Advice please…
Is it bad host etiquette to allow guests to swap gas bottles when necessary?
Our hot water and cooker work off 25kg gas bottles, and we always have a spare ready for connection when one runs out. It’s an easy swap, and I have instructions with photos to explain the process.
Thoughts?
Thank you
I’d worry more about safety in case the guest didn’t connect it properly than the etiquette. We have a water cooler that takes the big five-gallon bottles, and our guests couldn’t figure out how to change the bottles correctly despite the pictures.
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I also think it’s a safety issue rather than a question of etiquette. If they didn’t tighten the connections properly, there could be a gas leak and consequently an explosion and fire. I wouldn’t trust guests with this task.
If you are an off-site host and live too far to change over a tank if necessary, I would suggest you employ someone local to be on call to do this.
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Like @PitonView and @muddy I don’t think that etiquette has anything to do with it and I would certainly not trust guests to do it.
Imagine if there was an accident or an injury. The guests could (rightfully IMHO) claim that the host was at fault for not doing the change themselves (or by the co-host).
Do your STR insurance people have anything to say about it?
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I agree with the safety concerns. I have a few things explained in instructions including how to park, use curtain tiebacks, use the right remotes, etc. and understanding is hit or miss. Could you put a gauge on the bottles and ask people to let you know when they are at a certain level so that you could schedule a convenient time to change them? Whoever cleans could also check them.
I would not allow guests to touch propane bottles. If you are using propane, consider getting an automatic changeover valve. That will switch to the auxiliary bottle automatically and let you refill the empty bottle at your leisure.
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There are devices that allow two bottles to be connected at once. As long as the valves are both open, when the selected bottle runs dry, the valve changes over to the other bottle and gives an indication that the transfer has taken place. When you come to check the bottles, you simply flip the lever to the new tank, which then allows you to disconnect the empty tank and take it to be filled while the other tank remains in use. The devices are commonly used in residential and RV applications and are fairly affordable.
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Oops. I missed the message above that also mentioned an automatic transfer device.
I curious, how much would you pay someone to do just this one task?
I don’t know. Depends on how far they have to travel to get there. If it’s a next door neighbor, a few bucks?
Thanks everyone who took the time to answer 
The housing for gas bottles is too small to hold more than one at a time and the gauges we’ve found so far haven’t really worked, so for us the option is to ask a neighbour, who has been very helpful subject to her own working hours. Meanwhile I’m investigating other options available to us in Portugal.