Gas Cylinder Storage

Gas Cylinder Storage

Gas bottle cages and gas cylinder cages for LPG, propane, butane, oxygen, acetylene and industrial gases. Our range — built around the UK-made GPC Grenadier® range — runs from a single knock-down gas cage for a handful of bottles behind a workshop, through lock-up compounds and mobile cylinder carriers, to 90-minute fire-rated cylinder stores. Everything on this page is manufactured in the UK, priced in GBP, and supplied ready to lock.

Gas bottle cage or gas cylinder cage — is there a difference?

No. They are the same product under two names, and which one you use usually says more about your trade than about the equipment. Plumbers, caterers, roofers and forklift fleets tend to say gas bottle cage, because LPG arrives as a "bottle" — the 47 kg propane, the 19 kg, the 13 kg patio bottle. Welding shops, laboratories and engineering firms tend to say gas cylinder cage, because industrial gases arrive as cylinders. A gas cage, a gas storage cage, a gas bottle storage cage, a cylinder cage and an LPG cage are all the same thing: a ventilated, lockable steel enclosure that keeps compressed gas upright, restrained and out of reach.

What genuinely differs is not the name but the bottle. A 47 kg propane bottle is a substantially bigger, heavier and taller object than a dissolved acetylene cylinder or a patio bottle, and cage capacity follows the bottle you actually hold — not the label on the cage. That is the first thing to settle, and it is covered below.

Why a gas cage rather than a corner of the yard

UK guidance — HSE, DSEAR and the BCGA codes of practice — expects compressed gas cylinders to be stored upright, restrained against falling, secured against unauthorised access, and wherever possible outdoors in a ventilated position away from buildings, drains, pits and ignition sources. A purpose-built gas cage answers all of that in one object: open mesh gives natural ventilation, retaining chains hold the bottles upright, a lockable door keeps the public and untrained staff out, and every Grenadier® cage arrives with a "Highly Flammable" sign and provision for a padlock fitted as standard.

The point people underestimate is the restraint, not the lock. A full 47 kg propane bottle that goes over does not simply fall — it falls with enough energy to shear a valve, and a sheared valve on a full bottle is the failure mode the whole regime exists to prevent. Chains and a close-fitting enclosure matter as much as the padlock.

For separation distances, segregation of flammable from oxidising gases, indoor quantity limits and the rest of the detail, read our gas cylinder storage regulations (UK) guide. If you are not certain what you are actually storing, our gas cylinder types guide explains propane, oxygen, acetylene and inert gases and what each one means for storage.

How to size a gas bottle cage — the part nobody explains

Almost every gas cage listing online quotes a cylinder count. Very few say which cylinder. That is where sizing goes wrong, because a cage rated for "16 cylinders" of one format may take half that number of 47 kg propane bottles, and you find out on delivery day.

Size it on footprint instead, in three steps:

  1. Measure the bottle you actually hold — overall diameter across the widest point, including the foot ring and any valve guard. Take the figure from your gas supplier's data sheet rather than from memory; the same nominal size varies between suppliers.
  2. Allow clearance. Bottles have to be lifted in and out past their neighbours, and a rank packed to the millimetre cannot be worked safely. Allow enough that a full bottle can be walked in and out without lifting it over another.
  3. Lay that out against the cage's internal footprint and count rows, not totals.

The internal footprints across our range, from the manufacturer's data:

  • Grenadier® Gas Cylinder Carriers — internal 1560 × 840 mm, with a usable distance between shelves of 720 mm; designed around the standard "Calor gas" type bottle, up to 16 per carrier.
  • Grenadier® Knock Down Gas Cylinder Cages — 1007 W × 1070 D mm (GLC50Z/55Z), 1954 W × 1070 D mm (GLC60Z/65Z) and 1954 W × 2045 D mm (GLC70Z/75Z).
  • Grenadier® Cylinder Storage Lock-Up Cages — two depths, 1095 mm and 1715 mm, in fixed or pallet-based form.
  • Cylinder Pallet Cage — 1200 × 1050 × 995 mm overall (GCP03Z).

We would rather send you the manufacturer's dimensioned drawing than quote you a bottle count for a size we have not measured. Tell us the bottle and the quantity and we will send the drawing with the answer marked on it.

