LPG - advice please

[jazzactivist]

Hi all! As you may remember from previous posts our residency in this rented house has been very up and down, with the prospect of a complete rewire forever hanging over us. After months of trying to get information from the estate agent and landlord as to when it will occur, we have also been keeping an eye open for somewhere else around here to move to. We aren't ready to buy our own place yet, as we just aren't sure what type of property we really want, and are now even thinking of a small place and a narrowboat!.

We recently viewed a very nice house to rent in a nearby hamlet, but it has LPG from a large tank in the garden for central heating and cooking, plus a woodburning stove in the sitting room and a large, unheated, conservatory to keep warm in winter. In our last house we had oil central heating and the cost of it became astronomical. We have heard conflicting advice about LPG -some people say that it is even more expensive than oil, while others say that it is fine and almost the same price as gas! Pricing websites are also very confusing. Do any of you have LPG heating, or know someone who has, and can throw some light on how much it costs to run? Thank-you very much.

[Crocus]

Hi Jazz! I can't give you any advice on LPG heating, but just want to say that the narrowboat sounds like a good idea to me - I can picture you and OH in a narrowboat!xx

[Pippa]

I use LPG for cooking and have 2 19kg. cylinders a year which works out to just over £40. Like most fuels, I guess it depends on how much you use, everyone moans about the price of oil but I find it quite economical as I never have thermostat higher than 17 deg. Try asking the question on the Creative Living Forum, there are a lot of rural dwellers on there or ask the current residents of the property you are looking at.

[Pippa]

I have asked for you Jazz on Creative Living.

[jazzactivist]

Thanks pippa, much appreciated. I'll have a look at the Creatve Living site.

[Pippa]

On the Creative Living site go to Any Questions Jszz and there are a couple of links there for you. One is moneysavingexpert.com.

[Pippa]

Reading through the q. & a. Jazz, it would seem once again all personal opinion. The thing about gas is that even with a power cut you have means of cooking, guess the pump will not work for the heating. Every house is different and people use houses differently, some are out to work all day etc. If you really like the property and are not going to be there for ever, give it a go, after all you have the woodburner. Good luck.

[jazzactivist]

Thanks for all your help, pippa. In the time that I took to find out about LPG the house was taken by someone else, but I'll bear it in mind for future properties. I did manage to find out from the Which? website that an average 3 bed house would expect to use about 1000 litres of LPG per bedroom, plus cooking, so this would be about £1500 per year at current prices, just under double the cost of natural gas.