they may have decided against it as well.

I do have a spare Calor Gas bottle, which I may be willing to do a deal on. However, it's rather large!

Thanks ChasR - I expect that it's all down to costs. I think the easiest thing for me to do is just start up a new contract. By the time I have tried to sort a replacement bottle, it will probably have cost me as much or more to get a new one anyway. C'est la vie I guess... 

I can only fit a small one in my garage anyway - a 6 kg item is as big as I need - it took 4 years for me to use up 3.9 kg! 

[tineca]

You can get a refillable bottle and use autogas .a lot of boats on the canal are doing that.

[toric]

I believe Calor have changed their minds and are reintroducing the 3.9 and 4.5 kg bottles.

[dodgerover]

I would contact Calor directly, they were just exchanging for a larger bottle but you had to go to a depot from memory.

There's no reason you couldn't refill the bottle you have from an autogas pump from empty 3.9kg is about 7.5l but this would only cost you between £5 & £8 rather than the £20-30 for an exchange cylinder, it's not acceptable on most forecourts though due to some people's previous stupidity filling bottles to 100%.
Elsewhere most countries refill your existing bottle by putting it on the scales then adding gas.

You can buy a gaslow or similar set up bottle which does have the 80% cut off for filling and is ok to fill from the pump but you may have problems still.

[slater]

One thing ive never had to buy. I just live off the half full abandoned ones you find laying around all over the place! Did hear the Calor bottles were worth money to go for export tho. Probably illegal but if they wont give you your money back then surely its yours now!

[mrbounce]

Went back with the full intention of starting afresh with a bigger bottle. Spoke to a different member of staff and she said they'd be happy to take back the small bottle and give me the 6kg one in exchange. So I did that, and only paid £28 instead of over £70, which is much more palatable!

I had wondered that it might not fit on my shelf, but it does, with about 1/4" to spare.

Today has been a good day! Thank you everyone for all your suggestions and assistance

[ChasR]

Annoyingly, alot of it is down to who you meet!

We have a similar issue at work to be fair. Some folks just don't care about getting things done.