Eber123
Top Poster
Lifetime VIP Member
Hello,
There are some people who say I get things on "... the wrong end of the stick..." or I make it more complicated as it should be and sometimes I have to say they are right.
Having the T6 Ocean for 4x years I had no experience with bigger propane gas bottles at all. Never used them, never touched them.
Especially with the following.
So this post might get a wee bit longer, so please bear with me...
On the 07/07/2021 we collected our Grand California 600 from our VW dealer. The plan was to take it out for a spin the following weekend to learn to know the various functions and things from the new camper.
This should also include the heating and warm water. So we needed gas bottle(s). My wife ordered some from a local shop, but when they were delivered they were wrong (yellow butane bottles, which did not fit). At least we did know now that we needed the red propane gas bottles.
Because I wanted to test everything at the weekend I was keen to get the gas bottles. So I visited many shops in my neighbourhood but there was only one shop who actually had 1x 11 kg bottle available.
Now here is the important part. I was puzzled about the high price (EUR 65.00) for the bottle. But the way I understood the person in the shop, there is a EUR 30.00 deposit on the bottle, which I will get back when I return the bottle.
So far so good.
I got the bottle, put them into the camper and we did our tests over the weekend (which went well).
Coming back home I wanted to get a 2nd bottle which I managed to get 2x weeks later from a different shop (the hardware shop that we normally buy our things). I must admit I didn't ask any questions because I thought I new everything (Ha!).
During the last year I can't complain about the Truma Gas Heating, it just works as it should. If it doesn't work it is always the fault of the VW software. But that is a different thing.
Looking back, we planned to spend some time on the continent traveling to Scandinavia etc. For this reason, and to avoid lifting heavy bottles, I decided to get LPG refillable bottles installed. Now this had happened and when the weather gets a bit better I will open a new post with some pictures about this.
Before I got the LPG installed I wanted to give the 2x red propane bottles back to the shops and get my EUR 60.00 back. But that didn't happen. Both shops refused to do that. Because of this I contacted the Gas supplier directly and asked what the story is.
Now here it goes:
The cost of the propane gas bottle is as follows (that is the way I understood the email):
1st purchase of propane gas
Cost of gas + cost of gas bottle (service charge)
2nd purchase of propane gas
Cost of gas + and return of empty bottle (no extra charge)
Finishing using propane gas
Returning of propane gas bottle - no refund
During the usage of the gas bottles the gas company stays the owner of the bottle and the service charge is the rent (so to speak).
For people who used gas often that might have been clear, but not for a newbie like me. There are still some questions about all this in my mind, but because I changed to LPG I hope I won't use the standard red propane gas bottles any more.
So, now I have 1x 11 kg FlowGas red propane gas bottle and 1x 11x kg Calor red propane gas bottle in my garage.
If you got your Grand California new, and plan to get gas bottles and live in the greater Maynooth / Kilcock area, I can offer you to take one or the other bottle to save the service charge. Just let me know. Maybe somebody else can take advantage out of all this.
So that is the long story (sorry about this. But might be the rainy weather which gives me a lot of time
).
Refillable Grand California,
Eberhard
There are some people who say I get things on "... the wrong end of the stick..." or I make it more complicated as it should be and sometimes I have to say they are right.
Having the T6 Ocean for 4x years I had no experience with bigger propane gas bottles at all. Never used them, never touched them.
Especially with the following.
So this post might get a wee bit longer, so please bear with me...
On the 07/07/2021 we collected our Grand California 600 from our VW dealer. The plan was to take it out for a spin the following weekend to learn to know the various functions and things from the new camper.
This should also include the heating and warm water. So we needed gas bottle(s). My wife ordered some from a local shop, but when they were delivered they were wrong (yellow butane bottles, which did not fit). At least we did know now that we needed the red propane gas bottles.
Because I wanted to test everything at the weekend I was keen to get the gas bottles. So I visited many shops in my neighbourhood but there was only one shop who actually had 1x 11 kg bottle available.
Now here is the important part. I was puzzled about the high price (EUR 65.00) for the bottle. But the way I understood the person in the shop, there is a EUR 30.00 deposit on the bottle, which I will get back when I return the bottle.
So far so good.
I got the bottle, put them into the camper and we did our tests over the weekend (which went well).
Coming back home I wanted to get a 2nd bottle which I managed to get 2x weeks later from a different shop (the hardware shop that we normally buy our things). I must admit I didn't ask any questions because I thought I new everything (Ha!).
During the last year I can't complain about the Truma Gas Heating, it just works as it should. If it doesn't work it is always the fault of the VW software. But that is a different thing.
Looking back, we planned to spend some time on the continent traveling to Scandinavia etc. For this reason, and to avoid lifting heavy bottles, I decided to get LPG refillable bottles installed. Now this had happened and when the weather gets a bit better I will open a new post with some pictures about this.
Before I got the LPG installed I wanted to give the 2x red propane bottles back to the shops and get my EUR 60.00 back. But that didn't happen. Both shops refused to do that. Because of this I contacted the Gas supplier directly and asked what the story is.
Now here it goes:
The cost of the propane gas bottle is as follows (that is the way I understood the email):
1st purchase of propane gas
Cost of gas + cost of gas bottle (service charge)
2nd purchase of propane gas
Cost of gas + and return of empty bottle (no extra charge)
Finishing using propane gas
Returning of propane gas bottle - no refund
During the usage of the gas bottles the gas company stays the owner of the bottle and the service charge is the rent (so to speak).
For people who used gas often that might have been clear, but not for a newbie like me. There are still some questions about all this in my mind, but because I changed to LPG I hope I won't use the standard red propane gas bottles any more.
So, now I have 1x 11 kg FlowGas red propane gas bottle and 1x 11x kg Calor red propane gas bottle in my garage.
If you got your Grand California new, and plan to get gas bottles and live in the greater Maynooth / Kilcock area, I can offer you to take one or the other bottle to save the service charge. Just let me know. Maybe somebody else can take advantage out of all this.
So that is the long story (sorry about this. But might be the rainy weather which gives me a lot of time
).Refillable Grand California,
Eberhard
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