The Holy Grail of Gas Cooking?
 

I remember reading quite a few previous posts on cooking gas for overland vehicles and wondering if there was a general consensus on the best equipment to buy for cooking with gas (in a 4x4, not on a bike etc) for a long trip (down the west coast of Africa in this instance)?

In the past I have simply used a gas bottle (usually from Morocco) with a single cooker fitted straight on top of it. This means it is highly portable and so can move it around depending on the wind etc. But I'll be in Europe for quite a while before hitting North Africa this time and want to buy someting beforehand.

So should I go for Propane or Butane? What is mostly sold in Europe and what is sold in Africa etc? And there seemed to be endless talk of fittings and regulators? Is there an easy answer? ;-)

Many thanks as always....
(Note: I have a fold up bbq (thanks for the link Ollie) and a backup camping stove and like to cook by fire where suitable etc as well, but gas is easy!)

Any answers?
 

Hi,

I've just read your post on gas fittings and am currently in a similar situation with my van. I wondered if you got any answers for what fittings to use and so on. I have a little stove and am looking for the right regulator and fittings.

Thanks,

Jo

No replies other than yours ;-) Looks like a case of searching and collating bits and pieces from different replies....

i was going to dum gas comletly but then with the change of vehicle i came more dependant on it not less,

so i've been looking at the refillable bottle systems you can now get

this is an lpg (propane) system where you fill up at any lpg filling station (garage) . the bottles have an overfill protection system . in the uk you can fill at house lpg prices or fuel prices but both are cheaper than buying bottled gas

they are bigger cyls than camping gaz which may give an issue in smaller 4x4's , you can get 6 kg and 11kg

european availability seems to be good for vfilling - africa not so sure but as the cyls are designed for refills any attemp at least should be safer

take a look at Gaslow - home

rich

... And there seemed to be endless talk of fittings and regulators? Is there an easy answer? ;-)

From what I've read myself, the answer is 'no' so carry a small back up and be prepared to buy regs/valves and bottles as you go in places like Africa and Asia. It won't be that expensive.

Ch

Right, so two small gas bottles from Dakhla and see how long they last like last time..... ;-)

Maybe the Chinese will sort out an African wide solution soon like they are doing for the roads ;-p

I would take 2 x13kg propane bottles and when one runs out get it filled .
I have filled them myself by borrowing a local bottle using a straight through valve, turning the full bottle upside down and the gas/liquid runs from one bottle to the empty. when the pesure equalizes you have to release some presure from your own bottle and the reconnect and start again...repeat until full. This may contravine all health and safety regs but when in Rome do as the Romans do.

Graeme

I have filled them myself by borrowing a local bottle using a straight through valve

Me too - or I got it done in a Tunisian back street by a blind man with a straw.

This may contravine all health and safety regs but when in Rome do as the Romans do.

Exactly. I believe it's important not to over-fill gas bottles but if it's anything like filling up with fuel in Africa - up to the brim and then a quick squirt for luck - this may be a tall order if done by a local.

btw, I believe once on the road the handy 'football' sized bottles (5kg?) are less common than the 20kg ones used domestically RTW.

Ch

2 x 13kg bottles in a Defender 110 will take up a bit too much space I think. But then cooking is semi important....

I like to cook directly off the top of the gas bottles, so moving them around seems like hard work. Assuming a 13kg bottle is 2.2 times the size of a football sized 5kg bottle so you'd probably want it strapped away somewhere? I'll go and have a look in b&q or homebase to see how big they are....

Is Propane or Butane best? What is sold in Africa\Europe and beyond under what names?

So to summarise, for the 8 weeks in Europe before I hit Africa, there is nothing useful to buy that will be of any use to me later in Africa? Unless I buy the correct bottles in Europe and find a blind man in Africa?

Many thanks for the replies!

it's all gas
 

Is Propane or Butane best?

I suspect in Africa, for local/domestic use lower-btu butane (blue bottles here) are the norm. Propane (red bots here) has more energy and work at lower temps - and I think it's nearly the same as Autogas LPG.

I think whatever you buy in Europe won't be swap/refillable in Morocco, say - and once in West Africa there will be another thread/system and maybe no 5kg bottles. But in my experience 2 x 5 with a v-kettle for boiling will last at least 2-3 months. Then, if you can't refill them, buy local. If there is gas in bottles I imagine every market will have cheap, Chinese bottle-top burners or a stove with a hose.

Ch

Why doesn't somebody write a book on all of this....
 

