BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?

Subject: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 17 May 09 - 11:55 AM

When camping at festivals, me & the chums use patio stoves for cooking, which use CP 250 butane gas.

Until recently, the cheapest place to get these was Argos who sold a 12 pack for around £15.

Went to replenish the supply yesterday to find the price's risen to £20.

Anyone else use these, & know where they can be got cheapest?

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 May 09 - 01:25 PM

The closest equivalent used much in my neighborhood is the one-pound propane cylinder that goes for nearly $4 (US).

The one-pounder is handy for short campouts, but like your CP 250 cans is not refillable. Lots of people here invest in a larger cylinder and get manifolds and hoses to run one to several heaters all from one bottle. The big cylinder might run $50, but a "20-pound"¹ refill would be $18 - $20, equivalent to ~$40 worth of one-pounders. Of course one doesn't "carry" the big tank - you "transport" it, and the hoses and manifolds and reducers and such.

¹ The bottle that most campers call a "20 pounder" is actually about 11 pounds of fuel.

If you can save $20 per refill, you can pay off the purchase price of the bigger tank in 3 to 5 refills (depending on how many "accessories" you need to make it work).

That's no help getting you a better price for what you want - but it suggests that if you use a dozen bottles at a shot "buying in bulk" - i.e. in fewer but larger containers - might be worth considering. That's assuming, of course, that butane accessories are as available where you are as the propane devices are here. (Everything for camping here, and I think in the US in general, is propane.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 May 09 - 05:35 PM

There are butane-based stoves and things in the US, but they're not nearly as common as propane. Butane doesn't have (as I remember) as high a heat output as propane.

Many homes here are heated with propane or LP gas.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: Peace
Date: 17 May 09 - 05:38 PM

"The closest equivalent used much in my neighborhood is the one-pound propane cylinder that goes for nearly $4 (US)."

As an added note, please be sure ALL the propane is used up before you ditch the container. They have the characteristics of a small rocket when a dump burns. The more fuel left in it the more the rocket goes. It's scary for firefighters.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: skipy
Date: 17 May 09 - 05:38 PM

Ebay!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: pdq
Date: 17 May 09 - 06:59 PM

This is a pretty common item in the US...

                                                                   the 5-gallon propane tank

It actually hold about 4.5 gallons. My nextdoor neighbor and I both have various items that can use the same tank. We can borrow them back and forth as needed: barbecue grill, camp stove, weed-burning torch and others.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: bobad
Date: 17 May 09 - 11:04 PM

You can get an adapter to fill the 1 lb. bottles from a 20 lb. tank for the fraction of the cost for new ones. See HERE

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: open mike
Date: 18 May 09 - 12:42 AM

i recently got a case of fuel for my butane stove from here:
http://www.kingbutane.com/

(i think i got a good deal on the stove because
the fule is hard to find..i went to a dozen stores
before i went on line to find it...

not many things in US are fueled with butane,
more common in methane, which is piped to houses,
(natural gas) and propane, which is aka LPG or
liquified petroleum gas....which is often used
in rural areas where trucks come and re-fill
pressuarized tanks, and smaller tanks can be
filled at gas stations or exchanged at other
stores.

butane i think is most common fuel in cigarette
lighters in US.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheap CP 250 gas refills?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 May 09 - 10:38 AM

Thanks for help so far.

I'm in UK, so what I'm after is cheap gas here for this kind of stovehttp://www.greatoutdoorsdirect.co.uk/pc-254-197-sunngas-uno-stove.aspx