Single and small gas bottle cages

If you hold two or three bottles rather than twenty, the honest answer is the smallest knock-down cage in the range — GLC50Z or GLC55Z at 1007 W × 1070 D mm, which is a compact footprint for a compound corner or a yard boundary. It carries the same 25 × 25 mm mesh, galvanised roof and locking facility as the larger sizes, and it bolts together from flat-packed panels, so it goes through a standard gateway and up a service road without a crane.

The genuine advantage of the knock-down format at this size is that it is expandable: the panels bolt together, so a cage bought for three bottles can be extended with additional panels when the holding grows, rather than replaced. If you expect the cylinder count to rise, that is the format to buy.

Gas cages with shelves

Shelving is the detail buyers ask about most often and find hardest to compare, because it changes what the cage is for. The Grenadier® Gas Cylinder Carriers are the shelved format in this range, with a usable distance between shelves of 720 mm within an internal width and depth of 1560 × 840 mm, sides, ends and top infilled with metal strip on an angle-iron frame and a base of inverted angle.

The rule of thumb is straightforward. Shelves suit smaller bottles held in numbers — two working levels roughly double the holding within the same floor area, and 720 mm of clear height is generous for patio and 19 kg formats. Full-height, unshelved cages suit tall bottles — a 47 kg propane bottle wants the full internal height and gains nothing from a shelf it cannot stand under. Buying a shelved cage for tall bottles simply removes half the usable volume.

Carriers come static (GCC02Z painted, GCC12G galvanised) or mobile with a push handle at one end (GCC01N painted, GCC11G galvanised) — the mobile version is the one to choose if bottles are drawn from a central store to points of use rather than used where they stand.

Gas bottle storage outside — what changes when the gas storage cage lives in the yard

Outdoors is where guidance wants LPG, and it is where most of these cages live. Three things change when the cage goes outside, and only one of them is the finish.

Finish. Galvanised over painted, without much argument, for anything permanently outdoors. Every Grenadier® format in the range is available both ways, and the price step is real but small against the life of the cage. Our galvanised vs powder-coated steel guide sets out where each finish earns its keep.

A roof. The knock-down and folding cylinder cages carry a galvanised roof as standard, which is there less for the steel than for what sits on top of the bottle — valves, regulators and hoses that do not benefit from standing water. Where a cage has no roof, expect to inspect valve gear more often.

What the cage stands on. This is the decision people skip. The knock-down gas cylinder cages come in two forms: with a floor grid panel (GLC55Z, GLC65Z, GLC75Z) and without (GLC50Z, GLC60Z, GLC70Z). On concrete hardstanding you do not need the grid. On compacted ground, gravel, hoggin or a yard that has never been laid properly, you do — otherwise the bottles sit on a surface that moves, and a bottle that is not standing level is not restrained the way the chain assumes it is. Where the cage is fixed permanently, the lock-up cages have bases drilled for fixing points so the unit can be bolted down; fixings are not supplied.

One honest corollary on the pallet-based models: a cage on a pallet base can be lifted and repositioned by anyone with a forklift, which is exactly what makes it convenient and exactly why it belongs inside a secured boundary rather than on an open frontage.

Mesh aperture — 25 mm or 50 mm

The range is built in two apertures and the choice is deliberate. The Knock Down Gas Cylinder Cages use robust 25 × 25 mm mesh panels that bolt together into a rigid frame. The folding cylinder cages (GLC20Z/25Z/30Z/35Z) use 50 × 50 mm panels with a galvanised roof.

The practical difference is reach. A 50 mm aperture will pass a hand; a 25 mm one will not. So the aperture should follow where the cage stands rather than what is in it: against a public boundary, on a shared site, or anywhere contractors come and go, the 25 mm panels are worth the difference. Inside an already-secured compound where the cage is there to keep bottles restrained and signed rather than to defeat anyone, 50 mm is perfectly reasonable and lighter to handle.

The formats in the range

Knock-down gas cages

Delivered flat and bolted together on site — the format to choose when the cage has to get through a doorway, gateway or service lift before it can be built. Hasp-and-staple locking facility (padlock not supplied), galvanised roof, and expandable with additional panels. GLC55Z, GLC65Z and GLC75Z add a floor grid panel. See the full range at knock-down gas cylinder cages.