Cheers, trying to be able to cook in Europe and then avoid having to leave useless gas bottles as I go. 2 * 5kg bottles do last for ages when solo - there is one in storage with Matt at the moment from the last trip ;-)

For those reading this and thinking of getting bottles in Morocco, they colour code them there - each area has it's own colored bottle and usually won't let you swap them in a different area. Agadir down to WS is yellow/green so don't buy orange or red ones on the way down through Morocco and then expect to swap them in Dakhla on the way back when they are empty ;-)

Hate to be nitpicky, but per gallon butane has ~2% more btus than propane. Because it is denser. Per kg, I suspect propane has a bit more. But since it's stored and sold by the gallon or liter, the volumetric measure is more important.
What mix of propane/butane is sold as LPG varies by geography and season of the year, because of butane's boiling point at STP of -0.5 C. At least in North America.
Which makes it pretty useless at outdoor ambient temperature in northern European winters. But fine for Africa. The illusion that butane has lower heat value is caused by attempts to use in lower temperatures. Particularly since both substances, as they vaporize in their canister, lower the temperature of the liquid phase as they draw the latent heat of vaporization from the liquid phase, and eventually through the walls of the canister. Which makes butane evaporate even more slowly in temperatures slightly above or around 0 C.

Charlie

You could take 2 x 907 camping gaz bottles and try to find your own straight through conector for filling, it might take a while to find someone to fill your bottle but you will find someone, they may well have the conector you need but if you take one you just need a local one and a full local bottle. Gas was rationed in India when I went there, but you can always buy it from resturants who get more rations.

Graeme

Something from someone who lives in Africa
 

Greetings all!!!!

I am planning a trans Africa in 2010 up the East Coast and have been researching cooking methods at well. I drive a Land Cruiser 80, so space is not so critical.

Historically I have used Butane gas (Blue Bottle) I have a 2.5kg one which lies flat inside my outback drawers between wolf pack boxes. So it does not take up space at all. When on a trip we cook mostly on open fires, but boil water on gas as well as the od pasta. The little 2.5kg bottle lasts the 2 of us about 3.5 weeks. We have never had a problem filling it in Southern Africa, but it gets really expensive the further away from civilization you get. So I would assume that in West Africa it could get expensive!

For those with landys... Most Land Rover Owners in this country have a double gas bottle holder mounted on the back pillar. (Image no 2 here will show what I mean. Front Runner 4x4 Product and Accessories Gallery) The size is what we refer to as a No 7. I'm not sure what the weight is, but I think that when cooking for 2, I would budget 7 weeks for the 2 bottles.

After much contemplating and researching I have however come up with a different way of cooking. Kerosene (Parrafin) and Benzine are obtainable anywhere in Africa as far as I can gather. A liquid Fuel Stove will use about 500ml of fuel per 2 weeks for 2 people in our experience. So for boiling water and making pasta, we have invested in a liquid fuel stove. We also have a Cobb which is an astonishing piece of kit that you can grill, fry, bake or cook in and on and uses coal which is also readily avaible in Africa. One bag of charcoal (5kg) from our local shop will last 4 weeks when using the cobb every night and we bake bread, make lamb shank, smoke fish and even make chocolate cake in it. Welcome To Cobb International

to conserve gas on trips ive done things like measuring the water into kettles so i only boil what i need, a camping gaz cyl lasted me 8 weeks in scotland/iceland/scotland trip

i like the look of the cobb device though

Is it possible to buy a burner, fed by a tube to which you can attach whatever regulator/valve whatchamit and bottle is locally available? Or are the actual burners specific to a particular setup/fuel type?

We are driving from the UK to Australia and thought we'd bypass the various bottles/reg etc and get one of the Coleman Dual fuel stoves. Two burners is fine for just me my wife, and we just have a small 5L jerry can that we can fill up with unleaded basically anywhere. Seemed the simplest option to me :)

Cheers,
Duncan.

This is what I ended up doing on my 3 year African trip.

- Bought two small (3kg?) bottles in Western Sahara before I left. These lasted until Namibia about 6 months later. I was mostly alone, cooked a lot.

- In Namibia I bought a Cadac 3kg bottle. In Cape Town I had it refilled and bought some filling adaptors just in case, never used. It was possible to get it refilled in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi again. It lasted ok, but I cooked less on the East Coast.

I used a single screw on cooker on the top of the bottles. Working very well, can either cook inside the back door if windy etc, or take the bottle out and sit next to your camping chair. For tea or coffee get a tiny ali kettle and it only takes a few minutes. Recommended.

The frying pan/wok combination I had was really good also.

:eek3:
Exactly the same question - how to cook in westafrica - i have to fight too :eek3:

Thanks for giving feedback after such a time!

At first i had a plan to build a rearbox, behind the car - to store a 5kg Gas bottle, and the "kittchen".

But it was to expensive - and add to much weight - just for the kittchen solution.

Now what should i do? Store one or two 5kg bottles inside of the car, where we sleep? To be honest- i would find place for one, but not for two.

