This forthcoming weekend, on Friday the ominous 13th, we will be leaving the house of horrors that my son inherited and returning (me very reluctantly) to the UK. Miraculously, the house that has taken us five months to clear of all the accumulations and rubbish, has been sold. However, we are left with a Carrefour butane gas bottle and have no idea how to return it, as, I believe, is what one is supposed to do. We don’t drive. Polite suggestions welcome and no, I am too old to roll it uphill to the local Carrefour.
If I recall correctly, there will have been a sum (deposit) paid on the bottle first-time-around and, after that, the empty bottle will have been exchanged for a full one… paying only for the gas.
Frankly, I would not bother to return the bottle as it is obviously not easy to do so… and I am not sure whether one is supposed to provide the paperwork which one was given to confirm the deposit was paid by the customer in the first instance. (heaven knows where mine is… )
Thus… you might make a great effort and not get the original sum back anyway…
For the person who has bought your property… they can take the empty and simply change it for a full one at the going-price with no need for deposit.
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You could just drop it at the Carrefour petrol station (where the bottled gas is likely to be) then run!
Without the original paperwork I don’t think you could get the deposit back.
Alternatively just leave it at the house which don’t normally seemed to be cleared fully upon leaving.
I would be delighted to have had a butane bottle left…presuming that is what is used for cooking? Leave it!
If the house doesn’t use butane then ask neighbours if they’d like it, or pop it outside next week with a note saying free to take away, and see what happens.
Yes - so would I but my son was fretting about it, as in is he legally required to return it? We’ve been using it for cooking (hob only) and I’m amazed by how long it’s lasted.
Except that neither of us can drive so we will leave it in situ. It’s impossible to clear everything as we have found to our frustration.
He is not honour bound to return it… he can relax and leave it for the next person… or a neighbour… 
I had 2 bottles to return when we left. I did have the paperwork but apparently on one of them I had written my name and address in the wrong box so they wouldn’t give me the deposit back on that one!
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OMG, it only a gaz bottle,move on, literally in your case and leave it for the next person.
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I would leave it for the next owner. We inherited two, saved us a lot of hassel. Don’t worry about it.
Andy
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I’m sure that you’ve got the message by now, the gas bottle is of no consequence and is something that can easily be left behind.
I’m sure that you have your reasons for calling the property a house of horrors but as you have managed to sell it so quickly it must have a lot of appeal to someone.
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Yeah, they’re real sticklers for that. I can only recall once in 26 years of living in France, where I got my deposit back. The other times, I have just left the bottle at the stands where the other gas bottles were stored. They didn’t have CCTV in those days though…
If you could see it you’d understand - five floors of accumulations and rubbish which, when removed, revealed all sorts of horrors. It was valued at 5K, the garage at 10K (Euros!) - an unwelcome inheritance that has taken a toll on ours lives but, miraculously, has been sold to a local businessman with plenty of money with which to restore it.
Hi,
@Peter_Bird if you’re reading this and fancy giving it a try, just remember not to use your blowtorch unless you are 100% sure the bottle is empty! 
At my old job we turned them in to flower pots we got lots of the old steel ones because most people nowadays have the fiberglass ones the look really good in the garden
Canisters tend to be more dangerous when empty as an explosion is more likely to happen with a little bit of the fuel in gaseous form mixed with air.
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I’ve heard the same thing with gas leaks. In films/TV on entering a house or room smelling of gas, people always start opening the windows. Which is totally the wrong thing to do as the gas, air ratio means an explosion is more likely!
It was a pompier that taught me this on a first aid course I took in Perigueux.
Better tell us quick what’s the right thing to do, Tracey! My guess is, call the pompiers? 
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A favorite trick when I was a boy, was to make a bomb with an old cocoa tin.
You punched a hole in the lid, then filled the tin with gas. Then you put the lid back on and applied a light to the hole, resulting in a small flame that burned quietly until the gas/air ratio reached a critical level. Then there was a loud bang and the lid went flying up to the ceiling. Such fun! 
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