Gas cylinders or bottles

General information about gas cylinders

LPG cylinders can contain either butane, largely for indoor use, or propane, which is more suited to outdoor uses. Some gas companies that supply them retain legal ownership and responsibility for the cylinder throughout its life.

Gas cylinders are classed as a pressure vessel, so when a gas cylinder is returned to a gas supplier for exchange, they are subject to a periodic test and inspection to confirm the integrity of the cylinder itself, and the ability to withstand pressure as the gas is pumped in at high pressure which causes it to change to a liquid state.

Further advice: https://www.liquidgasuk.org/domestic/lpg-cylinder-supply-and-return

If a cylinder contains a gas other than LPG (propane or butane) the company that owns the cylinder, whose name should be somewhere on the cylinder, is likely to retain legal ownership and responsibility for it. For further advice on non-LPG cylinders, visit the British Compressed Gas Association website (http://www.bcga.co.uk/pages/index.cfm) for advice.

Some local authority household waste recycling centres will accept cylinders, see https://www.recyclenow.com/what-to-do-with/gas-bottles-1 for information and a search to see if there is one local to you. https://recycling.co.uk/recycling-gas-bottles/ also has some information about recycling cylinders.

Calor Gas

Calor Gas gives guidance about their cylinders.
Cylinders remain the property of the Company at all times and may only be filled by the Company.
The company makes the cylinder(s) available to the user as a means of safely transporting and storing the gas supplied. This agreement is not a rental agreement and it does not provide the user with title in the cylinder. The user will not part with possession or control of the cylinder(s) (other than to a CALOR outlet) nor claim to have any rights that conflict with this agreement, nor create or purport or attempt to create any agency or bailment in relation to the cylinder(s) or to the user’s obligations.

Links: https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/refills-and-returns/returns
https://www.calor.co.uk/news-and-views/illegal-handling-scrapping-of-calor-gas-cylinders
https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/refills-and-returns/cylinder-refill-agreement (which gives the above quote).

The above indicates that Calor Gas cylinders shouldn't be offered or requested on Freegle. BUT, Elaine (Penrith) got email confirmation in January 2023 that is OK to pass on 15kg bottles. https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/calor-gas-bottles-illegal/5535/97 . Email:

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for your time earlier. To confirm Calor is not issuing any new cylinders at the moment. We are currently just doing like for like exchanges.
You will require an empty 15kg butane Calor cylinder to hand in to get a full one in exchange.
If you have a friend or associate that has an 15kg butane cylinder they are no longer using and they are happy to hand it to you then that would be ideal.
The suggested price fore a 15kg cylinder exchange is £53.

Regards

Berkley Griffin
Acquisitions

Tachbrook Park
Athena House, Athena Drive, Tachbrook Park, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 6RL
Tel: 01926 318494
Fax: 08704 006921

It's probably a good idea to remind a member wanting to offer one that they can call Calor and ask them to collect the cylinder. If it is not empty, Calor say they will give the member a partial refund. For more info, see the first link above.

FloGas

Flogas terms of sale - https://www.flogas.co.uk/terms-of-sale
5.5 each of the Goods will be new and conveyed by Supplier to Buyer with good title, free and clear of all encumbrances;
9.3 Title and risk in the Goods shall pass to the Buyer on completion of delivery to the Delivery Location https://www.flogas.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/will-i-be-charged-for-the-cylinder

The final link indicates that these remain the property of FloGas, indicating that bottles shouldn't be offered or requested on Freegle. BUT Melissa (Eastbourne) received this reply from the company on Facebook in April 2024:[1]

Hi Melissa, as they are property of flogas when they are not being used or are no longer required they do need to be returned back to flogas, if you wish someone else to use the cylinder that’s fine with us but you would need to return this once it is empty or finished with. Kind Regards

So they can be given to someone else to use, as long as they eventually end up back with Flogas when no longer needed.

Camping Gaz

The larger bottles supplied by Camping Gaz are refillable - models R 907 (2.75kg butane), ‎R 904 (1.8kg butane), and ‎R 901 (400g butane). The smaller cartridges are disposable. The refillable models can be exchanged but the legal responsibility for these and the cartridges isn't retained by Camping Gaz, so they are able to be offered or requested on Freegle.

Sample Rejection Message

Suggested Mod message for rejection of gas canister posts:

Regrettably this post is declined. Our research indicates that most bottles belong to the gas bottle supplier and legally we understand that bottles should be returned to them rather than exchanged privately.

Add the following if the member was offering a Calor bottle:
We suggest you call Calor and ask them to collect the cylinder. If it is not empty, Calor say they will give a partial refund. For more info, see https://www.calor.co.uk/gas-bottles/refills-and-returns/returns.

The most recent conversation about gas bottle freegling is here: https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/calor-gas-bottles-illegal/5535

Links:

• Specific Items
• Sample Messages