Calor Gas not mains

hermoine_2

Hi there

We viewed a property to rent today and it is lovely but has no mains gas.

The current tenants say that the calor gas works out at about £60 per month in the winter - it is a 4 bed bungalow. It would be less in the summer but they seemed to have a lot of electric heaters around so I am thinking that maybe the calor gas is not very efficient.

Does anyone here have experience of this type of heating? I presume that the hot water would also run off this and they have under floor heating in the bathroom.

Thank you for help..
H

chris_m

The efficiency depends on the appliances, not the gas source - there ain't much difference between Calor and mains-fed North Sea gas.
However, Calor will be more expensive because the stuff has to be delivered.

My parents had it (not Calor, but whoever the local supplier was) when they were living in France (very rural location, no mains gas for miles) and it certainly wasn't inefficient but I don't know how it costed out overall.
I do know they got a reasonable discount from the supplier because he used to check the tank every time he was passing and top it up if needed, which saved him coming out especially if it got low and Dad had to place a full order.

G_M

Does the gas come from a tank in the garden and supply a central heating boiler, or is it those small cannisters supplying individual heaters?

If the former, it should be as efficient as any ch system so I'd guess they find it so expensive they use electric instead.

Eitherway, calor gas is a lot more expensive than mains gas. You also get tied in to the company who supply the tank so cannot 'shop around' (unlike, say, domestic oil)

Ask to see 12 months of actual bills - electric AND gas.

tbs624

Have you been shown an Energy Performance cert for this property?

What sort of boiler does the property have and did you notice how many rads there were? LPG run systems do tend to cost more than those running on nat gas, but are cheaper than the alternative oil run systems if you are out in the sticks.

Is the property well insulated?

Rather than presume about the hot water why not *ask*?

Is the property connected to mains sewerage btw , because you may incur cess/septic tank costs if not.

G_M

tbs624 wrote: »

......
Is the property connected to mains sewerage btw , because you may incur cess/septic tank costs if not.

Yes, but you save on water company charges.

Mayflower10cat

We also have no mains gas in our village - actually none of the villages do round here. In our lane of approx 20 homes, all bar one, has oil fired heating. Just the one cottage about the same size as ours. This does tend to provoke the question - why haven't more homes round here got calor rather than oil? The house has two large tanks almost in the front garden. We have one fairly small, discreet oil tank. The reason I mention this is - the big noisy calor tanker seems to turn up to refill the tanks about every four weeks! We have used a tank of oil since July. Maybe he likes his house hotter than ours?? If everyone in the lane had LPG the tanker would be blocking up the lane every few days! I've had friends who had LPG for their heating/cooking in a large 4 bed bungalow - they reckoned (and this was years ago) it was 'expensive'. Oh and another family here has oil for heating and calor just for the hob and one feature gas fireplace. They regard this as a 'luxury' but I don't know them well enough to baldly ask about costs. Please, do double check the calor & electricity bills for this property & compare them with your current bills (and ask close friends and family too).

flora48

Bottled gas does not seem any less efficient than piped gas in our holiday home, I cannot cook rice without burning it over there!!! LOL

hermoine_2

thanks for the replies. It is not easy to ask the current tenants questions as they are not really under any obligation to give us information. If they were selling then they would obviously be keen to give us information but as they are just tenants they are not keen to give us personal information about costs.

They did admit that it is expensive and they have electric fires around to heat up the property quickly. The letting agent is more of an introduction agency rather than a formal letting agency, this is better in some ways as no endless visits to check on us and no third party we can just contact the landlord.

The landlord does not seem to know about the costing of the calor gas.
H

tbs624

hermoine wrote: »

The landlord does not seem to know about the costing of the calor gas.
H

.........but he *will* know about the insulation, type of boiler and so on and he *should* have an EPC for the property which he is legally obliged to show you.

tbs624

G_M wrote: »

Yes, but you save on water company charges.

yes,you do but the difference is that you can easily check what main water/sewerage rates will be when working out whether you can afford a particular property How often a cess might need emptying is obviously more of a variable item.......

rosyw

hermoine wrote: »

Hi there

We viewed a property to rent today and it is lovely but has no mains gas.

The current tenants say that the calor gas works out at about £60 per month in the winter - it is a 4 bed bungalow.
H

I've recently moved into a 3 bed chalet bungalow with calor/lpg heating. It's just as efficient but the cost of running it is much higher than mains gas. If, like me, you're home in the day then the £60 per month will be more like £60 per week! My bungalow has cavity wall and underfloor insulation and is fully double glazed, and according to the EPC is very energy efficient, but even the guys that deliver the gas admit it is expensive. I shall be having mains gas connected in the spring/summer and have been told it will work out about 50% cheaper to run. Also if you have bottled gas it's a right pain in the backside remembering to keep checking when you need to order more.