Reply With Quote42p/l is a reasonable price but LPG is more expensive than mains gas. We use over £2k a year with one boiler but that’s split 70/30 winter/summer.
Hi All,
We recently moved out the country and the house we bought is on LPG gas which powers 2 x boilers for the under floor heating and the water. I am new to LPG but it seems that we seem use a crazy amount of gas and it is costing a fortune! In 6 weeks we have used 1950 litres at a cost of 42p per litre (so about £850 ish in total). I know its been cold so the heating has been on constantly but that just seem ridiculous..............
Anyone else have experience of LPG and any thoughts on if this seems normal or high? We are using Countrywide by the way.
Cheers!
42p/l is a reasonable price but LPG is more expensive than mains gas. We use over £2k a year with one boiler but that’s split 70/30 winter/summer.
Yep, we have LPG and underfloor heating, was a real shock when we first moved in but managed to reduce it by replacing the boiler and only have heating on timed. We pay about £1200 per year, currently using Calor. Having underfloor heating on all the time cost us a fortune for little discernable benefit.
We had LPG at our last property which was a modern barn conversion and very well insulated so our costs were not much more than mains gas in the previous house. I suspect the underfloor heating is the culprit as it's well known to cost a fortune to run. Boiler could be old and inefficient too.Originally Posted by JimH
I live in a modest 3 bed bungalow, and being retired the heating is on all day.
I’m on oil and my annual usage is give or take 1500 litres at around £600. I have a 2000 litre tank and fill it once a year.
A neighbour with a similar size bungalow on LPG is using 2500 litres per year at a cost of over £1k pa.
My advice would be look into oil, get the biggest tank you can as this allows you to buy when prices are lower.
Up to 2017 i was in a 3 bed bungalow for the previous 10 years. My wife and i topped up once a year 1000 litres. This was with out a doubt the cheapest heating. I ensured that we were filling in the summer so no panics over running out and cheaper. We joined boilerjuice an online supply group and always phoned round to check prices each year as well.
This was running a Worcester Bosch combi boiler that i fitted as originally we were on LPG which was stupid expensive and oddly enough did not heat the house so well.
We left the water on 24 /7/365 so we always had hot water regardless of the time of day as i worked shifts. The heating was on for an hour in the mornings and five in the evenings in colder weather when we were working and obviously more when we were about.
I understand my boiler has now been superseded by condensing boilers and they are even better.
For me oil every time.
^^^^ Yes. Mine is a condensing boiler.. next door (mirror image of my bungalow) is still using an old boiler.
We always get our oil together, supplier gives us a small discount as we share a drive so he counts both deliveries as one.
On the last fill, he used 200 litres more than me.
Good advice: I’ve just replaced my gas boiler and the plumber, once finished, said “You should have had an oil boiler fitted, it’s much cheaper!”
Yeah, thanks mate!
I will check out the oil route, not sure how it would work with everything in the house being gas powered though.
I will also speak to the gas company, looking at the replies here we have an extraordinarily high usage and don’t even have a gas cooker.......
Thanks all!
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You say everything is gas powered but it’s probably only a cooker and the central heating/hot water.
For cooking you can switch to electric (induction hobs are very good) or use smaller gas bottles. Central heating/hot water is all from the new boiler. Oil boilers are more expensive initially and you’ll need a new tank but will save the rental cost of the gas tank. Also, the oil is less secure and it’s not uncommon for thieves to steal your oil.
I looked at tank gas many years ago, as that was the predominant fuel in the development I moved to. Luckily I did some calculations and went for oil instead. As mentioned - get as big a tank as possible. But -remember that Oil (crude) is still relatively low, so you could get caught up in future with much higher costs.
I mentioned on your other thread about bottled gas for cooker/hob - that is a reasonable cost to suffer for that convenience/preference.
But - when you say that everything else in the house is ‘gas-fired’ - what is left? Industrial tumble-drier?
Also - be aware in some areas, that oil theft has become an issue.
I never had gas until I moved house some months ago, and new house has calor metered from a central tank in the development. It is mega expensive, and seems to loose heat very quickly when boiler is off.
When the boiler needs replaced I will suck up the cost and install oil boiler and tank. Might keep connected to the central tank for the hob, or go onto bottles.
