Saving gas

We are away about 115 days of the year about 25 in the cold months. We always use EHU, heating is alde, cooker gas (never use the single electric hot Plate) microwave used for cooking veg, electric kettle and toaster. We get through about  1.5  6kg bottles a year. I would also say we do a lot of cooking, rarely eating out, I also couple the BBQ up to the caravan supply. I would certainly say that the microwave has saved us gas. On our old van where the veg were cooked on the gas rings we got through 2 bottles a year.

Out of the 174 nights away last year 80 were off grid. (THSs and shows). At the Lincoln show I bought a motorhome and got the dealer to install a gaslow system.  In previous years, in a caravan with 13kg bottles I have probably used 3 or 4. It is not just the cost of calor that made me change but the hassle of changing bottles. As a solo lady camper lovely gents often changed the bottles for me, but then when I came to change them on my own it was a difficult job getting the spanner in to do the job. I'm not a weakling by any means but the gents always seem to tighten the bottles more than I could loosen!

When on EHU  my electric hob and microwave are well used.

Just as a fun present the kids brought me a solar kettle. Not been to use it in prolonged sunshine yet. However, even in limited sun the water reached 60 degs C in a few hours.

http://contemporaryenergy.co.uk/solar-kettle/

We bought a cadac grillogas at the nec back in October 

I later thought , if going on an away day to the beach etc.would be good to make it more portable to use an en417 tail on the cadac .they charge around £20 for a ready made kit.

But came across an en417 cartridge regulator for around a third of the price .while seaching I came across an en417 to small butane bottle (you know the ones around £4 for 4)adapter for less than £3 pounds free p&p from China .

This would be a good cheap option for my hiking stove .

When it arrived a thought came to me .

It is made of a soft alloy ,so I began to widen the aperture around the thread using a drill and bit  .it took a while but now the adapter seats the regulator and makes an air tight seal .

So now the cadac can run on those cheap butane bottles or the en417 cartridges. Oh by the way my hiking stove has a pre heat pipe so can be used on the cold weather

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The experiment we did with the water bottle was a bit of fun, not to save money. We had a couple of old water bottles filled with water to help hold down the windblockers, on removing them one day I notice that the water inside was really warm, warm enough to rinse a few cups and plates. It got me thinking that if it got that hot what would it do if the bottles were black or black on the backside, so I tried it and yes it does make the water hot rather then warm I started using this water to soak clothes in (mainly small items) before taking them over to the laundry to finish off. Just an experiment not to save money

I'm surprised at the length some members go to to save a few pennies here and there. if I couldn't afford a break or had to scrimp and save I don't think I'd bother!

I assume you are not pointing at me here. We rarely ever turn on the gas because we cook outdoors and whenever possible  live outdoors on sites where we always have EHU. Minimising the use of gas and just keeping a small Camping Gaz for emergencies means we don't lug great gas cylinders around Europe or spend time looking for refills

Not at all but I find it amazing that members spend huge amounts of hard earned cash on caravans or MH and then worry about the cost of camping down to the amount of gas they can save!

I carry two 3.9kg Calor bottles.  I use one and when it is empty I swap it over to use the other and buy a refill although haven't had to buy one for over a year and during that time we had to use the fridge on gas whilst waiting for Dometic to sort out a problem when it wasn't working on EHU. 

In the winter I have the Alde heating on both gas and EHU to get the van warm when we arrive on site. We cook in the van and eat out but when we do cook it's usually something that can be just put in the oven (gas) for an hour or so. We don't carry an extra electric ring just because we're paying for electricity to save on the gas.  

 

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I'm surprised at the length some members go to to save a few pennies here and there. if I couldn't afford a break or had to scrimp and save I don't think I'd bother!

I assume you are not pointing at me here. We rarely ever turn on the gas because we cook outdoors and whenever possible  live outdoors on sites where we always have EHU. Minimising the use of gas and just keeping a small Camping Gaz for emergencies means we don't lug great gas cylinders around Europe or spend time looking for refills

Not at all but I find it amazing that members spend huge amounts of hard earned cash on caravans or MH and then worry about the cost of camping down to the amount of gas they can save!

I carry two 3.9kg Calor bottles.  I use one and when it is empty I swap it over to use the other and buy a refill although haven't had to buy one for over a year and during that time we had to use the fridge on gas whilst waiting for Dometic to sort out a problem when it wasn't working on EHU. 

In the winter I have the Alde heating on both gas and EHU to get the van warm when we arrive on site. We cook in the van and eat out but when we do cook it's usually something that can be just put in the oven (gas) for an hour or so. We don't carry an extra electric ring just because we're paying for electricity to save on the gas.  

 

...That has been mentioned before it does make one wonder about priorities

 

 

Can agree with you there ,spend thousands and then do everything posible to spend nothing on sites for example.

 

It’s part of the mindset. Save pennies to accumulate pounds. The wealthy don’t mess with camping, they hire a nice cabin on a cruise ship, get pampered and tip well.