Lock-up cylinder cages

Angle iron infilled with tough iron mesh, cylinders held by a retaining chain, in 1095 mm and 1715 mm depths. Available as permanently fixed units with a drilled base (CS501Z, CS502Z painted; CS511G, CS512G galvanised) or with a pallet base for forklift repositioning (CP601Z, CP602Z painted; CP611G, CP612G galvanised). Browse the lock-up cylinder cages.

Mobile and static cylinder carriers

The shelved format described above — hinged lockable doors, "Highly Flammable" sign fitted, up to 16 Calor-gas-type bottles, static or with a push handle.

Cylinder pallet cages

Fully welded with supporting sides and central sections, a non-slip steel floor to make loading and unloading safer, and a retaining chain or strap for transit. GCP01Z and GCP02Z suit movement by pallet truck with a width across forks of 680 mm; GCP03Z (1200 × 1050 × 995 mm) is forklift only. This is the format for moving bottles between depots or across a large site rather than for static storage.

Fire-rated gas cylinder stores

For higher-risk holdings, walk-in gas cylinder stores built from 90-minute fire-resistant panels to DIN 4102 and EN 13501, with lockable doors and service and maintenance support available direct from the manufacturer. Suitable for all gas types, in mesh-door (GCSM12, GCSM24, GCSM24W, GCSM48) and fire-rated-door (GCSF12, GCSF24, GCSF24W, GCSF48) configurations from 12 to 48 doors. The double-width stores also take gas cylinder pallets, so palletised deliveries go straight in without decanting.

What a gas cylinder cage costs

Prices move, so treat these as bands rather than quotes — current pricing is on each product page, in GBP, including VAT where shown.

  • Knock-down gas cages — the entry point to the range, from around £1,266 for the smallest painted unit up to roughly £3,173 for the largest with a floor grid panel.
  • Folding cylinder cages — roughly £1,779 to £2,607 depending on finish and whether a pallet base is fitted.
  • Cylinder carriers (shelved) — around £1,827 static painted to £2,648 mobile galvanised.
  • Lock-up cages — approximately £2,235 for the shallow painted fixed unit to £4,569 for the deep galvanised pallet-based unit.
  • Cylinder pallet cage — around £1,737 for GCP03Z.
  • Fire-rated cylinder stores — a different order of product, from roughly £6,023 for a 12-mesh-door store to £16,762 for a 48-door fire-rated configuration.

The two things that move the price most are finish (galvanised carries a consistent premium over painted) and base (a pallet base adds cost and adds mobility). Neither is worth economising on if the cage is going outdoors or is likely to be moved.

Buying versus hiring

We supply gas cages for purchase; we do not hire them, and we will say so rather than take an order that would be better served elsewhere. Hire genuinely makes sense for a defined short-term project — a construction phase, a temporary compound, a site that closes in months. For any permanent holding, purchase is the straightforward answer: these are galvanised steel enclosures with no moving parts beyond a hinge, and the payback against a hire rate is short.

Delivery — the thing that catches people out

Every cage in this range other than the smallest is offloaded by forklift, and the manufacturer's data says so on each model. Have a forklift available on the day. If you do not have one on site, tell us before you order and we will work out the route in — that conversation is much easier before the vehicle is booked than when it is on your gate. Knock-down cages are the exception worth knowing about: they arrive as flat panels, which is precisely why they exist.

Choosing, in short

  • Count what you hold at peak — and count empties. An empty bottle is not an empty container; it holds residual gas at pressure and is stored and restrained exactly like a full one.
  • Segregate — flammable gases away from oxidising gases. If you hold both, that usually means two cages rather than one large one.
  • Fixed or mobile — bolt-down for a permanent compound; pallet-based or a pallet cage where bottles move with the work.
  • Access route first — knock-down if the cage has to pass through a door, gate or lift; welded if it can be craned or driven into position.
  • Galvanised outdoors, painted indoors or under cover.

Storing chemicals and flammable liquids alongside your gas? See our COSHH cabinets and wider hazardous storage range, and our guide to flammable storage cabinets vs COSHH cabinets. For general-purpose security and mesh cages, see storage cages and the storage cages buying guide. For a deeper walk through the cage formats, read choosing a propane and gas cylinder cage.

All prices in GBP. Not sure which cage suits your bottle size and holding? Get in touch — we are engineers, and we will give you a straight answer, or the drawing that answers it.

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