Conversely i have a couple of rental properties and am considering switching them to gas. However it will be mains gas. Would NEVER go down the LPG route if I had a choice.
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I sense there will be a buy out cost for ditching the gas completely, but there may also be service costs in maintaining it for cooking?
If you are losing heat quickly, then that is down to the house insulation - it would be worth having a serious look at that. A central gas tank would appear to indicate a fairly new build? Insulation should be good.
If installing a new boiler and you have the option - consider putting it in your garage (if built on to house).
I’d never put a boiler in a garage; I’ve read far too many reports of petrol fumes igniting due to a boiler firing up.
Not heard that one, but will explore it.
On the face of it - is it likely that people were decanting petrol in their garage, and spilled - or seriously sloppy 'housekeeping' there?
Nonesense.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
If you say so.
I’ll certainly not be putting my boiler in a garage anytime soon though.
My boilers have been in my garage forever and never had an issue
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Last 3 houses had them in the garage, our building work has placed the replacement boiler in the garage.
During my 31 years in the Fire and Rescue Service i never attended or heard of a case related to your post.
Clearly I gave no idea.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Well maybe I’m wrong. I do know someone that it happened to but that was over twenty years ago; perhaps boiler design has changed since then?
I can see that it would be safe if the air was drawn in from outside and the burners were totally sealed from the inside air. Also, if building regs allow it then it must be safe. I still wouldn’t though, just to be on the safe side.
I'd only echo the comments about oil theft - my brother-in-law had nearly a tankful stolen.
Seems normal to me. When we first moved to Scotland we rented a 4 bed Victorian house on LPG. During the winter is cost £700 pm to heat and I use the word heat lightly, as it was never much above 18c. The house had a good central heating system, new DG windows but obviously next to no insulation.
I feel your pain.
My house (sold in 2013) was fitted with a Worcester Bosch condensing combi adapted for LPG, and was fed by two 47kg propane cylinders on a switchover valve. These were chained to the wall outside. I used to get them from a local welding supplies firm, and they would deliver the next day. So one cylinder would flip the valve when it ran out, so the other one would supply the boiler (electric hob, btw) and you could see it had flipped, and so order a new cylinder, leave a cheque with the old one when you unlock the padlock for the delivery the following day. It worked well.
I looked at Calor when I had all this fitted and basically they will tear you a new one. You rent your tank from them, and are tied to them for supply, and this will hurt. From memory, it would have been roughly double the monthly cost to go with Calor.
Oil always used to be the cheapest heating, I'm not sure that's still the case. Many of my farmer friends have moved over to wood pellets.
There is Flogas too (and others no doubt) so you’re not tied to Calor but they’re all pretty much the same. They do like to charge though and this year the tank rental increased by almost 50%. It’s best to get on their fixed tariff and then play them off against each other at the end of the fix. If you change, the tank ownership just passes from one supplier to the other, there’s no taking the old one out and getting a new one. Perhaps as well as ours is now underground with remote monitoring.
OP, I'm in the same boat. Live on a farm (build in 1892 and renovated in 2004 so fairly modern insulation/glazing, etc.) and have a 2000 litre LPG tank. Don't have the heating on all the time but can easily use the whole tank in a month in winter...
Currently paying 34p/l but it's been as high as 55p in the 13 years I've lived here. Basically, LPG is sodding expensive.
In that job - you tend to get all relevant bulletins regarding any trends, I'm sure.
If there is a flammable mixture in the air in your garage- you are taking a huge risk just switching the lights on/electric door opener etc.....
Oil boilers are very reliable now, running on 28sec oil, and all I had to do was check the fuel filter, clean and gap the electrodes, and clean the baffles/vac out the bottom of the furnace each summer.
Sounds very similar to me, we have a 250 year old converted/extended barn. It does have insulation and double glazing etc but there are a few areas that need some work to get it insulated properly. Makes me feel a little better (only little!) that what I am using isn't completely out of the question. Still scary compared to my last modern/city type house!
If I cap the feed to the boiler and continue to use gas for the hob burners there is no penalty. The company is none the wiser. But the charge for the community tank is something like 75 pounds per year. Not a fortune but still about a nice strap.
The house was but in 2004 and well insulated apart from having sash windows at the front. And it is Georgian style, so 10ft ceilings, lot of dead air to heat.
