Propane Bottles Fueling Combi Boiler

[nogas]

Hi All.

I am buying a house in an area of town without mains gas. One of my options is to use 47KG Propane bottles to fuel a Combi boiler. I like this idea but can't find much 1st hand info of people who actually have it or have installed it. Should it be avoided at all costs etc etc.

The house currently has electric storage heaters which I've had once before and didn't get on with. The garden is not suitable for an LPG bulk tank. Another option was an electric combi but that sounds very expensive to run.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Owch..... Big bills!

Have you considered a Biomass pellet boiler? They are dear to install but very cost effective to run....

 

[nogas]

Hi. From what I've seen of them, I don't think the 3 bed semi has the space.

 

[Corgigrouch]

http://www.windhager.co.uk/products/index/view/categoryID/1/productsID/7

Howsabout this?

You may have to build a boiler room for most biomass boilers but it would be far better than having to hump heavy propane bottles up your garden path in the depth of Winter...

 

[doitall]

Very very big bills, probably £200 a week on a chilly day.

 

[nogas]

Firewin price 16000 - 21000 pounds for the boiler! and I thought airsource was expensive. I'm seeing 47KG bottles of propane for around £60. I'd also have an A rated condensing combi in a well insulated house. Would that still equate to £200 a week?

Thanks

 

[DP]

Nogas, it is not just a case of hooking a bottle to the boiler- there is only a set amount of gas that will be delivered from the bottle when gas hungry combi is in HW mode. There is more involved then what appears to be a simple task.

Look at electric boilers- this may well be the route to take. Couple the unvented cylinder to roof solar panel for further saving in electricity bills.

Plan first. Gas on tap from bottle looks good but will have many downsides, one being able to get a LPG qualified engineer to look at your boiler- cowboys will but if you value life, it has to be done properly.

 

[Space cat]

It's a straightforward calculation. The calorific value of propane is about 14 kilowatt hours per kilogram so, at £60 per bottle, that's about 9p per kw.hr (unit). But you won't get all that heat so maybe you should look at paying 10p per unit. How does that compare with the cost of electricity, whether off-peak or not?

While you're at it, there are a few other things to think about, like the need to hump heavy gas bottles around and the cost of boiler maintenance. Since you already have storage heaters, my advice would be to keep them.

And here's another thought. A combi boiler puts all your eggs in one basket. When it breaks down - which it will - you'll have no heating and no hot water. With a hot water cylinder you can always switch the immersion heater on.

 

[mickyg]

Using LPG bottles will be a fair bit cheaper than electric without a doubt and if you shop around and negotiate you can find suppliers selling under £50 a bottle, lowest Im aware of at the moment is £44. Although if you've got any sort of garden I will be surprised you cant have a tank, not even a buried one? Who told you this ? It might be worth getting a different supplier out to do an assessment.
As regards to moving bottles around, the delivery driver doesnt just leave them at the end of the path. You might need to move them a foot to swap them over.
Obviously you need to consider the cost of a LPG engineer installing the new heating system and pipework, but personally I'd have bottled lpg over electric any day. Waiting over an hour for the water to get hot is not my idea of fun.

 

[The831Bunny]

Hi nogas. I have plenty of customers I service with condensing combis on LPG four bottle systems, both in modest size houses and park homes. Customers are paying from £98 to £126 for two bottles delivered (depends on supplier obviously). Generally these last around 12-18 days in the winter months, and up to 3 months in the summer.

These are usually retired people who have their heating on during the day too, so your usage patten may be different. Why not split your options with an electric shower as well?

 

[dcawkwell]

Air source heat pump 12kw one on ebay for about £1200.

If the house is small, say 2 up 2 down. lpg combi on 4 lpg bottles
is perhaps cheapest install. Will be quite reasonable to run.
Just swapped a boiler on lpg bottles. Customer using it on 4 bottles.
2 running and 2 ready to swap to.

 

[Agile]

Some of the comments above are missing the obvious!

A hot water cylinder heated by off peak electricity instead of a combi. Probably already there!

Then a 13kW heat only propane boiler. Possibly keeping the storage heaters too.

Then there is the obvious a heat pump. OK they are rather more expensive to buy and install.

Tony

 

[doitall]

The first thing is to bring the insulation up to the highest possible standard then add a bit more for good measure.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Firewin price 16000 - 21000 pounds for the boiler! and I thought airsource was expensive. I'm seeing 47KG bottles of propane for around £60. I'd also have an A rated condensing combi in a well insulated house. Would that still equate to £200 a week?

Thanks

Really? Think I'm going to have to move to your area, I'd like a fleet of Rolls-Royces too.... Perhaps we Northerners get a special "Poor Northerner" price...

Failing Biomass, I'd suggest that you get a cylinder and system boiler or electric boiler on E7...... That way you can save on energy in the Summer by heating your water with solar panels

 

[nogas]

Air source heat pump 12kw one on ebay for about £1200.

If the house is small, say 2 up 2 down. lpg combi on 4 lpg bottles
is perhaps cheapest install. Will be quite reasonable to run.
Just swapped a boiler on lpg bottles. Customer using it on 4 bottles.
2 running and 2 ready to swap to.

Wow, those prices are far lower than I have been led to believe. I used several radiator output calculators to spec for the central heating and the average was 7900KW or 27000BTU for the whole house, a 3 bed semi. Is airsource capable of providing sufficient heat? If so what output would it need.

Thanks to everyone for their comments so far, some very good points among them.