LPG ( gas) availability at fuel stations in South America?
 

Hi,

We are getting a van converted and considering going back to South America! It’s been 10 years since we last spent a year riding around there.

Is LPG widely available in South America in fuel stations or should we get the van fitted so we can use disposable gas bottles ( for heating, cooking....)?
I never paid attention when we were on our motorbikes....

Thanks for your answers.

Hi Cholo,
Yes it looks like a tricky question. Also the plugs will be different. We will use the LPG for heating, cooking, hot water (shower). We are still making decisions about this as the heating could be from diesel instead.
All conversion vans companies we looked at seem to havefit big gas canister under the vans that can be filled at petrol stations. Easy in Europe but as we plan to go further afield ... i will investigate further.
Thanks for your input.

standard bbq grill tanks should be fairly common in just all big cities and they all use the same connectors. as opposed to refilling, you would exchange the tank.

maria41, so that common European trick of using LPG for that will not work as CNG is very different.
Heating takes most of the power and will empty any bottle quickly. So heating on diesel is more practical. Look into Planar heaters, we have one and it is more affordable, it works great.

With all that stuff on gas and diesel, please fit a carbon monoxide alerter.

So you can leave a large space for big bottles you can exchange. Or just do the cooking on a small cassette burner with those small exchangable bottles. That is the simplest thing, although you keep changing the bottles.

For hot water you can use a boiler that heats up when you drive. So it doesnt work when your engine hasnt run for a while, for example doesnt work 2 days later. But other than that its free