Quote Originally Posted by NortonDommi View Post
Interesting comments about the valves being soldered in in Spain and not being able to buy used ones. Here I just got one of those big next to house ones from the scrap yard for a dozen beer, the 9 kg ones are about $5 scrap value. Cylinders can be rented /leased or bought outright but buying means you pay for a cylinder test every 10 years. A 32 mm 3/4" drive impact socket with a bit cut out of the side whizzes the valve out real fast.
Here in Spain, you have a contract for so many bottles with the gas suppliers, you do not buy or pay rent on the bottles. It is free. You only pay for the gas. You take an empty bottle back and get a full one. In the towns and villages you leave the empties outside your house and a truck comes around swapping the empties for full, once a week. You leave the money under the empties. Thus it is hard to see why people buy bottles at flea markets. I think that this is mainly illegal foreigners who fear the idea of getting a contract. There is no check that you have a contract when you take an empty to exchange for a full one. Petrol stations, builders' merchants and garden centres are typical places where you can exchange the bottles. If you have other uses for the bottles then it is understandable that you might buy one at a market.