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Yeah - the £75 isn't too bad, and I reckon if you are only using the gas for the hob - you're looking at a low annual cost.
They're sneaky ba5tards mind - so check that they haven't thought about people changing boilers/fuels - and have some usage caveat?
With regards to boiler placement, I’ve had two integrated garages with condensing boilers in.
First was a triple with 3 cars in (2 of which were classics) and now have a double with a modern and a classic.
Never had an issue ever but common sense needs to prevail, i.e. don’t leave an open can of petrol and if you have an issue with fumes (one of my old cars had a problem with the fuel tank breather) then that car stays outside the garage until it is fixed (which it was the day after I noticed it).
Negotiate hard. Under 30ppl is certainly achievable.
as UK users know only way to get reasonable price per litre is to take out 2 year contract, Calor, previous provider has just offered me, after present contract running out -- 42p per ltre, after going on Calor site and saying I was new user I was offered 34p, Avanti and Flogas 35p, went back to Calor and said I would accept the 34p but was transferred to Plymouth office who offered 37p with no cap on second year, I had been paying 41.5p for my second year of contract with Calor.
Isn't it time government stepped in to stop this 2 year contract rip off, nothing has been done with regs as far as I can see since 2008!!
My point --- If Calor can offer 34p as new customer, 37p as old -- why charge me 41.5 all last year as regular (no choice) good paying customer ?
would be very interested in others views on this over the barrel situation, excuse the pun.
PS would avoid lpg heating like the plague if I had a choice, very expensive compared to oil that we used to have in previous home
We have a 2000l Bulk tank and have 2 boilers, one for hot water and underfloor heating whilst the other services the heating. We had our tank filled yesterday, 2015 litres at 47p per litre. That will last us about a month. We average about 6 refills a year. Its a bill I certainly wasn't expecting when we moved in as Calor estimated about £200 per month, its actually nearer £500pm over the year. After the first year with the automated reorder we had a couple of grand deficit to pay before they would fill the tank again.
How would you go about negotiating discount? I was on the phone for about 2 hours to Calor last year when we had the issue with under payment. They wouldn't budge on price per litre.
i’m amazed that people are spending a more in a month to heat their homes than i spend in a year! (and thats with all electric in a reasonably insulated but not perfect flat)
LPG is never going to be cheap, my mother insisted on a gas cooker/hob when we moved to the sticks but now that’s only running a hob as electric fan ovens are much better now, if it was me i would switch to induction hob also.
they are now on oil which isn’t too bad cost wise and they only use 2 tanks a year for a 3 bed mid war build with no cavity on upper floor. as pensioners they would not be able to afford LPG.
Insulation makes a huge difference.
My brother in law built my bungalow a few years back and the best insulation possible was used.
There is almost no need for heating at all, just a bit to take the chill off and the heat stays trapped.
I've just got off the phone from BDS fuels and they have quoted me 34ppl from Calor who were 47ppl. Over the moon. Switching over is taking place as we speak.
We moved over 12 months ago into the sticks which is LPG. I was braced for the painful cost but we have been pleasantly surprised. We are paying 31p per litre locked for another 12 months (local gas company that are great) We have zonal heating on timers and have great insulation. One boiler and the house is warm all the time. Overall cost around £750 for 12 months only marginally more than mains.
Been living out into a village in countryside over 10 yrs ago. We have quite a large and very old listed farmhouse circa 1650, with a large extension built in 1839. Insulation is therefore far from the best, lots of single glazed windows etc. Although we did replace the roof covering when we moved in, taking the opportunity to properly insulate the roof space. Just glad we are on oil, I had no idea gas was that expensive to run. We do have a large oil tank, but still manage to sometimes buy oil when the price is high (note to self pay attention to the tank level, stupid). I think we spend circa £1000 - £1400 a year on oil plus £600.00 a year on logs for the stove. Plus it's just lovely to sit in front of the 'Clearview' stove, watching the flames.
Often wonder if we should/should have changed to a pellet boiler, but never found the time to investigate it properly.
Hi, curious as to what area you live in, 31p is really good price compared to our 41.5p from Calor North Devon
Hi
Shropshire area, Calor quoted over 40p but we have a large local company that always beats Calor by quite a margin.
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