This is probably a very known fact for the ones who have been for long on the road. For us, “neo camperisti”, we were taken aback when running out of gas (propane/butane) for the heating system.
What Happened?
We lived in Italy, and there, buying gas cylinders is pretty straightforward. Not so easy to find places that sell it, not the cheapest, but you will pay around 30 Euros for 10Kg of propane + 6 Euros for the bottle if you don’t have one. No questions asked, no documents, nothing.
Problem 1
In Spain, the gas market is quite more regulated. 2 companies sell it: Repsol and Cepsa. It is far easier finding gas here than in Italy because it is sold in any of their gas stations, and having a bottle to swap, you will pay around 15 euros.
Now if you don’t have the empty bottle, and it was our case, then the problem starts. You have to firm a contract and present your residence document, and for foreigners traveling in a camper most probably you won’t have an address in Spain, at least we don’t.
What did we do?
- Marketplace: The first option was to try to buy a used empty bottle in the Facebook marketplace/Wallapop and other apps. With no success 😞. Prices were around 7 to 20 euros, but far from where we were parked.
- Find a Repsol distributor willing to help: We reached a Repsol distributor and, by a stroke of luck, we found a super gentile man that managed to sell us a bottle.
⚠️ The bottle is a bit ‘fatter’ and might not fit in the place you have for it. The Italian bottle is 27cm in diameter, while the Spanish one is 30cm. Check their website for more accurate information.
Problem 2
Now that we have the bottle we are ready for the second problem. The connections are different.
The Italian connection does not fit in the adapter shown in the first figure. So in our case, we need to change the complete set: tube, regulator and add the adapter.
The final setup was this one:
Now when back to Italy we will need to swap the tube again, but at least we already have everything 🤷🏻♂️
Special thanks to the staff from Mi Casa con Ruedas that helped us with the parts we didn’t have. More than a business you will find a place with people willing to help.
