HELP! LPG usage questions

Hotelguy571

Hi,

We moved into our home almost years ago. It is a 12 year old Berkley homes new build without any gas except for 2 47L tanks for the hob and fireplace. We have a wet radiator system, and The 'boiler' is a large tank with 2 thin plastic boxes attached that have elements in to heat the water. We pay 160 on our electricity dd with eon because they are the only company that can supply us as we have this kind of system (4 separate readings). We are charged 160 per month dd and have had to pay an extra £700 this winter for extra electricity used.

In the last 2 years we have never really been warm in our house! or had the ability to have a long hot shower, every morning I get up to if lucky a luke warm shower.

We are considering changing to LPG, but due to the location of the garden will only be able to have 47L cylinders. We have some very restrictive covenants in our development limiting things like solar panels etc. My question is do we go LPG? we have a 3 bed semi, roughly what would our usage be (there are 2 adults and a pampered Labrador!)? Should we stay electrical and just change the boiler/ cylinder?

We are hoping anyone can help!

Pete

lovesgshp

Forget LPG if only on cylinders, or any other way if you can. Had a small 40sq mtr appartment with 2x 47Kg cylinders. With using the heating, they lasted 2 weeks. Cutting out the rads and just using them for hot water and cooking we managed 4 weeks, plus buying wood and using a kerosene type heater.

[Deleted User]

The covenant may no longer be worth the paper it's written on... Are these covenants not only usually 'enforcable' by the builder when the estate/scheme was first being built/sold to new buyers? But 12 years on...

LPG is great for cooking on as it lasts for ages but when it comes to heating forget it, crazy expensive with punitive 2 year contracts for bulk tanks. LPG bottles even more expensive.

We still have an LPG bulk tank used solely for cooking now as went for ASHP. Should run out in about 20 years

For a modern semi you certainly are spending a huge amount on electricity. To compare we are all elec [bar hob cooking] and pay £88pm for large detached [20 outside walls!] 100+ years old.

What I'm saying is there must be huge scope to reduce your bills but what technology I'm not sure at the moment. I'm kinda ruling out ASHPs for noise reasons...

Cheers

fishybusiness

As a comparison, we are all electric, 3 bed semi, well insulated 1950's house.

We have some rubbishy dimplex convectors, a couple of infra red heating panels, electric hob and oven plus electric shower.

Scottish Power tariff, E7 immersion on a timer, and our DD is £140 a month, so £1700 a year all in.

It takes a bit of messing about, remembering to switch heat on and off in various rooms as it used and then not used again, but it does help keep the bills sensible.

I wouldn't go LPG for heating, my inlaws have it, one bottle every 2 weeks, as another poster has said, way too expensive.

In your position, in the short term I would resort to heating individual rooms as you need them to reduce your bills now, until you work out the best solution.

[Deleted User]

we use 47kg lpg cylinders in a 2 bed,and yes in the depths of winter they only last 2 weeks at £49 each,however in the spring/summer/autumn they last upto 16 weeks

reeac

jeepjunkie wrote: »

The covenant may no longer be worth the paper it's written on... Are these covenants not only usually 'enforcable' by the builder when the estate/scheme was first being built/sold to new buyers? But 12 years on..

We bought a 1939 house in 1976 and agreed to a set of restrictive covenants but when, in about 1980, a developer wanted to build on a large garden nearby which was subject to the same covenants it turned out after much expensive legal consultation that the covenants counted for nothing as too much time had elapsed and the builder was long gone. This outcome had already been predicted by the husband of a cousin of mine [a judge in Canada] when I mentioned it to him.

johnnybebad2000

My first port of call would be to see what alternatives neighbours have done if any and if there are any who have changed to another fuel then ask them about it. If you find no neighbours have changed then that may be your answer.

seraphina

We heat our three bed semi using 47kg LPG cylinders. We have two banks of two, and it's nowhere near as bad as some make our. We cook on gas as well, and we go from May to October without replacing the cylinders. If it's a cold winter then we'd probably get under a month out of two cylinders but over a year it all evens out and I don't think it's hugely more expensive than mains gas.

Caveats: we also have a wood burner for the sitting room, and electric heating in the extension, which is poorly insulated, so the gas isn't our only source of heat. We also heat most of our hot water using an immersion overnight on economy 7. Our boiler is also about 20 years old and I'm sure a new one would be more efficient and cheaper to run. Our cylinders seem cheaper to run than our neighbour's Calor gas tank - at least with cylinders you can shop around.

david29dpo

I have bulk LPG, 46 ppl 1500 litres a year = £690 a year.
Avoid the nationals (calor etc)

Silent_Dancer

Have you considered oil. It'll about half the price per kW compared to LPG cylinders.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hotelguy571 wrote: »

We pay 160 on our electricity dd with eon because they are the only company that can supply us as we have this kind of system (4 separate readings). We are charged 160 per month dd and have had to pay an extra £700 this winter for extra electricity used.

In the last 2 years we have never really been warm in our house! or had the ability to have a long hot shower, every morning I get up to if lucky a luke warm shower.

We are hoping anyone can help!

Pete

Hi Pete

Just spotted this thread and thought I might be able to offer a bit of advice - hope you don't mind.

From what you say about the meter having 4 separate readings, I suspect you have what's known as a Restricted Hour Tariff (RHT) meter.

These are specifically designed for all electric properties with particular types of heating arrangements. This can be storage heaters, underfloor heating, space heating, water immersion heating etc.

RHT meters give cheaper electricity at some time during every 24 hour period. The number of off peak hours and individual switching times depend on the type of meter and the region.

Usually, the meter will be wired directly into the heating/water heating circuits at the property.

As well as cheaper electricity for heating/water heating, there'll also be a number of hours where all consumption is at the off peak rates. Again, this will depend on the meter and region.

I'd make sure you're taking full advantage of these off peak periods. If you're not sure, have a chat to our Energy Efficiency guys. They specialise in helping people use electricity more cost effectively and will be happy to help.

If you give them details of your property and appliances, they'll be able to advise if you can save here, too.

Hope this is of some interest Pete. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help.

Malc