Plumbing gas into a property

ema_o

We are moving into a place:beer: that has never had gas and I'm not sure exactly what to do in what order.

We have spoken to British Gas who told us it'll be about 6 weeks before they can connect us (we had contacted them before but due to not owning the property they were unable to give us a quote :mad: so now we have to wait 3-4 weeks for a quote then a couple of weeks for availability!!)

Do we need to speak to a heating engineer before we arrange to have the gas plumbed in. I have a feeling that would be the best place to start.
Also is there anyone other than British Gas who could plumb the gas in for us?

Luckily we have electric heaters and a coal fire, but I have a feeling electric will cost more and be more inconvenient (economy 7).

Would appreciate any feedback!
Thanks
Em

BB1984

I'm about to move into a place and install a new gas supply, too.

I didn't know British Gas even did that - my understanding was that the actual physical gas pipes were owned by Transco etc. My area is actually covered by Southern Gas Networks. Try looking on the Transco website?

I contacted SGN via an online form, before we'd even exchanged on the house. I got a phone call from them about 2 weeks later, a nice chap called Terry, who went round to the house the very next day (the house wasn't occupied). I then got a full quote 2 days later, so I now just have to send back a form with a cheque, and they'll get on with it in due course.

They did say that it will prob be a few weeks before they can actually do it though...so hopefully the weather won't be TOO cold too quickly!

HTH a little...

ema_o

Ah, glad to know I'm not on my own, your timescale doesn't sound too bad - hope the weather is okay for both of our sakes!!
It was my OH who called them so I may have got the wrong end of the stick! Had a look at Transco (now national grid I think) and have an application form so will send that off if OH hasn't already done that!!

Pssst

Bear in mind that if you apply to your gas transporter for a gas service (i.e national grid) then that is exactly what you will get i.e a gas service,terminated/capped with no meter. You will then have to apply to a gas shipper i.e BG etc for a supply i.e a meter.

If OTOH you apply to a gas supplier eg BG etc for a gas supply,they deal with the transporter eg Nat Grid to instal the service and BG then arrange meter fix and you become BGs customer. Do you know if there is a gas main in the vicinity i.e do neighbours have gas ??

Bungarm2001

We did this recently and used National Grid who quoted us £268. We did previously apply for a quote from Fulcrum, who we have used before, but they came up with a ridiculous amount in excess of £2,000 :eek: Obviously, the price quoted will be infinitely variable according to the distance to your property from the mains in the street.

NG cover most of the middle of the UK Check on HERE which postcodes they cover.

National Grid will expect to see a gas meter box already installed, but will install themselves at the same time as installing the pipeline if paid for up front. You get the choice whether to on the application form, together with a sheet of illustrations of various meter boxes. We paid for the meter box, but we dug the trench ready for them to lay the pipe (saved a few quid!)

Once we had the quote, (about 2 weeks later) and a date for connecting (about 3 weeks after that IIRC) we contacted a supplier, in this case it was Atlantic, simply because it was soooo much easier dealing with their customer services. Because I gave them so much notice, they were able to fit the meter itself the day after the pipe was laid. We then arranged for the corgi guy to come over and connect up the boiler etc etc.

Forgot to say, somewhere along in the process, you need a meter point reference number, which if I recall, you can get from United Utilities, but the nice man at National Grid will put you right on that one, they are very helpful.

Hope that helps a bit. It's a pretty trauma free process if you remember that it takes time if only because of the sheer amount of people who are involved!

mrafi

I have just got a quote from Fulcrum for getting Gas into a property I have just purchased. They've come back with a quote of £19,950.

I wrote back asking them if it was a typo (decimal point in the wrong place) they quickly wrote back to tell me that it was correct.

Is this normal...? Can I do anything or will I have to live with Electric heating ?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreaciated.

Thanks

MX5huggy

How far has the gas got to go to get to your house? over what sort of ground, roads gras etc?

irnbru_2

mrafi wrote: »

Any help/advice would be greatly appreaciated.

Any of the neighbours have gas?

I got quoted £10K for a 55m connection.

mikeopvc

We had gas installed into our property when we moved in just over a year ago, it cost under £600 and the work was carried out by both wales & west utilities and british gas.
Between them they did a great job and it only took a few days from start to finish (on site)

EliteHeat

ema_o wrote: »

We are moving into a place:beer: that has never had gas and I'm not sure exactly what to do in what order.

We have spoken to British Gas who told us it'll be about 6 weeks before they can connect us (we had contacted them before but due to not owning the property they were unable to give us a quote :mad: so now we have to wait 3-4 weeks for a quote then a couple of weeks for availability!!)

Do we need to speak to a heating engineer before we arrange to have the gas plumbed in. I have a feeling that would be the best place to start.
Also is there anyone other than British Gas who could plumb the gas in for us?

Luckily we have electric heaters and a coal fire, but I have a feeling electric will cost more and be more inconvenient (economy 7).

Would appreciate any feedback!
Thanks
Em

There is no reason why the central heating system cannot be installed prior to the gas supply. The fitters can then just come back to pipe in the gas, connect up and commission.

mrafi

It has got to come from a mains supply that is across a road around 60 meters. Sadly this is the only house in the immediate locality. The other houses are all across the road.