The Great ‘Home Heating’ Hunt: Do you know cheaper ways for LPG and oil

Farzackerly

savingsdownload wrote: »

hi everyone, using the link below you can download an ebook for free which explains how to convert your car to run on water. Yes, that's right on water. Although it is a little bit different to the topic of this post but this is very useful besides it is free.

http://rapidshare.com/files/135593930/Water4Gas_-_Run_your_car_on_water_-_fuel_from_water.zip

Oh go away, you idiot.

Farzackerly

IanHomewood wrote: »

I'm not going to get into an argument over this, but I would encourage people to try the magnetic devices from Ecoflow. If you buy from a registered distributor you are given a 100% 90 day money back guarantee, to give you time to try the device for yourself. Some distributors are so confident about the products they give a 12 month guarantee.

I have fitted these products to my car, gas boiler and water supply. Since fitting I have seen the following improvements:

Car: Average distance possible on a full tank has risen from 540 miles to over 600. This is a diesel, the savings are less with petrol.

Boiler: Just after I fitted the device I started working from home. Our winter useage increased and so did fuel costs, but our fuel bills came down.

Water: Prior to fitting, we used to get a greenish scale on our kettle and shower head. Since fitting, the kettle has descaled itself and the shower head has only needed cleaning once in 2 years, instead of about every 2-3 months.

I know none of these are scientific tests, but they are real world experience. As far as I can remember, the problems which Ecoflow had with the trading standards were not that the devices didn't do what was claimed, simply that Ecoflow were not qualified to make the claims. They now rely on unsolicited testimonials. I do know that 1) a number of industrial installations have been made and proven effective, 2) the company have been around a long time and, with a money back guarantee on all their magnetic products, they wouldn't have lasted so long if the products were not effective 3) the NHS uses magnetic bandages to help in the treatment of injuries and 4) many professional stables use the Ecoflow magnets in treatment of things like laminitis. There is no placebo effect in animals, so if they get better it is not just the power of the mind.

The trouble with magnets is that there are a lot of rubbish products around, but keep an open mind.

Ian

I'm going to state this quite baldly - YOU ARE A LIAR.

EddyB

fizzmo wrote: »

Two years ago we found a cheaper supplier than Calor for our LPG. When the representative came round to discus the change he said that not only do you have to have a new tank when you change suppliers, but that our existing tank would not comply with new regulations and the shrubbery which surrounds it to hide it from the house would have to be removed! We stayed with Calor as we did not want the disruption.

Fizzmo, it seems you missed my post above where I advise that come Spring 2008 we LPG users should be able to arrange with a more competitive company for that company to buy the LPG tank off Calor and then fill it for us. By this method apparently the new regulations regarding the location of the tank will not apply. I have a tank in a now-unacceptable position, but by way of the above method, I expect to be able to change supply without having to change tank or its location.

What we really need to be able to do though is: buy the tank of whatever LPG company owns it, so that the tank becomes ours, and then, like oil users, we could shop around and make the LPG companies compete to fill our tanks! Also, like oil users, we could form cooperatives.

How do we get the government to organise things so that we get the right to buy our tanks, and at a reasonable sum? Any ideas?

EddyB

EddyB

LPG users!

Please write to the Competition Commission and seek to persuade them to allow us to buy our own tanks from the LPG companies and at a very reasonable price so that when our tanks need filling we can shop around for the best refill! Owning our own tanks will also allow us to set up LPG cooperatives in our areas, just as oil-users are doing.

The address to write to is:
LPG@competition-commission.gsi.gov.uk

If lots of people write very reasonable, respectful, and carefully-worded emails, then we could have success on this point.

Do it. Think of the money we will save. Think of the pleasure to be derived from ringing Calor, then X, then Y, then Z, telling each what the other has quoted and inviting them to come up with a lower price. They will and we will benefit. Competition is FAIR.

EddyB.

EddyB

Farzackerly wrote: »

I'm going to state this quite baldly - YOU ARE A LIAR.

Calling him a "LIAR" is pretty frank, but I suspect you are correct. I have had contact with the man who runs the company. He is very articulate and he sounds absolutely reasonable AND he refuses to give contact details for ANY of those people whom he claims have given him the glowing testimonials. He even sent me a "document" from pottery in Staffordshire detailing the savings they made using his gadget, but again he refused to name the pottery. When asked to point to any scientific or credible source of validation, he can't and doesn't.

If this magnet did what he says don't you think the government would be advising every little old lady and every little old man in the country to have them fitted before the winter comes on?

So, I guess as brutal as it sounds, "LIAR" is pretty apt a description!

EddyB.

Farzackerly

EddyB wrote: »

Calling him a "LIAR" is pretty frank, but I suspect you are correct. .

Oh aye; it's a fairly common tactic amongst these con-artists to pop up with sock-puppets claiming they work. Nothing new here, then.

tonyabacus

See Hillbilly 5 on the first page.
Rather than repeat everything we do the same as Hillbilly in our village and it works. We have been doing it for about two years and I too just get the price and set up the deal, the company I then chose contacts each person for their payments details and then delivers the oil.

As part of the ring round I am also linked to Boilerjuice.com but have to say that we always beat their prices by going direct.

The fact that we live in a village should not stop anyone from setting up a scheme. We did it on the back of Neighbourhood Watch, where we set up a local internet ring round, to pass on details of crime in our area. By using the same little network I get contacted and put the order together and then call the half dozen local companies set up on my computer. This could work anywhere if people just set up a small contact system.

Like Hillbilly5 the only benefit I get is being able to lump my order in with others and save myself a chunk of money. Think of this for every 1000 litres with a 1p saving, that's £10, if I am ordering 1500 litres three times a year that save me £45.

On average we have been saving between 2 and 4p per litre which at best is £180, pays for my boiler servicing every year, which reminds me, I was going to talk to the service guy about a reduced scheme if we put all our servicing with them!!

jaydax

Middlers wrote: »

Every year I forget to check the oil and then incur the wrath of she who must be obeyed as we have to survive a few days without heating. I know I can have regulated deliveries and devices which warn etc but wouldn't it be good if we could just pop down the local shop and buy a few litres to tide us over until the delivery arrives?

Get yourself a length of timber 2 x 3 inches in section. Lift the end of the 'empty' oil tank opposite the outlet and slide the 2 by 3 under it to hold it at a slight angle. This is a two person job if you want to avoid crushed fingers! Tilting the tank slightly will make available at least a day's worth of extra oil. Of course you must remember to remove the 2 x 3 before filling the tank. Again - it's a two person job if you want to do it safely.

Gigervamp

It's all very well and good to say to ring around different oil companies to get the cheapest price, but there's no way we could afford to pay out over £700 in one go to get our tank filled up.
We're currently paying £75 a month by direct debit and we're still in debt from our last tank fill up back in February!

rrockettman

Re lpg prices, It is definitely worth haggling, we are with countrywide and on the last few occasions I have rung around other companies with a view to changing the tank to theirs and then gone back to countrywide. On each occasion so far they have reduced the price. They have also tried to charge me for using a credit card, and after a few phonecalls and a letter they backed down. Thanks to Eddyb for the link to the competition commision, I've sent mine off already!