EN417 gas a backup fuel source?

[tux850]

We do our cooking on a Cadac Carri Chef 2 and/or Campingaz Kitchen 2 double hob and whilst we used to use a pair of Campingaz 907 bottles given we went to France a lot we eventually moved over to a single Calor 4.5kg cylinder now that we're mostly staying in the UK as refills are a lot cheaper.

I have always been mindful of the risk of running out of gas when just having a single bottle, but of course more pertinent now is Calor's gradual retirement of this bottle type/size. Even before retirement it has often been quite a challenge even finding refills so I've never felt all that confident with it I must admit, and I don't like to exchange cylinders with any gas remaining - it doesn't fit with my frugal upbringing!

I am thinking of eventually switching over to a 5kg Flogas Gaslite as we'd value the lightness and we can at least see at-a-glance how much we've got left but I don't know what refill availability is like. Whether better or worse than Calor there's still the single-cylinder-running-out-mid-meal issue and so I am toying with the idea of buying a suitable regulator so that we've got the option of using EN417 cartridges if necessary.

Whilst EN417 has cartridges might be more expensive per-volume than larger cylinders (or perhaps some bargains can be found if shopping around?) they do at least seem to be widely available (whether that be from Amazon with next-day delivery but also the likes of Argos, Halfords, petrol stations perhaps?) and whilst space it at a premium I am sure I can squeeze in an emergency cartridge or two somewhere in the car to tide us over whilst we find a refill for the main/large cylinder.

Has anyone else done this? Even if not, is there an issue/downside I might not be considering?

[Spuffington]

I had a Cadac Carri Chef 2 like you which I used to run off an external gas point on the Concorde. But with the new (smaller camper), I opted for the Cadac Safari 30 (small one) QR which I now run off those small cartridges since the 907 we have for cooking in the Knaus is too much of a faff to remove and replace to run the BBQ also.

I was a bit worried about how long they’d last but we did almost a fortnight’s cooking 30mins per evening on one cartridge and still not fully empty. I took a spare with me just in case but blown away by how efficient it was.

Obviously I can imagine with yours that it’ll use more gas, so maybe a week is unrealistic and fully agree that they’re not the cheapest way of buying gas but a very easy way to store it and therefore much more convenient when you have a compact load space and/or need one as a backup or emergency supply.

Big thumbs up from me.

Edited by Spuffington on Thursday 31st August 22:11

[Spuffington]

I should’ve said - I was using the 500gm cylinder.

One other issue was that the ones I had with me were threaded but all the cylinders we found in France in camping shops and supermarkets were easy-click bayonet fittings. Thankfully, as I said, we didn’t use more than the original one and had one spare but had we have needed to add then an adapter would’ve been required.

Since we’ve been home ive bought Cadac’s threaded to bayonet adapter and will have that with me on future trips.

[tux850]

Thanks for your thoughts Spuffington.

The more I think about it the more I'm inclined to give it a go. Whilst the original intention was as an emergency backup I must say the ubiquitous availability of EN417 cartridges (here in the UK at least as you say adapters might be required when travelling elsewhere) is tempting me to fully switch Iver once I've used my Calor up given all the hassle I've had getting Calor refills in the past. Given the relatively little amount of gas I'll be using a year the extra cost for peace of mind is arguably worth it. The smaller form factor does have it's benefits as you ALSO point out.