Does anyone have a link handy to a canister refill adapter available in the UK ... save me looking

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124289045185

This one works for me. I put the empty the cannister in the freezer for 10mins and the donor cannister in my pocket before using it.

I've got this exact adaptor, not from this seller though

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Gas-Refi ... Swr~hfaIub

I use it to refill normal 100g style canisters from the aerosol can type canisters that you use for blow torches and briefcase stoves, which I find even cheaper

I also stick the receiving can into the freezer. I write the gross and net weight on the bottom with the sharpie, as well as how many refills the canister has had

Just ordered the very same Ben. Ta both.

Hadn't thought of the freezer thing. Will try that next time.

I definitely do not use one of these
https://a.aliexpress.com/_BUsSbO


But this one looks suspiciously like the kovea version I saw a while back
https://a.aliexpress.com/_BU2PFS

And I definitely do not refill 100g cylinders from 500's to save money and it would be foolish to consider warming the donor cylinder in warm water while freezing the receiver cylinder and shaking it during transfer to ensure it mixes nicely.

Because I don't do any of these things, I don't need to carefully check/weigh the cylinder when full and empty to calculate the 'tare' weight and weight them regularly when refilling and write all the weights in the side of the can before storing them.

Seriously though, an overfilled canister can have very unexpected consequences so even if you are certain on the weight always light it up away from the tent the first time if you don't want a big hole in it

Don't worry, I used to fill nitrous bottles for a living, although there was that time when a 2lber decided to blow up in the van on the way home from Santa Pod one eventful Sunday afternoon

I have a few half empty canisters so this sounded quite a good way of consolidating the gas and then using cheaper butane sources in future, but are you suggesting that doing this is high risk ?

have a few half empty canisters so this sounded quite a good way of consolidating the gas and then using cheaper butane sources in future, but are you suggesting that doing this is high risk ?

I don't consider it overly risky Steve. Just make sure you weigh the canister you're filling so as not to overfill it.

I’ve just bought one of these adaptors...

To refill MSR ISOPRO canisters (net weight 110g, gross 211g), which cost £7 for 226g Amazon !
A bit confusing, must mean the weight of the fuel is 226g (3.1p for 100g)

£4.95 for 7.4oz (210g) from Blacks, same Go Outdoors (net is 4oz, 113g.... therefore 4.4p for 100g)

So my question is what do you buy to use to refill the (MSR) canister ?

This one is butane/propane mix, BUT it doesn’t have a connector which would fit the adaptor.

https://www.toolstation.com/butane-prop ... dge/p42276

Nor do these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1312690349?iid ... 3276486237

I have lighter refillers which do have a connector:

https://flic.kr/p/2ktDbHD

But it’s only butane

So what do you use ?

my question is what do you buy to use to refill the (MSR) canister

I buy a 1 kg one* as its cheaper per 100g the more you buy- coleman type threaded valve forget the bactual brand name on the big cannister
i buy it from the calor gas place - think its was about £8

* also used for car camping with the Alpkit bru kit thingy

This sort of thing, from any hardware-type shop (Wilko/B&M/Halfords/B&Q) and most supermarkets too, though possibly only in the summer: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3408252

Only butane, but I'm not sure you can get butane/propane mix in that sort of container. If anyone finds some, let me know.

I'd been wondering about butane vs propane too.
Decathlon's regular gas is butane 70%/propane 30%, which they claim is good down to -10°C.
Their cold weather gas is butane 60%/propane 40%, down to -27°C.

So I guess butane is OK at warmer temps? Probably fine for my use cases.

Or just keep your butane only in your bivi bag overnight. It makes quite a difference.

Ian

IME of living on a boat it is possible to freeze the Butane and once it gets cold the flow is restricted long before it fully freezes anyway- its takes a few days of cold snap for you to actually notice this though rather than its noticeable after a few hours of sub zero temps

Its also worth noting that Butane has more energy/calories than propane so should be quicker and therefore last longer.
I would not want to just use Butane in winter but even then the worst you would have to do is hug the cartridge to warm it up before using it - that said i think it get colder as you use it so it may ony have a short burn time before issues ??

Lazarus wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:32 pm IME of living on a boat it is possible to freeze the Butane and once it gets cold the flow is restricted long before it fully freezes anyway- its takes a few days of cold snap for you to actually notice this though rather than its noticeable after a few hours of sub zero temps

Its also worth noting that Butane has more energy/calories than propane so should be quicker and therefore last longer.
I would not want to just use Butane in winter but even then the worst you would have to do is hug the cartridge to warm it up before using it - that said i think it get colder as you use it so it may ony have a short burn time before issues ??

Maybe with big multi-kg cylinder with lots of thermal mass around it. A lightweight camping gas cylinder outside gets cold very quickly, particularly when the gas inside it expands. As Ian says, you can mitigate this by keeping the cylinder warm til you come to use it, but the flow will still drop unusably low pretty quickly, especially if the cylinder isn't full.

Just after Christmas I left a stove with a butane canister in my car so I could make a brew mid-ride. The temperature was around 0 all day. I thought a nearly full butane canister would be OK in the shelter of the car, but I couldn't even get the kettle boiled before I had to take it out and put it under my jacket for a few minutes - not ideal, since the whole idea of the stove was to warm me up!

Will Stus heat shields not help here? I know they were withdrawn from the market due to the risk of a global catastrophe but mines been OK as long as you keep an eye on things and they should help direct a bit of heat to the canister.

As I understand it Propane and Butane boil (vaporise) at greatly different temperatures, Propane about -40° and Butane about -2° so when the air temperature is around freezing or below Butane is already struggling to become gas. Propane vaporises at greater pressure and needs a stronger container so suppliers of gas for camping / lightweight stoves create a hybrid mix that performs better at lower temperatures but can still be contained within a lightweight canister. I'm sure I've read somewhere that inverting the canister can improve performance in colder conditions plus a number of stoves have a pre-heat tube to improve burn at the stove.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that inverting the canister can improve performance in colder conditions plus a number of stoves have a pre-heat tube to improve burn at the stove.

The pre-heat tube is key Peter. Inverting the canister allows liquid out and the pre-heater then turns it into gas before reaching the burner head.

I use these and will get roughly 9 full refills for £7.50
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15905412/g ... lsrc=aw.ds