what is the chances of mains gas going down?

[bob the builder]

Never had gas before in a house always had electric so just wondering what is the chances of it being cut off due to weather or something?
Should we be looking at getting a hose and regulator fitted to run off a cylinder as back up this would mean we could still have heat and cook.

[jansman]

Gas will be the last thing to go off. Government policy. A couple of Winters ago the UK came very close to no gas, as Europe were consuming it a Hell For Leather rate.
In that situation, industry gets cut first(for this they get better pricing year-round). Gvt knows that domestic supplies being cut could lead to deaths.
The only drawback is if you rely on gas CENTRAL heating. That takes an electric pump! And in apower cut the leccy goes first as a rule. If your home has a stand-alone gas fire, you can at least keep one room warm.
That is the simplistic answer, hope it helps.

[lonewolf]

the UK normally keeps 14 days worth of gas in reserve, last winter it got so low it was down to 3 days worth, a cold winter could see that running out.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Should we be looking at getting a hose and regulator fitted to run off a cylinder as back up this would mean we could still have heat and cook.

2 different gas types...

cant remember the exact pressures but domestic "town gas" is different to LPG also IIRC the injectors are different too...

got one of these in Millets a few years ago for £20 ish

http://www.simplyhike.co.uk/products/Ca ... tchen.aspx

as for heating if you have space to store it..


http://www.charliesdirect.co.uk/supawar ... tAodhWMAag


oh and invest in a battery co alarm

[poppypiesdad]

Town gas or natural gas , doesn't need a major incident for it to go off , just a jcb driver with a bucket too deep to damage the underground pipe. As for reserves

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -2013.html

Who don't seem to have much

But you can't readily use lpg ( propane, red cylinders) to power you house unless you are on lpg just now , you will need to change your jets , alter the regulator and of course be gas safe registered

J

[Plymtom]

It'll run out eventually anyway, but as has been said generally the last to go, I wouldn't want to be totally reliant on any one or two energy forms if I had the choice, but LPG can't be cheaper can it? if so another cooker rigged for LPG in a utility room would be handy, oh and a wood burning AGA

[bob the builder]

Ah no worries then one less thing to think about then already have a camping stove for cooking and plan to get the fire place opened up for heat so need to work a bit harder to change over thought this would keep the wife happy oh no gas has gone off ok pop out to the shed grab gas cylinder from bbq and conect up to house sit back and feel smug lol

[Rearfang]

Daft question will bottled gas store indefantly

[poppypiesdad]

Lpg currently for us Is 42 p per litre, 47kg bottles of propane are £65 , roughly 0.5 kg to the litre .

Shelf life of propane ? Well it is a dry gas , so the container wouldn't rust internally , but external rust and test date of the cylinder ( usually 10 years) would be an issue .......

J

[ForgeCorvus]

Ah no worries then one less thing to think about then already have a camping stove for cooking and plan to get the fire place opened up for heat so need to work a bit harder to change over thought this would keep the wife happy oh no gas has gone off ok pop out to the shed grab gas cylinder from bbq and conect up to house sit back and feel smug lol

A wood burner (or any other type of stove for that matter) is far better then any open fire in terms of fuel efficency....... And you can get some really nice looking designer ones if the Boss doesn't like Rustic or Period