What French gas bottle(s) fit in 1999 Duetto?

Hello,

Having removed my 1999 Transit based Duetto to Brittany for the winter, I am now faced with finding a propane gas bottle (or bottles) that fit in the gas bottle locker.
The locker normally houses two 3.9Kg Calor Propane (I discovered that other makes don't fit - too tall by a smidgen) which is fine in the UK but not of any use here it seems.
If I am not to freeze my socks off when out and about, I need an easily sourced replacement gas bottle (and doubtless a new regulator too)
I am sure others here must have the answer so, if you know the secret, please share!
Many thanks.

Hi

I would agree that the ease of replacement is important as you are probably more or less static in Brittany. Therefore it would be no use hearing that a Carrefour bottle would fit if there wasn't one (Carrefour that is) for miles around.

Wouldn't it be better to take the van to your nearest supermarket and trial fit a bottle or two. I've always found the assistants to be very accommodating, and you probably speak far better French than I do. If you rolled up when they are not too busy I'm sure they would help you out.

Might it also be worth getting one of these adapters so you don't have to change your regulator (If you have a bulkhead mounted one that is.)? Several French bottles use the 21.8LH thread, and £5.40 plus a bit of postage is not a big risk if it doesn't fit.
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Hope this helps

Hello in my 1997 duetto i use the totalgaz  malice  the bottle is blue and yellow 
Regards Pascal

We simply fitted the gas bottle in the wardrobe and drilled a 25 mm hole through the base to the gas locker. To secure the bottle in place, I used a strap round it to a metal plate sandwich which was bolted through the wardrobe wall and fitted behind the passenger seat (one plate in the wardrobe with the strap and the other outside the wardrobe to give strength). We did 80,000 miles like this over 7 years and used a mixture of Norwegian propane bottles and Calor 7 KG butane.

If you are concerned about fire, line the wardrobe with alloy sheet and increase the size of the hole (25 mm was OK for us). In practice the gas bottle did not affect the capacity of the wardrobe. In order to help hanging things in the wardrobe, I turned the hanging rail through 90 degrees.

Spospe wrote:We simply fitted the gas bottle in the wardrobe and drilled a 25 mm hole through the base to the gas locker.....

This seems a good idea and indeed using the wardrobe would enable installation of a much larger bottle. But on a serious note, any form of modifications made to a van must be declared to an insurance company and i have doubts any would cover for something like this. It's a serious non-standard mod and chancing not declaring it could, worst case scenario, result in your policy being voided.

The gas lockers fitted in Duetto's of this period wouldn't meet safety requirements today but back then they were compliant and standard fitment so in event of fire, no problem the insurance would be safe.