Calor Gas not mains

dizziblonde

My parents have oil heating and it's been a collossal pain in the rear with their system going kaput repeatedly and last year we had the oil in the pipes freezing at one point. Having said that - their actual delivery system runs without them needing much thought - they're on a monthly direct debit the same as normal utility bills, the tank has a sensor in it that calls the depot if its running low (after one noteable Christmas where my stepfather forgot to check it and we ran incredibly low!) and they tend to just call by and top customers up if the price of oil hits a low point or whatever anyway (it's slightly complicated since only one of their trucks will fit along the access to their house). They're paying something like £90 a month but are about as energy efficient as a paper bag (the front door's open 90% of the time, and they leave lights, radios, TVs on all over the shop... then they email my husband every few months and ask him to find cheaper energy deals - it's called "the off button" mum - but that's another story) and it's a very very old stone-built property (and my mum's like me and can't stand being cold).

In-laws in contrast have Calor Gas - and I've not known their heating let them down yet (compared to my lot where every other phonecall has a "oh and the heating broke again" comment in there).

SD-253

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. 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

I assume you are talking about a tank and not bottles/canisters???? If you have a tank then a tanker comes round and fills it just like oil. I have a feeling you talking about bottled which will cost you a fortune and I mean a fortune. Calor gas is LPG and can be bought from a multitude of sellers. If it does the heating and uses bottled gas inefficently or not (ie the electric fires). Then it will be more than £60 a month for a 4 bedroom house.
This should help you work out which way to go. IF IF you have an option ie another house to rent.
A/ LPG give you 7.11 kw
B/ Oil gives you 10.35 Kw
Therefore Gas has to be 30% less than oil before it is cheaper. BUT This is based on 100% efficiency which clearly isn't possible. I would suggest finding out the actually efficiency of gas and oil boilers first. If they are not the same you would have to adjust the 30% rule.
ALSO With oil you are not tied into a 2 year contract BUT due to the competition authority at the end of the 2 year LPG contract if you change suppliers the previous supplier MUST SELL THE TANK TO THE NEW SUPPLIER at a preset price.

About Economy 7. This is quite a good option to consider I know of few people who use it and consider it to be cheap AND YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE IN ALL DAY. The storage heaters can be set to minimum while you are out which will reduce its output/cost considerably. BUT you need to have separate wiring systems because of the high KW use. AND if the electric goes off for a considerably amount of time during the night you will have no heat at all. A back up is therefore necessary. Mobile gas convector heater for instance. NOTE I have Economy 7 (not for heating) and the cost are roughly 10p a KW during the day and 3p a KW overnight. Therefore 7.11 KW times 3p = 21.33p well below half of the price of LPG with considerably less variation in price. Furthermore 100% efficiency. Electricity used overnight is mainly made up of electricity which would be wasted or put another way has no environmental impact!!

SD-253

tbs624 wrote: »

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

Cesspits have no soakaways and need to be emptied regularly and they are always bigger than septic tanks as the cost of emptying them does not vary with the amount to be emptied unless you fill the tanker (farmers are normally the ones emptying them look at £120 an empty).
Septic tanks never ever need emptying unless you are in love with bleach. All the contents are eaten by bacteria and the remnants (little black specs) go into the ground via another tank called a settling tank and then into soakaways in your garden. Of course you pay no sewage bill with either. I pay £5 a month water bill for 1 person on a meter. If you use a lot of water then a meter is the wrong way to go BUT YOU CANNOT CHANGE BACK IF THEY HAD ONE FITTED
If you do decided to have one fitted you can change your mind within 6 months (I am not 100% certain of this) back to whatever it’s called? The meter stays in place. If they cannot fit a meter they estimate how much it would cost you if you had a meter and charge you the that amount.

G_M

dizziblonde wrote: »

My parents have oil heating and it's been a collossal pain in the rear with their system going kaput repeatedly and last year we had the oil in the pipes freezing at one point. ...

This is down to the boiler, not the oil! My (oil) boiler is very reliable, though I do get a regular service to keep it happy. I'm surprised by the oil freezing too - my oil line runs very shallow under ground but even this winter never froze - maybe you're up in Scotland though?

Price of oil does vary a lot though. Currently very high but I'm guessing/hoping it will drop as demand falls in the spring/summer.

martindow

brandeberryj wrote: »

Cesspits have no soakaways and need to be emptied regularly and they are always bigger than septic tanks as the cost of emptying them does not vary with the amount to be emptied unless you fill the tanker (farmers are normally the ones emptying them look at £120 an empty).
Septic tanks never ever need emptying unless you are in love with bleach. All the contents are eaten by bacteria and the remnants (little black specs) go into the ground via another tank called a settling tank and then into soakaways in your garden. Of course you pay no sewage bill with either.

