Calor gas

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hey guys, decided i have had enough of digging holes for a living and made the jump to full time driving, Have been given a temp contract with calor gas trunking the class 1 tankers out of Fawley. Has anyone been and done this job before and do u have any pointers. Any advice will be much appreciated. Cheers Lee :sunglasses:

2

Forgot to mention it is through an agency.

3

Congratulations on joining the club. Hope it all goes well (from a Granddad who retired after 30 years trucking 11 years ago).

Mind where you chuck your â– â– â– -ends.

Tone

4

hope you mean class 1 as in LGV and not class 1 as in the product :open_mouth: :open_mouth:
if they offer you a job grab it with both hands as they are a good company where you could get paid well and be employed for years, my mate loads a gas tanker out of fawley for a small firm from south wales and he would love to get on with them

5

I’m assuming you’ve got your ADR covering tankers?

6

I sure do have my adr for tankers and packages in all classes except class 1 & 7. I will grab the job woth everything if they offer it to me permanant. :smiley:

7

Stupid question 101 here, but why are gas tankers so bloody slow up hills. Is gas heavy? :laughing:

8

only guessing, but is it compressed into a liquid?

stevie

9

I remember years ago asking at the scene of a bump the UW of a Calor Gas Tanker involved, driver told me and I asked if he was sure as it was near the maximum wieght allowed for the vehicle. He told me it was all steel reinforced tank to handle the compressed gas. Which if you think about it would be about right ! :frowning:

10

Not sure about Calor Gas,but Oxygen,nitrogen and Argon are transported as liquids.The trailer is like a giant thermos flask enabling the product to stay cold(liquified).When allowed to rise in temperature it will return to a gaseous state,up to 800 times greater in volume.Yes it easy to be well overweight hauling these products.
Chemistry class dismissed. :slight_smile:

11

Interestingly, I read this thread last night and then stumbled across this video tonight: failblog.org/2010/12/28/epic-fai … tank-fail/

Scary!

12

I used to work for the agency who have given you this job, as a consultant that is. Assuming it’s the same one! on the same contract - you are onto a good role there and they have a good record of taking the drivers on after a set period. BUT and this is a BIG but, Calor have huge seasonal changes in there operation, come the end of winter they die off until BBQ time. The trunking is obviously dependant on the sales of the calor cans - which reflect the afore mentioned

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Spacemonkeypg:
I used to work for the agency who have given you this job, as a consultant that is. Assuming it’s the same one! on the same contract - you are onto a good role there and they have a good record of taking the drivers on after a set period. BUT and this is a BIG but, Calor have huge seasonal changes in there operation, come the end of winter they die off until BBQ time. The trunking is obviously dependant on the sales of the calor cans - which reflect the afore mentioned

As said the job is a good one but be carefull i worked out of the calor depo in neath south wales with manpower for about 3years did every thing that was arsked of me started on trunking then was told if i did the mini buliking over winter i would have more of a chance of being kept on during the summer did it and did a good job no accidents etc also did the chemical tankers did all this and come march of the first year i was told buy the transport superviser that i would be laid off for the summer great just bought my first house and had another baby on the way i was only laid off for one day after me ringing the main guy in charge of the transport and me telling him how i did every thing i was arsked of and that mates of the transport supervisor had started after me and would only do trunking and they where getting kept on :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: he then had me back in the following day to come back in :open_mouth: :open_mouth: neath was a very clicky place to work but the other depos as far as i know ie fawley things where run more fairley i left to go to a full time job but the training is really good and the kit every thing has to be right and it is they are very keen on safety they wont let you out on your own until they know your confident especially on the mini bulking
i really enjoyed the mini bulking even in the winter and would love to get back on it :frowning:any way good luck hope it goes well its a good job

14

deancross4c:
Interestingly, I read this thread last night and then stumbled across this video tonight: failblog.org/2010/12/28/epic-fai … tank-fail/

Scary!

Nice hair spray ad.

Tone

15

merc0447:
Stupid question 101 here, but why are gas tankers so bloody slow up hills. Is gas heavy? :laughing:

Hi merc0447,
Usually, a gas tanker is calculated to run at the max allowable weight, but the gas companies have traditionally specified very basic and low-powered tractor units to save all possible weight.

That’s a great question about the weight of gas…

I suspect that the OP will be carrying liquefied Propane, the weight of which is approx 0.55 kg per liter.

16

stevieboy308:
only guessing, but is it compressed into a liquid?

stevie

Hi stevie,

Yes mate, it is.

For what I suspect the OP will be carrying, the compression pressure would be approx 120psi.

17

flat to the mat:
Not sure about Calor Gas,but Oxygen,nitrogen and Argon are transported as liquids.The trailer is like a giant thermos flask enabling the product to stay cold(liquified).When allowed to rise in temperature it will return to a gaseous state,up to 800 times greater in volume.Yes it easy to be well overweight hauling these products.
Chemistry class dismissed. :slight_smile:

Hi mate,

You’re spot-on about Oxygen, Nitrogen and Argon being carried as liquids and the tanker being like a giant thermos flask.
The pressures for the gases you’ve mentioned are surprisingly low, sometimes as low as 6psi.
The trickery involved with those gases is that they are carried at extremely low (cryogenic) temperatures in order to persuade the gas to liquefy, I’m not sure of the temperature needed for Argon, but Oxygen is commonly carried at -180 deg C, and Nitrogen can be carried as low as -198 deg C. :open_mouth:

Compared to those other gases you’ve mentioned, Propane is fairly ordinary.
No refrigeration is necessary for Propane transport, the pressure is usually approx 120psi, and the tank is a single skin made of 1/2" - 3/4" thick high-grade steel. Some have a sunshield covering the top third of the tank to protect the tank from the worst of the summer sun.

18

Ah gas tankers. That brings back some memories, more specifically anhydrous ammonia and Co2 tankers. Couldn’t mess with ammonia but Co2 was great for quickly cooling your drinks on hot days and quite spectacular when the relief valves used to blow off coming through the tunnels in Leeds. It used to terrify any following motorists. Still, it meant you got a nice clear run through though. :smiley: :smiley:

19

Re what swansea jack & Spacemonkeypg said:

It looks like most gas firms are now running double shifts (vehicles, not drivers) on the small tanker deliveries, Calor included I believe. The firm I’m with (via agency) starts doubling up from tomorrow. That’s a helluva lot of extra drivers required! Hardly any of those will be kept on once the weather gets warmer. Unless I can blag the 15 weeks a year holiday cover (for 3 x tankers), I’m not banking on being there much after March-ish.

merc0447:
Stupid question 101 here, but why are gas tankers so bloody slow up hills. Is gas heavy? :laughing:

I can’t speak for others but I usually slow down in order to give the next customer plenty of time to get the pot of home-made farmhouse stew ready. :sunglasses: