[Closed] Domestic LPG- anyone have it?

I've got it, no real difference to Oil... maybe a little cheaper to run (though that could be the house) and more flexible to buy the gas, but pretty much the same. The only difficulty I've found is getting plumbers to service the thing. There's only 2 or three in the local area (Bristol).

Are you coming from oil or an urban piped gas supply? If the former you won't notice a lot of difference. If the latter get ready for a fairly significant jump in running costs. Roughly twice as much I'd say and also the (minor) faff of arranging for deliveries etc. Also, in comparison to piped gas where you get to pay a consistent direct debit a month, you need to factor in covering a big bill at fill up time. If it is a big tank that might be £1000+.

Choose your supplier with care. In the long cold snap the winter before last they allowed my mother to run out despite the tank having a remote monitor, her being a "protected customer" (old/frail/ill) and us ringing up every day after she had dropped below 15%. They could not have given less of a toss (MacGas).

We're coming from a piped gas 3 bed semi to a 4/5 bed detached, so I'm expecting a bit of an increase!

I don't think it's a very large tank, and the current vendors (retired) fill it twice a year IIRC.

To be honest I don't think any of of the houses we've looked at have been on piped gas, we're looking at small villages so I guess that's just one of the costs involved.

So overall it's comparable to oil cost wise.

The house has a log burner too which should help with heating costs providing I can liberate some wood. Also gains me some STW points I believe?!

look here for running costs

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Energy-Saving-Trust/Our-calculations

oil is cheaper than LPG though unlike what others have said, but they are right in that it is roughly double the cost of Nat Gas.

LPG is generally more expensive than oil (approx 7.5p per kWh where as oil is about 6p) and you usually have to pay ground rental on the tank

The house has a log burner too which should help with heating costs providing I can liberate some wood. Also gains me some STW points I believe?!

Our stove does make quite a difference to our overall running costs. Firstly because although I tend to pay for wood, it still works out quite cheap but secondly (and I think more importantly) it changes the family mindset to heat. The idea that the whole house does not need to be heated constantly and you retreat to a 'warm heart' in winter is both a good thing economically and socially for family life.

We moved from a 3 bed semi on mains gas to a 4 bed detached on LPG. We moved in November and had to fill the tank immediately, and have filed it twice since (currently around 80% full).

The main things to look for are the age of the boiler and it's efficiency, overall insulation and also any gaps in doors/windows etc rather than worry about it being LPG.

We also have to pay an annual charge of about £100 for 'renting' the LPG tank.

We currently use Avantigas and they deliver within 5 working days of order. They also offer a 'top up' service, which they can just turn up and fill your tank up 'when they are in the area', but your gas tank has to be in an easily accessible place to do that.

One of our close neighbours has LPG. Its bloody expensive. The others have oil - also expensive, but slightly less so than LPG.

Given the house size increase and town gas -> LPG, I'd expect your heating bill to double or triple.

That's something to consider before we put an offer in.

It's an A rated boiler, nothing was mentioned about renting the tank.

How much would it cost to go to oil?

I had bottled LPG once - eye wateringly expensive. Getting connected to the mains gas was a lesson in how incompetent one organisation could be but worth it in the end.

By the time you have purchased a boiler and an oil tank I bet you wouldn't have much change out of £2000, then you have installation on top!

We are looking at changing ours and using some of the renewable heat incentive schemes for things like biomass and ground source systems. The numbers are frigtening, but you can get back significant grants to offset the cost.

We had a 'ballpark figure' of between £8k and £15k for a wood pellet biomass boiler. The cheapest being a manual feed system, the most expensive being a autofeed system with deliveries of pellets via a tanker and 'blown' into the pellet store.

Ground source was even more!

2 of my neighbours are lpg , 6 inc me are oil .

They went lpg as calor offered free boiler and tank install - although technically neighbours dont own either , they rent.

They are very vocal about how wish they had stayed with oil , they reckon they not only use more lpg than they did oil , but since they installed the price has steadily risen .

Where oil is seasonal.

I can go pay 50p a litre inc vat right now to fill the tank....

Lpg is 43 ( but its lower kw/l)

The house i rented with lpg ( having been oil) was astronomic to heat ... It was a newly built to current insulation regs shoe box it should have been cheap !!

Oh and oil tank plus boiler - more like 3 grand plus fitting.

I fitted a new boiler last year for a 3 bed semi with 2 bathrooms - a combi boiler with the correct hot water flow was 1900 quid.

[i]How much would it cost to go to oil?

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Also, pay no attention to the cost of LPG/Oil that anyone quotes you on here; the cost to buy is entirely governed by where you live (ie the number of suppliers who actually deliver) and the price on THAT day.

We're on oil and only have 2 suppliers who'll deliver. When we are down to 200l I ring up both for a 1000l delivery/cost - cheapest wins.

Its not as simple as doing that with lpg. Br.

Bulk domestic lpg tanks are owned by the supplier so you need to transfer the tank to the new supplier if they will accept it.....they dont always - esp if its an older tank.

Had LPG for ages...

Paid on direct debit/budget etc was filled up once a month in the winter and every six weeks in the summer - Calor Gas.
More expensive per unit than anything alternative.
The supplier owns the kit although they have to sell it to a new suplier at a market value if you change over. This does not affect you it is similar to the standing charge you pay for mains gas.
Check out the age of the tanks and their location: They must be around 4M away from the property and the delivery driver must be able to have line of sight between truck and tanks when filling up. The tanks have a 20yr life span but the rules have changed in the last 10yrs (?) so some older tanks due for replacement will not necessarily be located in the same place.

Thanks for all the views guys.

Some more unsavoury information came to light about the property today so looks like we'll not be making an offer on this one.

It's a shame as it was in a nice village and had a really good feeling about it.

Why is it so hard to find the right house!?

We have bottled LPG. The very cold 2012/2013 winter cost me £500 a month in gas.

It would have been cheaper to set fire to ten pound notes...,

We had it in a cottage we rented .It is bloody pricey. You have to contract to take gas from one supplier for a minimum period of 2 years.
We were stuck with BP. At the end they were trying to charge us 65p a litre when shell/calor etc were less than 40p.