This is not true of many septic tanks which need emptying every year or two. If the sediment runs over it can block the porous pipes in the leach field which is expensive to sort out. Emptying occasionally is far cheaper.

Hammyman

hermoine wrote: »

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.
H

Why not? We went to view a house in a village that was on heating oil and were shown round by the tenant. We simply said "how much does it cost to heat the house?" and we got a reply.

hermoine_2

thanks Hammyman, we did ask the questions but the tenant was very woolly about the answers - as if he did not know - I got the feeling that he really felt that what things cost was nothing to do with us!

We really need to find out what type of calor gas heating it is, we assumed, it was a main tank as we could see no sign of individual tanks but we need to be sure.

The property is a listed building so thick walls and double glazed, so

hopefully will be insulated - certainly not cold inside when we visited on a snowy day.

We do not have to pay water rates it is included in the rent as is the management fee of the grounds.

I am grateful for all your input and will contact the letting agent about the Energy Cert.

H

tbs624

brandeberryj wrote: »

Cesspits have no soakaways and need to be emptied regularly and they are always bigger than septic tanks as the cost of emptying them does not vary with the amount to be emptied unless you fill the tanker (farmers are normally the ones emptying them look at £120 an empty).

Am aware of the differences between CP and ST and that there is usually a standard charge:) - the point about the annual cost being "variable" refers to there being a potential difference in the number of times different households may need to arrange for it to be emptied. No. of occupants, lifestyle and so on...

brandeberryj wrote: »

Septic tanks never ever need emptying unless you are in love with bleach.

Many would disagree with you, on the "never ever" and can cite their own experiences.

SD-253

martindow wrote: »

This is not true of many septic tanks which need emptying every year or two. If the sediment runs over it can block the porous pipes in the leach field which is expensive to sort out. Emptying occasionally is far cheaper.

and Am aware of the differences between CP and ST and that there is usually a standard charge:) - the point about the annual cost being "variable" refers to there being a potential difference in the number of times different households may need to arrange for it to be emptied. No. of occupants, lifestyle and so on...


Quote:
Originally Posted by brandeberryj
Septic tanks never ever need emptying unless you are in love with bleach.

Many would disagree with you, on the "never ever" and can cite their own experiences

Firstly pipes are not porous they simply have holes in them and underneath them is gravel. It is the gravel that blocks up that is why you have or should have a second tank to allow the sediment to settle and not go into the pipe/gravel. So the length of the soakway will obviously make a difference. BUT when you’re septic is going to stop working (or to be more precise the gravel is blocked up) you you should be able to see this in advance by looking in your settling tank.
I have emptied my my septic tank once when I moved in because the old lady that used to live here was deeply in love with bleach I thought it was sensible to empty it BUT HAVE NOT DONE SO SINCE THAT IS 5 YEARS PLUS THE OLD LADY NEVER HAD IT EMPTIED BECAUSE SHE WAS UNAWARE SHE HAD A SEPTIC TANK? ANOTHER 5 YEARS. My neighbor a builder who put it in and is unaware of it ever being emptied in 15 years. Also my soakaway are very very short. Put simply if your septic tanks stops working your soakway is blocked up and you need to make new ones or replace the gravel under the old one. Occasionally I empty the settling tank to remove the mud in the bottom but this is mainly to fertilize my garden………..top fertilizer! Can either of you tell me how the Romans (the inventors) emptied there septic tanks? I find constant statements from people on the internet who "appear" to be experts that a septic never needs emptying but if you both feel happier emptying do so but you should not encourage others to unless you can give a good reason why. PS how much do you pay for emptying which you should have put in your posts in the first place this is after all about costs??? JB

G_M

hermoine wrote: »

thanks Hammyman, we did ask the questions but the tenant was very woolly about the answers - as if he did not know - I got the feeling that he really felt that what things cost was nothing to do with us!

We really need to find out what type of calor gas heating it is, we assumed, it was a main tank as we could see no sign of individual tanks but we need to be sure.

The property is a listed building so thick walls and double glazed, so

hopefully will be insulated - certainly not cold inside when we visited on a snowy day.

We do not have to pay water rates it is included in the rent as is the management fee of the grounds.

I am grateful for all your input and will contact the letting agent about the Energy Cert.

H

Do NOT take on this property without finding out the costs. Ask to see bills/invoices for 12 months use.
Ask to see round the property again and look. Or ask what type of gas cylinder it is.
Listed building with thick walls does NOT = insulated!!!!

The agent's job is to find a tenant and get a contract signed. If he fails to answer your reasonable questions and you don't sign the contract, he's not done his job.