Propane, Butan, Filling and Changing gas bottles

The issue with various types of gas bottles and gas types

Gas is always an issue on a cruising boat. 

 

On mainland EU (i.e. EU except Madeira, Azores, Canaries) you may only change bottle and not fill it. Each country have their own bottles. Some are filled with Butane some with Propane (In northern Europe Propane is predominant, since it burns also at lower temperatures).

 

 

The only EU-wide system is the Camping Gaz system (Butane!) which you can change all over Europe, but as soon as you leave EU they generally mainly fill gas bottles (no exchange).

 

 

Problem with Camping Gaz is that they are intended for Camping (albeit the name) and they rust heavily at sea and thus they don’t last long. In EU it’s OK since you change them every 4-6 weeks. But sometimes they rust so heavily before that so then they refuse to take them back for exchange and you end up with having to buy a new bottle. Especially if you haven’t tightened the deck hatch with a sealant, which is an important precaution.

 

 

I have tried several types of sealant and found the sealant from Yachticon being the best. 

 

Preferably you also have a hatch lock that tightens the hatch the more you turn it like the Lift handle by Roca.

 

 

 

Camping Gaz

 

Note that there are two sizes of blue Camping Gaz, The 904 bottle with1.81 kg and the 907 bottle with 2.72 kg Butan. 

 

 

 

On my boat, I have space for 2 x 6kg Swedish Aluminium bottles (built to be strogh enough for Propane) or 4 x 907 Camping Gaz bottles. I chose to be flexible, so normally, I carry 1 x 6kg Swedish Aluminium bottle plus 2 x 907 (2.72 kg each) on top of each other in a piece of tubing with a diameter just a bit bigger than the bottles. While sailing in Europe, I use the two Camping Gaz bottles and carry the Swedish for emergency and when I am outside Europe (Madeira, Azores…) I use the Swedish bottle and have it filled with whatever gas they offer (see below). 

 

 

 

My gas storage compartment is just deep enough to have two 907 Camping Gaz bottles on top of each other under one condition only: If I use a very flush valve that doesn’t build much on the height. It has the knob on the side rather than on the top and therefore it is very flat! 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, this valve is, again, intended for camping and not of the best quality, so I have to replace it at least annually. I also spray the axis for the turning know with penetrating oil (e.g. WD40) regularly so it turns smoothly. But the good thing is that I can carry two 907 Camping Gaz bottles just fit on top of each other.

 

 

 

 

Combining Swedish Propane bottle with Camping Gaz (Butan)

After the valve on the Camping Gaz bottle or the built-in valve on the Swedish Propane bottle comes the regulator which takes down the pressure from the one inside the bottle to more feasible 30 mBar for the stove.

 

Note:  the regulator may be the same for both types of bottles and gas types (Swedish with Propane and Camping Gaz with Butan). I use this regulator, bought from SVB, which is good quality. 

 

 

It’s almost visible by eye if you look at the above two pictures that The regulator fits nicely into the Camping Gaz valve. 

 

Now if you wish to use the Swedish bottle instead (which has a built-in valve) you need an adapter so that the above regulator fits into the Swedish bottle, since they have different threads. 

 

Therefore, I have an adapter from Swedish Bottle to Camping Gaz system, which looks like this: 

 

 

 

 

There are also complete sets of gas-adapters. 

 

Finally, after the regulator comes the soliniod, where I can Switch off the gas from inside the galley. I use the solenoid by Truma, which you can buy from SVB. 

 

 

This all sounds complicated and yes, it is! Due to lack of standards!

 

With my setup I have two possibilities:

1. When it Europe, I have two Camping Gaz Butan bottles connected like this:

907 Camping Gaz bottle Bottle -> Valve -> Regulator -> Truma Solenoid -> rubber hose (changed every 4 years) -> copper pipe to under the stove -> Manual valve -> rubber hose (changed ever 4 years) -> stove (changed every 10 years) 

 

2. When I am outside Europe and they fill the bottles rather than exchanging them I can just move my regulator to the Swedish aluminium bottle:

Swedish gas bottle including valve on top of the actual bottle -> adapter to Camping Gaz thread -> continue like above with Regulator etc. 

 

 

 

 

Butan contra Propane

Your stove can cope with Butan or Propan, so here, you don’t need to worry. 

 

Now to the crucial fine-print: 

Butan is stored at lower pressure than Propan. This means that Propan bottles are stronger than Butan bottles, being able to cope with the higher pressure. 

 

This means you can easily fill Butan into a Propane bottle but you must absolutely not fill Propane into a Butan bottle!!

 

And when you are out sailing outside Europe often they don’t even know what they are filling into your bottle and sometimes it’s a mix between Butan and Propane. Very often you just get the answer “it’s gas!”. So if you are out sailing it’s better to have a bottle designed for Propane, so you don’t have to worry about which gas they are filling. Preferably you have a bottle made out of non-corrosive material such as aluminium or composite. 

 

Composite bottles are great, since they are transparent but unfortunately some of them are too wide to fit into a HR-locker. 

 

Camping Gaz is also available in the Caribbean, but is extremely expensive.  In the Azores they fill your own Camping Gaz bottles, so you get back your own (rusty) one. Camping Gaz is quite known internationally, so most probably they don’t fill Propane into these bottles – hopefully!