So I wanted a spare gas bottle for the BBQ...

You know how the gas always runs out when you're in the middle of cooking as opposed to right at the start or right at the end?
I went down to the local servo where they have the 'Swap and Go' bottles. They are $24 if you bring down an empty, but $90 if you have no bottle to swap.
I wasn't going to pay that, so I went for a quick drive around some of the local back lanes where people often dump stuff. In the third lane I found a very old, rusty gas bottle that somebody had tossed out.
I grabbed it and swapped it for a $24 full bottle.

 

Awesome work @Depreciator. We've been known to do stuff like that
We have taken it one step further as I'm married to Macgyver. Macgyer found an old LPG car fuel tank. He throws it in the back of the Landcruiser, takes it to the petrol station and fills it up and takes it home. He can then refill our bbq and cooktop bottles at home when needed.

 

He and I would get on. I am a constant embarrassment to my kids when I do stuff like that.

 

W

Thats not the right thing to do IMO, rather deceitful really.
I did the smart and honest thing and got 2 bottles ($180 initial) so I always have a spare to use.
Not hard.

Correct me if Im wrong, that old rusty gas bottle will most likely have to be replaced by the company because it would not be tested "safe".
Therefore, by you not contributing in the correct way, $90 initial cost that goes towards the provision, upkeep and testing, will most likely cause the gas to go up for the rest of us and you ?

By the way, why didnt you take the existing (now empty) bottle to swap?

 

For good reason!

 

Good grief.. you and the local servo attendant obviously have not regard for other's safety?

Gas_safety

Circulating an uncertified bottle in with the rest is dangerous..

 

Get a gas line plumbed in. No need for bottles ever.

 

I had the bbq gas bottle gods shining down on me the other day.... We have a bbq on lend from our neighbour and it seemed to have the never ending gas bottle attached to it.

I decided to take a chance and butterfly a chicken to slow roast on the bbq for an hour or so and just when it had finished cooking and I flipped the chicken over to crispy up the skin some more did the gas run out. Couldn't have timed it better!

 

Now you just have to raid someones veggie patch and steal a cow - then you'll really be cooking on the cheap

 

That's highway robbery, you can pick-up a new full bottle from bunnings for $50.

 

E

Really?
Is it part of swap and go?

Edit: SWAP'n'GO 8.5kg Gas And Cylinder Gas Exchange
here we go, ok for folks with a Bunnings in town.
But Im sure there wouldve been one near Depreciator..

 

Nothing to do with honesty. Those places have a sign that says they will swap any brand of gas bottle. When they get bottles that are not theirs and they are in reasonable nick, they slap a bit of paint on them and put them into circulation. So they get themselves a free bottle. When they get ones that are a bit old, they dispose of them. Swings and roundabouts. If you look closely at the bottles in the rack you can see there are different brands all painted in their livery.

 

Good for you.

Hope the owner of the Servo gets to retire early on your....patronage.

 

Swap and Go bottles are collected for refilling. It's an outsource service. Of course, they are checked for age and safety when they get back to wherever they fill them.
Incidentally, those companies make a good margin from people swapping bottles still with gas in them.

 

How is it 'swings and roundabouts'? They give out a certified cylinder and take in one that is likely disposed of.. How do they get themselves a free bottle?

Refillable gas cylinders for use with appliances such as barbeques and gas heaters must only be filled if they have a current, legible test mark of a certified gas cylinder test station which is not more than 10 years old.

Gas cylinder filling stations must only fill gas cylinders that have a current (not more than 10 years old), legible test mark from a certified gas cylinder test station. If a gas filling station, as part of a cylinder exchange, accepts any cylinder that is not appropriately marked, they will have to either:

• ensure the cylinder is inspected and test station-marked in accordance with the appropriate Australian standard before filling or refilling, or
• dispose of the cylinder.

 

Did you pick a few up and try and pick the one with the most gas in?
Hope so, dont want you being ripped off 2 mins of BBQ fuel.

Get a spare bottle and contribute to the system instead of sucking the life out of it for all you can get, how dare the greedy gas business take peoples leftover gas.
On that, how can gas be left in a BBQ bottle anyway?
The reason you get another one is because it's…..empty, no?

 

Because sometimes people with a bottle in current survey would opt to swap it rather than get it filled at the servo. When that happens, Swap and Go get themselves a free bottle to paint up and put back into circulation as their own. That's exactly what I did with my previous BBQ. And what my neighbour did now that it's too hard to get bottles filled at servos.

 

Sigh. Lots of people take a bottle back well before it is empty because they don't want to risk running out. Many people have no idea how to tell how much gas is left in a bottle.

 

The bottle you take home is deemed to be owned by you. You can keep it and get it refilled if you like, but you also have to maintain it.

 

Sigh….get a spare.