Properties Of Butane LPG Gas
Butane gas is a form of liquid gas that is traditionally used as a fuel for portable cooking appliances and leisure equipment including camping stoves, portable grills and burners, and barbeques. It is freely available worldwide and throughout the UK and can be purchased in a multitude of container formats including gas cartridges, cannisters, and bottles.
In the UK this type of lpg gas is commonly sold in a blue or light brown (almost yellow) coloured bottle. Popular brands are calor, camping gaz, altagas, energas, and flogas.
Butane lpg gas is also used in the home improvement and construction industry market where it is the fuel source that powers paint strippers, blow lamps, and plumbing torches. These small hand held appliances typically use a disposable cartridge or cannister that contains a small yet reasonable amount of fuel.
There are also butane gas appliances that are refillable. These have a built in small gas tank that is refilled from an aerosol like a cigarette lighter. The refillable appliances are usually compact in size being soldering irons, small blow torches, and the like.
The leisure industry and camping market is perhaps one of the biggest users of this type of bottled gas. Nearly every household that undertakes camping is bound to have a requirement for a portable cooker or stove. The use of butane bottled gas in this application is perfect.
Butane bottled gas can be purchased in a wide range of metal cylinder sizes with popular ones being 4.5kg, 7kg, and 13kg in size.
Most households will probably refer to a bottle of butane gas as the lpg gas that is used in a portable cabinet type heater. A portable cabinet heater runs usually off a 11 or 13kg bottle size of lpg gas that is housed within the heaters casing.
These type of portable heaters are ideal for providing extra heat and warmth in small to medium sized rooms and offices or any area where the existing heating source is not adequate.
All modern cabinet heaters have a piezo type ignitor unit for easy lighting of the burner.
Most portable cabinet heaters have adjustable temperature controls to allow the user to adjust the heater to deliver the right amount of heat that is required. This could be by way of a a dial knob or simply a button.
In the Uk there are coutless different brands and specifications of butane cabinet heaters available to buy. Some of the more popular ones are the Superser F150, the Superser F250 radiant, the Superser Mini Radiant, and the Superser Mini Catalytic. Other popular units are ones sold under the Calour and Delongi brand names.
Technical Details Of Butane Bottled Gas
Butane lpg gas has a far higher boiling point than propane gas. This makes the application of this fuel source more suitable for use in appliances that are used indoors or that are used in the warmer months of spring and summer in the Uk or outdoor leisure purposes such as camping and caravanning.
For outdoor dinning it is also a good source of fuel for powering gas bbq's.
Butane is a saturated hydrocarbon gas with the chemical formula C4H10, it belongs to the alkanes family of hydrocarbon gases.
Is butane gas volatile?
Butane is less volatile than propane lpg. It has a boiling point of approximately -0.5ºC and a vapour pressure of around 2 bar / 30 psi (at 15ºC). This makes it more suitable than propane for appliances where butane
LPG cylinders may be used indoors.
Camping Gaz LPG
If you are a user of a camping gaz branded cooker or double burner stove you may also use their own dedicated bottled gas cylinders which are marketed as the 901, 904, and 907. These bottles of butane lpg are smaller in size than a typical flogas or calor sized bottle but being more compact are ideal for camping and treking use.
Camping gaz also sell a wide range of disposable sized cannisters of this form of lpg to suit their large portable appliance range.
Popular cannisters include the camping gaz C206, CV270, CV300, CV470, and the CP250. As well as cooking appliances these are designed to fit and be the fuel source for their lanterns, barbeques, and bivouac stoves.
