Gaz connection to Nuevo

You can buy a local propane bottle in France and before you go buy from Hamilton Gas Products an adaptor to convert your propane pigtail to fit that bottle.  Intermarche used to sell the full bottle for €1 more than a refill.
http://gasproducts.co.uk/propane-pol-to-butane-adaptor.html?___SID=U
I am not sure if that adaptor fits a German cylinder, though an old post on another forum seems to imply it does.
The adaptor is actually a converter from the UK propane male fitting to the UK butane bottle outlet whichsi the same as the French (and German?) Propane bottle outlet.
Difficult if youare visting both countries and don't know when you will run out!  Will your gas locker take a 13Kg Calor Propane which could solve your problem?  Mine will take one 13Kg and one 6Kg. But make sure that you are given a 13Kg cylinder with a sheet steel (not an older steel rod) shroud.  The one with steel rodding is taller and did not fit my locker.

You won't have a problem Peter. Ron has made exactly the same recommendation as I always suggest. It works perfectly and there's no fiddling around with any fittings. You screw on the adapter and your foreign cylinder becomes (in effect) a Calor propane one.

Take the adapter into (preferably) an Intermarche in your pocket so you can try it on a cylinder to ensure it's the right thread. It's a left handed thread, so be aware of that.

I think they are still selling their cylinders for a nominal €1 (one Euro) plus the cost of the gas, but check the little plastic collar on the neck to ensure it's propane. Both butane and propane bottles are white(ish) and otherwise identical.

Then ask the friendly assistant if you can try it in your locker, and he will probably carry the cylinder to the van for you. If it fits in, screw on the adapter and your standard Calor propane pigtail will fit in the other end.

Leave room for the Intermarche cylinder by taking only one of your 6kg cylinders, which you can keep as a reserve for when the Intermarche cylinder needs replacing.

We used that system for several years, and it couldn't have been easier - or cheaper! (The blue Gaz bottles are stupidly expensive both to hire, and more importantly to exchange when they run out!) I'm fairly sure the adapter fits a German cylinder as well, but you are unlikely to need one I would have thought, unless you spend a long time there. 

Thank you both. Excellent idea.

My (2008)  Nuevo's gas box accepts two 13kg calor bottles although it does make it a squeeze doing the connections - have they reduced the size of the box?

should have said that a 13kg calor bottle is about £28 and a 6kg calor bottle is about £21 - twice  the gas for only £7 more money!

A Camping Gaz 907 cylinder holds 2.75kg of gas, and the discounted price for a refill is a whopping £29.
https://www.attwoolls.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=2949

You pay more for 2.75kg with Gaz than for 13kg with Calor . . . . and that's still pretty expensive compared to re-fillable bottles or tanks!!

I think it was 56 pence per litre when I topped up recently, which equates to about £1.12 per kg. So the contents of a Gaz bottle would cost £2.80, and a 13kg Calor would cost £14.56 (Both approximate to within a few pennies).

Hi Peter, we have the same set up as you, 2x6kg bottles, and we used to worry about running out of gas, and although I now carry an adaptor as above, so far we've never had to buy gas abroad.
We always set off with 2 full bottles, are only on hook up for maybe 4 days out of the 30 or so days we're away. We both shower every day, maybe cook one hot meal a day, several brews, and the fridge is set as low as possible.
We always go away May/June/July and have never yet used the heater on gas, even parked up on the high Alpine passes.
When we return home we're invariably halfway through our second bottle..
Al.

Thanks for the ino.I have just found this on another site which gives us a clue as to what we can expect on a holiday.
http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Gas-Dilemma/26808/

"You could calculate your available gas capacity:-

Assuming you use Propane. Read the tare weight off the bottle ring. Divide tare by 2.204. That gives you the tare weight in kgs.

Weigh your bottle (kgs) and deduct the tare weight. You now know the weight of gas in the bottle.

Multiply gas weight by 13.9 to determine gas capacity in kW hours (kWh)

I guess your oven won't be much different to my Spinflo which is rated at 3.1kW, so, very roughly for example, 2.2kgs of gas should keep you going for about 10hrs at top heat setting. Similarly, if you have a 3 ring hob and run it at full belt, you'll get about the same amount of time from the same weight of gas because each ring will be about 1kW."

Using this calculation 2 6kg bottles give me 2x6x13.9 = 166.8 KWh or 5.6kwhours of gas per day.

Puts it in perspective

Peter

I would sugest that these calcs are a bit spurious because the 3.1Kw oven won't be going full bore etc.  Oven, hob, and fridge are lhe least of your concerns.  It is heating that really takes the gas - and water heating to a lesser extent.
I, too, take 2 full 6kg propane away on a four week trip.  We use both the hob and oven a LOT, water heating a bit and fridge a fair amount.  We usually return with one full bottle and a bit left in the other. 

If we expected to use a lot of heater and/or water heating by being off EHU significantly then I would buy a French cylinder, taking just one 6kg and an empty space for the French cylinder but it has not been necessary yet.

Only once did I have to start my second 6kg cylinder and that was when I had not changed the rubber hose which started to "breathe" gas, so we lost some.  The leak was only minor but on a 24/7 basis lost several kg of gas in a short time.  Obviously I replaced the hose immediately (in the days when you had push on connections and a jubilee clip at either end of the hose).  Lesson learned - replace hose at least every 5 years.

Thanks everyone. I think you have covered all the bases well - especially as we are not going to be using the oven much if there is an Auberge within a mile, sorry 8/5kilometres.

Happy holidays

Peter