How to use LPG efficiently

Cpt_Greenbeard

Hi all, wondering if anyone has any tips on how to use LPG heating efficiently? I moved in to a house last november and over the winter we were going through 2x 47kg bottles every 2 weeks, this was having the heating set to come on for 1.5 hours in the morning, an hour before arriving home + 1 hour after and then an hour before bed, so 4.5 - 5.5 hours total.

I haven't had experience of LPG before. We did do a trial with the heating just set to come on when temp dropped below 18c but that ended up using 2 canisters in a week!

The good news is i've made 2 bottles last from april til now in the time between but im sure the heating will be going back on soon!

SiberianHusky

Hi there! We also use LPG and last winter we were easily getting through 2 x 47kg bottles every 3 weeks on average in the particularly brutal spells. We bought the house from my Dad and he reckons that was his average too (having had the LPG system installed from new 12 years ago).

One thing I would ask is whether you've had your boiler serviced? We got ours serviced in February and the engineer reckoned it was calling for too much gas, so he turned the intake amount down slightly (sorry, I'm not being particularly technical - someone else may be able to explain what I really mean). But essentially, when the heating/hot water came on, the boiler wasn't sucking as much gas out of the bottles. We immediately saw the difference.

As far as efficiency goes, I think it's probably the humdrum of all other users - monitor each room etc. I leave my heating to come on below 19c when it's programmed to come on, I think 18c is probably a little too low!

I ordered in my last two bottles last week, with the previous two being ordered in April. So we made them last all summer. That's on the basis of the hot water coming on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. We also went away for just over 3 weeks so the whole system was off during that time. Not sure if that gives you some idea on our usage and bottle duration!

sk240

Unfortunatly you will find that LPG costs twice the amount of natural gas, depending on your boiler efficiency it may even be cheaped to use electric heating on a regular tarrif! your just going to have to live with it, or go the the large expense of running in natural gas or using a heat pump system instead.

If you have room for one, an air to air system is fairly cost effective, and would pay for itself in a couple of years (see link)
http://www.vyair.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=125

J_B

Do you not have room for a bulk tank?

I guess (?) that the ppl would be cheaper than bottles.

Cpt_Greenbeard

Thanks all. Dont have room for bulk storage. Tbh its not too bad costwise if you spread the cost over the year, I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to use it more efficiently, e.g. is it better to have heating coming on to 'top up' when it gets below a certain temp, or is it better to just have it coming on for a few hours at set times.

matelodave

What sort of controls have you got - TRVs on the rads would help as would a programmable thermostat - only £35 or so and they do allow much better control of the room temperatures at different times of the day.

What about your roof insulation, ideally you need 300 - 400mm (that's a foot in old money) and a decent jacket around the hot water tank - even a foam insulated tank would benefit from an extra jacket. Try reducing your hot water temperature to about 50 degrees, we are quite happy with our hot water at 45, it's hot enough for showers & washing up etc and the lower temperature reduces the cost of heating it and the heat losses.

Keep doors closed on unused rooms and turn the rads down in them so it just keeps the chill and damp off. Try and reduce draughts and close the curtains when it gets cold outside.

Investigate whether you can install cavity wall insulation (it's not everso expensive and there may be grants available) - all these things help reduce heat loss and make the place more comfortable so you can reduce the thermostat temperatures by a degree or two

darren_clarke

I have LPG tanks, and I find that it cost £1.50 a hour to run just the central heating system for heating, a 47 kg bottle will last me 33 hours with the heating on, so if I average 3 hours a day, I get 11 days out of a tank, so costs about £150 a month for gas, plus the cost of the hot water, if I only use the gas for hot water I get about 3 weeks out of a 47 kg tank

[Deleted User]

we had tvrs fitted before last winter and it helped as we can shut off rooms that we arent using,as already said over a full year the cost isnt as bad as it seems,we have also just negotiated a lower price with a new supplier at £45 per 47kg del and fixed till 31st march,£12.50 below last supplier so its worth shopping around,we also use the electric fire in the living room for a couple of hours in the evening,and a neighbour gave us a hot water bottle sounds old fashioned but it keeps you warm all night

[Deleted User]

darren_clarke wrote: »

I have LPG tanks, and I find that it cost £1.50 a hour to run just the central heating system for heating, a 47 kg bottle will last me 33 hours with the heating on, so if I average 3 hours a day, I get 11 days out of a tank, so costs about £150 a month for gas, plus the cost of the hot water, if I only use the gas for hot water I get about 3 weeks out of a 47 kg tank

we get 4 months out of a 47 just using for hot water in the summer,but there are only the 2 of us now

darren_clarke

woodbine wrote: »

we get 4 months out of a 47 just using for hot water in the summer,but there are only the 2 of us now

there is 4 of us in our house, me misses 2 kids, we use one every 3 weeks, would be less if we had showers instead of baths, but I like a hot bath lol