Getting gas installed - how much and is it worth it?

Luis

I am looking at buying a house, only a tiny one - loung and kitchen downstairs, bedroom and bathroom upstairs, quite open plan.

At the moment it is heated by storage heaters (whole house can't be more than 5 - 10 years old). I have never had storage heaters before, so know nothing about their efficiency etc, but have read a few threads on here with people complaining that they are freezing because their SHs are poor.

The property is not connected to gas, so to get gas installed - how much would that be? How do I go about it? Is it really worth it, asthe house is so small, surely a small convector heather would be able to top up any shortfall?

However, if gas is not that epensive to get connected, I may go ahead anyway, as I prefer gas to cook on.

Please help - all advice welcome!

adr0ck

unless your planning on staying for about 15-20 years the cost of getting gas installed wont be worth it (do any of your neighbours have gas? i.e. can you get gas on the mains in your area? seems funny that a house built 5 - 10 years ago did not have gas installed).

calleyw

About 7 years ago I had gas installed in to my ground floor flat as we had gas in the street it cost me £120 to have the pipe fitted and the meter.

And another £3k to have a combi boiler and 3 rads fitted. But we had no other heating and where going to be staying which we did until march this year.


Yours

Calley

ffym

I believe that to be "eligible" for a mains gas supply your property must be within 23 meters of a "suitable" gas main. Then there is a standard connection charge of about £430 (not sure if it depends which area you are in).
If you are more than 23 meters away then tough! :mad: Chances are they won't want to know, typical stunt is to ask for 6 properties to sign up to make it feasible to run the supply. They can charge what they like for this. This all depends on whether you have a "suitable" main within a few hundred yards. To check you need to speak to National Grid Gas (Fulcrum Connections) or your recently sold off Gas Carrier (Not British Gas or similar supplier).

monkeyspanner

Try this link which gives you a starting point for new domestic connections. http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Gas/Connections/dcandsi/new/

There is a pdf document on this site which indicate a charge of around £500 including excavation and up to 20meters of pipework on land belonging to the property. It will depend largely on where the nearest main is and how far the new pipework has to go. You may be able to reduce the cost by arranging the excavation work separately. Your best bet is to ask around to see if neighbours have a supply. Transco should be able to tell you where the main is I have had plans from them in the past.

Fraserca

I paid £360 to get gas installed into my house in August. The main is in the street outside but were are back from the road a bit.

Took 3 weeks from the time of ordering. Two men spent an hour surveying it the day before and most of the next day digging holes and using a magic machine that driiled through the ground between the three holes. About 20 metres in all. Another team came along a few days later and tarmaced the road that had been dug up.

A free gas meter was installed by the supplier the day after the gas main was fitted - that was a Saturday and the fitter apologised for being an hour late.

Best deal I got doing up the house. If you have a gas main nearby they will come out a quote for free.

This was unlike the deal with a local builder about the same time who charged £425 for two clowns knocking down a wall and putting in an RSJ. I'm 53, they were half my age and could have done it in 2 hours but they were determined to make it last the whole day...

ajbaker

I am surprised by the completely different answers you have received here. Personally I thought having gas installed would be a fairly even cost across the country - so long as, of course, you are near a gas main.

In my postcode (RG20) I have paid £230 to have the gas and meter installed. Very reasonable I think given the amount of worked carried out - as described on previous post.

Obviously the full central heating cost will be a lot higher. To have it installed in this area, with 6 rads and combi, would have cost me around £4k. I have just completed the rads myself; the cost of boiler and fixing around £2-2.5k.

As for whether it is worth it? Gas is getting expensive, but still a lot more reasonable than storage heaters. To recoup the cost of installation you will have to be there a long time; however think about the increase in house value after fitting and your own comfort. Consider these and I think it worth it if you only stay a couple of years.

However if money is not too tight, you could consider alternate energies instead - wood stoves, solar power, wind power, ungerground etc. etc. They are all more expensive, but a lot more ecoficient, and I think tremdous selling points for the future.

Food for thought.