Cheapest source of propane Gas (Calor, Flowgas, etc.)

Yesterday I paid £24.95 for a 19Kg (Calor) gas exchange cylinder at a farm shop I use, but some places seem to charge a lot more (especially where Jack lives). GoOutdoors have them (Calor) on 'special offer' at £30.80, and my nearest gas stockist (Flowgas) charges £37.50.

So by taking my empty cylinders with me whilst shopping at Milton Keynes, rather than just going 5 miles down the road, I save £12.55 on every exchange for a full one.

What are you paying?

 

Not sure of the prices this season,but when we used to use the tin shed on wheels,we always found gas to be dearer at camping type shops than industry type places and calor always was dearer.
Always get the biggest bottle you have room for and if its for the greenhouse get 2 and a switch over valve.
If possible stick to propane the red bottle it seems more efficient calorific values and all that tec,stuff.

 

We have a switch-over valve for the bottle gas for the kitchen "range". Last year (for the first time) I disconnected the "fuller" bottle after a switch over and we ran on the "empty" one for several weeks. Cooker doesn't use much (probably 6 - 9 months a bottle), and running out if not too serious, especially if you know it is "due", which is not the same with a greenhouse of course, you don't want the heater to ever go off in the middle of a cold night, but beware that the used bottle may not be empty - use it for the Barbie in the Summer perhaps, or leave in on full blast in the early evening, and go out later and connect the "full" one so that the residual heat will keep the house warmer that night, and use up the empty bottle properly.

 

Yesterday paid £19.99 for a 6kg cylinder from our local caravan/motorhome emporium.

 

That's £3.33/Kg and I'm paying £1.31/Kg to have my 19Kg cyclinders filled. I was rather hoping that somebody could point me in the direction of cheaper cylinder gas than I'm getting at the moment.

P.S. I get my paraffin at £4.40 for a 4 litre container - does that sound about as cheap as it gets?

 

Anyone ?
What is the Difference/Reason of Blue Butane, and Red Propane ?

I think vaguely I read Propane burns too hot for domestic appliances and would burn out the ceramics or burners
Therefore I am sure Propane would be OK for a greenhouse heater

What about the emissions, maybe Propane emissions are dangerous in a home

Not having checked relative prices, not sure which would be cheapest anyway

Thanks for the thread Scrungee

Jack McH

 

Jack, the blue containers are butane and it doesn't work well in low temperatures. We use propane (orange) in our camper van and with decent ventilation there's no hazard. We've also lived in cottages with propane cooking without any problem.

 

I'm sure that when first starting to use Calor I was told that propane cyclinders should always be sited outside of greenhouse/tent/caravan/house/etc., but butane one can be used 'indoors'

 

http://www.calor.co.uk/customer-services/faqs/the-different-types-of-lpg/

There are two different types of LPG – Propane and Butane. Propane (red and green cylinders) has a lower boiling point than Butane (blue cylinders) and is stored at a higher pressure so it is more suited for storage outside. Butane’s boiling point (conversion from liquid to gas) is around 0˚C so in colder conditions around this temperature it will not work.

 

The thing about propane is that it CAN, but doesn't have to be, be stored outside as it isn't affected by low temperatures in the same way as butane. Butane is next to no use when the temperature gets to near freezing. I used to do a lot of tent camping in all weathers and seasons and while my little butane stove was great in summer I resorted to an old primus, paraffin pump-up stove in winter. Heavy and smelly but it cooked!
Having said this and stayed in cottages where propane cylinders were stored indoors, there's no doubt in my mind that it's safer to store gas cylinders of any type of gas outwith an enclosed space.

 

Oh well that is it then

I put the heater on its lowest setting, which ended up as a costant 14c
so I used it for 12 hours a night
I only got four nights out of the full 4.5kg gas at £16 a refill
ie:- £4 a night, I can buy four trusses of tomatoes on the Vine at Lidls for that
So the heater is to be taken out :-(

I think I will use it with the 19kg bottle which would work out at about a £1.50 a night
for the last two weeks in April to bring on seeds in the greenhouse or
Would I be better off with an undersoil heater coil for a propagator
Anybody got costs for that ?

Jack McH

 

Has it not got some sort of thermostat Jack? If not you'll have to just make a judgement on whether its a cold night, or not.

This time of year temperature doesn't fall until quite late into the night, and the moment the sun is up it climbs of course ... so realistically you would only need heat from, say, 5am - 7am. You are probably tucked up in bed then! If you want cheapest route then having a remote temperature alarm from Greenhouse to Bedroom would be your best bet - although don't spend £100 on the alarm system, obviously!!! (Side benefit is that you will get an alarm call if the heater goes out etc.)

 

A heated propagator should work out very much cheaper Jack, though it would mean that you'd have to plan your sowing times quite carefully so that the plants are not exposed to a very cold greenhouse when they come out of the propagator. It would also mean your tomatoes wouldn't be in fruit quite so early. You've just got to decide if heating a greenhouse is worth getting a few toms a few weeks early.

Costs - My propagator is I think, 40Watts and has a good thermostatic control and I reckon that on average between early March and early May the thermostat clicks "on" for less than half of each day. Electricity costs are fairly variable dependent on supplier and the various tarrifs but 18 pence per kWh seems to be about average. So it's costing me about 0.72 pence per hour and with the "on" time being say 12 hours per day (and it's probably quite a bit less) that's 8.64 pence per day. Unfortunately I can't use my plug-in consumption meter in the GH to get a really accurate figure as the progagator is wired into the supply socket.

Photo shows my final batch of toms in the propagator, these are mainly my outdoor toms and some destined for our daughter's greenhouse. I planted the first toms into the polytunnel today, these had been out of the propagator and on a GH shelf for the last ten days. I can grow on plants to quite tall by using a 'tent' of wire hoops and bubble wrap.

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I am not getting out of Bed at 05.00 for a tomato :-)

I think I will have to go down the Electrickery route, thermo and timers

Cheers

Jack McH