Calor’s gas debacle
Incensed by Calor’s 4.5kg gas bottles debacle, I invested hours and many phone calls to solve my replacement problem. This was finally achieved by purchasing a Flogas 4.5kg cylinder just before all providers seemed to not issue any cylinders except for refills to existing customers.
The third large supplier that I contacted to obtain the appropriate regulator sold me their third to last one. Clearly, there was a national rush to find alternative gas solutions.
I can report that the Flogas 4.5kg cylinder DOES fit in the Moody 36 Mk1 gas locker! But only by a very tight margin. I didn’t switch the regulators as I still had gas left in my second cylinder. I contacted Calor about my now empty first cylinder, and was told the cylinder had no worth to me as I didn’t have a receipt to prove it was mine. When asked about recycling, Flogas was not able to help and Calor said to return it to my local stockist. On presenting the cylinder to a stockist, I was surprised to find there WAS a full cylinder which I could exchange! Since then, I have relied on people who know people, meeting under the cover of darkness, having pleaded to be accepted into the inner circle and thus granted exchanges of the minuscule stray stock ‘available’ in the UK.
My last visit to a chandlers resulted in me staring at a clutch of Calor 4.5s and 3.9s, idly occupying the floor opposite the till. A ‘fresher’ member of staff, clearly oblivious to the ‘Great Butane Scandal of 2023’, declared, “yes, of course we have plenty”. A week later I read that Calor had U-turned and all will be restored. Well done the lobbyists! And a lesson to be noted about monopolies.
I now have a spare Flogas 4.5kg cylinder and a sparkly new regulator collecting dust which I am keeping just in case there is another change in decision!. The next challenge is to sort out why refills cost £40 at chandlers and £18 inland. Then to sort out the UK energy market. Or just go sailing with a nice fresh cuppa.
Trevor Martin