There also is no solution, to buy in westsahara a cooker like you bought - i still have problems to store them.

The best idea i have till now - is to buy a campingaz device like this one:

Campingaz Kocher Camping Duo(TM) Grill CV

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...OL._AA115_.jpg

http://www.amazon.de/Campingaz-Koche...9801545&sr=8-2


The small bottles are easy to store between luckage anywhere, and i have no problems to carry enough of them, for my transafrica.

The empty bottles i can store in my roofbox, and give them to recycling at home...

This or a Coleman with unleaded fuel - which i try to avoid.

But maybe here comes a better solutions

I used a 'QuickFist' grip to lash it to the inside of the landy, easy to get in or out. Plastic Rako box for pots and pans. Easy.

The cooker and metal ring to suport the pan were all bought in Morocco for about 2 Euros.

Total setup time = 5 seconds.

Total put away time = 10 seconds.

Total Cost, 2 bottles & cooker = 21 Euros, 2009 Moroccan prices. Lasted 6 months.

Its what I'd do again.

As Graham said the camping Gas 907s are a handy size and it's what they use on boats, so if you are anywhere by the sea the local marina will have them, 2 will last a month cooking every day.

Cheers

Bruce

Funny - we ended also with such a cooker @ roamingyak

We had a Coleman unleaded burner with us, who died after 3 weeks (using coleman fuel).

Then we buy a gasbottle with burner addon in congo - we are still happy with this.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EKnJSTY5G_...0/DSC02468.JPG

For all who thinking about smaller devices: you can buy the small campingaz bottles all over in africa.

Surfy

South America
 

May I change the continent please :thumbup1:

We will be travelling on a Landy Discovery 1 for about a year in South America and are currently kitting out the Disco for sleeping (roof tent) and cooking.

What combination of gas cooker and bottles do you suggest?

Two people travelling and hoping to do most of cooking from vehicle resources.

Thanks for any insights

Start a new thread - then we have separation of info and people interested in SA don't have to read pages of info on Africa etc. Thanks.

I use a jetboil for boiling water. It's faster than my kettle at home!! it's the pups and I can drop a boil in the bag in it for a quick 5 minute meal.

For longer trips where I don't want to carry lots of gas I use a Kelly kettle which also boils water very quickly.

For general cooking I bought a 2 burner coleman stove which I can use unleaded petrol on so I can always get fuel, but generally I can't be bothered with the cleaning plates and utensils so tend to do boil in the bag!!

personally I'm with Duncan. I think on a long trip gas is a real hindrance. bulky, heavy and with issues about compatibility in different countries I am deffo more of a fan of petrol cookers.

Many years ago I bought an ex british army petrol stove for use on trips

It was a piece of cr*p - no wonder the army got rid of them (swapped it for some nice decorated plates in tunisia!). Others had difficulties with there colemans.

I've used gas ever since, as we are off for 6 months this winter I've fitted a gasit refillable setup to my truck (4.5 tonne Iveco so plenty of space and carrying ability) with an 11 kg bottle. This is actually more gas than I've used in 3 years of owning the truck so it'll last a while and if the bottle needs filling in europe at least all i need is an lpg station and the filling is alot cheaper than exchanging bottles.

When in morocco and further south we will use local gas bottles with the gasit as backup , theres enough room for 2 bottles in the locker.

To answer the question 2nd hand about S/America, Phil Flannigan only had an issue filling his onboard gas tank in one country i think so you should be fine.

I guess everywhere uses bottled gas so worse case scenario is that its a change of bottle and regulator

Camping Gaz every time - easily available
I went a bit sophisticated and bought a CADAC CHEF, genius as packs down small, can be used for boiling kettle, wok, fry up, griddle, BBQ, just great!
Got mine from GO Outdoors who offered cheapest price at the time.

In German RV shops you can buy two different packs of adaptors - one for getting gas out of the bottle, and the other for putting the liquid in. Won't work for all systems but can be useful.

In Morocco you can swap bottles from different suppliers but you will have to offer a few D compensation for their trouble.

Autogas just isn't available everywhere. Iceland, Morocco (pretty much anyway) and I imagine most of Africa. Brazil (I think) has its own unique system etc etc. Even in Europe there is no universal interchangeability of small bottles apart from the very expensive Gaz refills. Gas "factories" on the edges of towns are the best places to try - but stand well back.
Often pretty cheap to just buy a local bottle. In france recently a new bottle was on special at Carryfour for 1 euro for the bottle and 25 euro for the contents - for a 13kg bottle. Same in Morocco - few dirham for the bottle, swap as required, refill before you leave and when empty give it away.

The empty bottles make great BBQ's :)

blew myself up with one of those once, not just cxxx but fxxxxxx lethal!!!:oops2: