It's just that we have downsized and want a portable BBQ and those 9kg bottles are darned big to store and heavy to move (I'm not as fit as I was!!).

Looks like a problem for me.

Sounds like OP possibly has an expired 4Kg bottle that needs to be re-certified.. i got a  bottle re-certified a while ago ($80-100) before I learned of the ol'swappa bottle malarky..

If the above is the case both Mitre 10 and The Warehouse have new 2 and 4kg bottles for $40-60

No, don't have any bottle now. 

Thanks @stevenb for that info. Solves it for me as our local one refills as well. Cheers.

Sounds like a new bottle from Mitre10 or The Warehouse then reflling at Caltex... problem solved.

Other than getting a 4kg bottle refilled, there's another issue that you need to consider...

About five years ago we were given a 4kg gas bottle to power a  small gas BBQ. We used this bottle each year getting it refilled at the nearby petrol station until I was informed that the bottle needed to be re-tested. I was also informed that the test costs about the same as a new bottle so decided to replace it with a 9kg bottle. Sure, a 9kg bottle is heavier, costs more to fill up but it lasts longer and the retailer has to worry about re-testing not the consumer.

rogercruse:

 

About five years ago we were given a 4kg gas bottle to power a  small gas BBQ. We used this bottle each year getting it refilled at the nearby petrol station until I was informed that the bottle needed to be re-tested. I was also informed that the test costs about the same as a new bottle so decided to replace it with a 9kg bottle. Sure, a 9kg bottle is heavier, costs more to fill up but it lasts longer and the retailer has to worry about re-testing not the consumer.

 

 

 

Yeah, they have a life span and anyone filling is supposed to check the date stamped on the bottle first. I found this out after the local Mobil wouldn't fill one of our bottles.... it was 5 years past its stamp date! Yet they'd been filling it all that time :D

xpd: Yeah, they have a life span and anyone filling is supposed to check the date stamped on the bottle first.

And if you'd ever seen the results of a failed-under-pressure gas (any type) cylinder, you'd know why they should be checked!

We were shown one as part of PADI diving certification - hard to see how anyone near that would have survived.

rogercruse:

 

Other than getting a 4kg bottle refilled, there's another issue that you need to consider...

 

 

 

About five years ago we were given a 4kg gas bottle to power a  small gas BBQ. We used this bottle each year getting it refilled at the nearby petrol station until I was informed that the bottle needed to be re-tested. I was also informed that the test costs about the same as a new bottle so decided to replace it with a 9kg bottle. Sure, a 9kg bottle is heavier, costs more to fill up but it lasts longer and the retailer has to worry about re-testing not the consumer.

 

 

 

We'd pretty much covered that here https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=281120&page_no=1#2644785

But what do youo mean about the retailer being concerned with re-testing rather than the consumer? Do you mean it is only the retailers responsbililty to check the test date prior to refilling? obviously it is the consumers repsonsilbity to have the bottle re-tested.

dimsim:

 

rogercruse:

 

Other than getting a 4kg bottle refilled, there's another issue that you need to consider...

 

 

 

About five years ago we were given a 4kg gas bottle to power a  small gas BBQ. We used this bottle each year getting it refilled at the nearby petrol station until I was informed that the bottle needed to be re-tested. I was also informed that the test costs about the same as a new bottle so decided to replace it with a 9kg bottle. Sure, a 9kg bottle is heavier, costs more to fill up but it lasts longer and the retailer has to worry about re-testing not the consumer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'd pretty much covered that here https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=281120&page_no=1#2644785

 

But what do youo mean about the retailer being concerned with re-testing rather than the consumer? Do you mean it is only the retailers responsbililty to check the test date prior to refilling? obviously it is the consumers repsonsilbity to have the bottle re-tested.

 

Not when you are swapping the cylinder out via the likes of Mitre10 etc - you pay slightly more than a refill, but as you are only "renting" the cylinder, the testing etc gets covered by the retailer.