Author Topic: Gas stoves use in France?  (Read 4685 times)

Gas stoves use in France?
« on: 24 June, 2018, 11:46:06 pm »
OK we use a gas conversion with a Trangia kit. Standard screw type as commonly used in the UK and other countries. France I believe like their own standard as supplied by camping gaz. They used to be puncture only cans but went to their own version of screw on cans I believe.

My question is whether the usual UK and a lot of the world are type of cans are available in France or whether we need to get a convertor to use our gas stove conversion? I doubt it's wise trying to carry enough UK gas cans to last a two week trip so what's the best option if this is an issue?

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #1 on: 25 June, 2018, 05:23:54 am »
MSR, Jetboil, Primus and Coleman all sell their products in France, so presumably the screw-on canisters are available. The question is, where are the retailers that sell screw-on canisters, and where are you going to be touring? I would expect the screw-on canisters to be found mainly in climbing/mountaineering stores, or in larger cities.

Do you have the alcohol burner for your trangia, or just the gas burner? If you've got the alcohol burner, then there's nothing to worry about. Just about every French supermarket sells "alcool à brûleur", usually in the cleaning supplies.

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #2 on: 25 June, 2018, 08:35:40 am »
Meths is the back up for sure we just prefer gas.

We're off to Brittany so I'm guessing a bit of the French desert. It might pay to look for somewhere in Roscoff but I doubt they'll have an outdoor store. In Holland hardware stores had gas. We saw some amazing hardware stores that sold everything right up to mini diggers! I doubt France is going to be quite so amenable for gas.

BTW I had no doubt the German, Scandinavian and American gas stove brands are present. However presence and access to products in an unfamiliar country / area isn't the same. I even had trouble finding a primus gas can in Sweden!

If you don't know an area you can end up driving or cycling right past the shop you need without noticing a turn to the left gets you to what you want to find. Done that looking for mythical Dutch cycle shops. I'm still not sure they have many. Saw two in two weeks!

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #3 on: 25 June, 2018, 08:38:13 am »
TPMB12 - there are cycle shops everywhere in the Netherlands. Usually I would say in town centres though.

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #4 on: 25 June, 2018, 09:38:56 am »
We found screw on cannisters available in larger camp site stores last year.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #5 on: 25 June, 2018, 10:33:16 am »
The blue CampinGaz click on canisters are available in most supermarkets in larger villages/smaller towns.
They look the same as screw-on, until you take the valve cover off and find no screw threads (the actual valve is the same).

It's worth taking an adapter to use them with a screw-on stove
https://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/p/edelrid-valve-cartridge-adapter-D3252105.html

Fit the adapter to the stove before fitting it to the canister.

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #6 on: 26 June, 2018, 10:03:36 am »
If you're going to France, Decathlon usually have "normal" screw on canisters and can be found near most big towns/cities. Otherwise hardware stores usually carry gas canisters for blowtorches, these will be a different shape (long and thin) but will work with a remote stove like the Trangia gas conversion.

quixoticgeek

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Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #7 on: 26 June, 2018, 05:47:12 pm »
TPMB12 - there are cycle shops everywhere in the Netherlands. Usually I would say in town centres though.

Ah, the thing with cycle shops in the Netherlands, is they are very much not created equal. You may well find loads of them, I can think of half a dozen or so withing 500m of my flat. But I wouldn't take my bike to any of them, as they would look at it and be confused. They are very much aimed at the Dutch BSO market, if you have a city bike with a sturmey archer hub, you'll be fine with such a shop. But your carbon steed? or a touring bike? Nah. In Amsterdam there are 4 bike shops I use, depending on what I'm looking for. One of them is my preferred shop for having work done on the bike, and that's a 30km round trip.

When you leave the big cities, most small towns and some large villages will have at least one bike shop, it will be in the centre somewhere usually, but it will have to cater to all markets, which means it mostly caters to city bikes, maybe some e bikes, and possibly touring bikes. Good bike shops are hard to come by.

But we digress. Back to the original question, you can get threaded canisters in France, whether you can get them where you are in France, or without a long detour to a decathlon or similar, is another matter. Camping gaz canisters are the most common, and if you can tolerate the extra weight/bulk, sticking an adaptor in your bag just eases the stress.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Kim

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Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #8 on: 26 June, 2018, 06:10:16 pm »
But we digress. Back to the original question, you can get threaded canisters in France, whether you can get them where you are in France, or without a long detour to a decathlon or similar, is another matter. Camping gaz canisters are the most common, and if you can tolerate the extra weight/bulk, sticking an adaptor in your bag just eases the stress.

I'd suggest that it's reasonable to assume that the weight/bulk of the adaptor can be tolerated because the OP is using a Trangia gas burner in the first place.  If lightweight were the priority they'd either be using the alcohol burner, or something lighter than a Trangia.  On that basis, it's a no-brainer.

Another thought: Are those cheap butane cartridges with the threadless bayonet type fitting common outside the UK?  You can get adaptors for those too, which is an extremely cheap way to fuel a gas stove, if and only if you're aware of the correct way to orient the cartridge[1], preferably have a stove with a pre-heat loop (as the Trangia one does) and are only planning to use it in warm conditions.


[1] The cartridge will supply gas when upright or on its side with the notch upwards, and liquid if on its side with the notch pointing down.  Getting this wrong can be rather explodey.  The car-camping stoves that use them only accept the cartridge in the right orientation for gas feed.

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #9 on: 26 June, 2018, 07:00:58 pm »
when touring I nowadays include a visit to a Decathlon on the 2nd or 3rd day (once I know what I forget) and somewhere later on in the route. Just to stock up with camping stuff.

Kim

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Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #10 on: 26 June, 2018, 07:02:53 pm »
when touring I nowadays include a visit to a Decathlon on the 2nd or 3rd day (once I know what I forget) and somewhere later on in the route. Just to stock up with camping stuff.

This seems eminently sensible, if you're touring somewhere that has Decathlons.

Supplemental note: Decathlon do not sell Trangia alcohol burner o-rings.

Re: Gas stoves use in France?
« Reply #11 on: 27 June, 2018, 10:19:30 am »
when touring I nowadays include a visit to a Decathlon on the 2nd or 3rd day (once I know what I forget) and somewhere later on in the route. Just to stock up with camping stuff.

This seems eminently sensible, if you're touring somewhere that has Decathlons.

Supplemental note: Decathlon do not sell Trangia alcohol burner o-rings.

Decathlon on the southern outskirts of  Carhaix Plouguer, otherwise if you're off the ferry at Roscoff the closest one at Morlaix - unfortunately just off a busy road at the top of a bloody gert hill.
This link should give you a map of all of them - https://www.decathlon.fr/fr/magasin
Reine de la Fauche