Why refillable gas tanks are ideal for a European motorhome tour

January 22, 2020

European campers don’t typically come with refillable gas/LPG/propane as standard and most manufacturers don’t offer them as an option. Here, it is most common to use exchangeable gas bottles where you simply swap empty for full ones whenever you run out of gas but that can be a real nuisance if you are heavily dependent on gas to run your heating/hot water system, fridge and hob.

It’s not that you have to exchange the bottles but more that in Europe, each country has it’s own, different type of gas bottle and you cannot, for example, change a French bottle for one in Spain.

The manufacturers assume that if you bought your motorhome or campervan in France, you will be based there and only take short holiday trips so you can carry enough gas to last but if you are on a grand European tour, as most of our clients are, you can’t exactly nip back to France to exchange your bottles every time you need to top up with gas.

Many of our clients find ways around this and stick to the exchangeable bottle system. They’ll buy electric kettles, other cooking appliances and heaters to conserve gas wherever possible. Others have vans with diesel heating systems and electric fridges so they go through gas very slowly and a few will simply ditch their French bottles and buy new bottles/adaptors in each country. However, there is a really simple solution which is increasingly popular amongst our clientele and that is to fit a refillable gas tank or tanks.

Now that LPG is available across Europe in fuel stations (to fuel LPG powered cars), this has become the best solution if you use lots of gas and want to be able to get it everywhere you might travel to. The gas is also considerably less expensive than the kind you buy in exchangeable bottles. Depending on your needs, you can fit a one or two tank, refillable system and we have fitted many. The system we fit is called Gaslow and comes from a UK manufacturer. You can read all about it on the Gaslow International Limited website.

Once your Gaslow system is fitted, refilling your tanks is a simple process and we made a short video to show you how it is done:

Our guide price for the one bottle system is €775 and €1359 for the two bottle system including European adaptors, tax and fitting and this will apply to most installations. Occasionally, fitting might add a little to the cost if the gas locker is in a spot that is hard to access but we would be able to give you a firm price before you commit to having them installed.

Gaslow systems are an ideal solution if you are travelling year-round with a gas-powered heating/hot water system but not everyone needs one and the installation is pretty expensive. If you have diesel heating, are not planning on using your camper outside of summer travel or plan to stay mainly on campsites where you will have an electricity supply, you probably would not get a great deal of benefit from it. Don’t hesitate to ask for our advice to help determine whether you need refillable gas tanks for the trip/s you are planning.