MrsMac59

Hi folks,

We have a combi-boiler system for our heat and hot water that works from an eight bottle gas supply, that is, 2 sets of four bottles, supplied to the previous owners of the house by Repsol. Our gauge has malfunctioned and in spite of it showing we are still in the green we now find ourselves with 8 empty gas bottles.

From reading previous threads I think I understand that our system, which is not yet three years old, will probably have been signed off by a Repsol technician when first installed (by previous owners) and that the certificate should then have a further two years validity. A completely different certificate to the annual safety check which we have arranged for March next year when it is due. Am I correct so far?

I think also that in order for us to receive a further supply of gas we need to be able to produce the Repsol certificate, which we don't seem to have here. It's probably in a file in our house in Scotland - us not knowing what it was and that we would need it here. I have sent an email to our Solicitor to ask if she has a copy in her records. Hopefully she'll be able to scan a copy.

That is the situation, my questions are these:

Does the contract entered into with Repsol relate to the dwelling or to the occupants? So, should Repsol be able to track down a contract that relates to our address?

Can anyone let me know the current price of a 35kg gas bottle?

Now having 8 empty bottles, can we replace them in two sets of four to spread the cost or do we need to replace all eight at one time to get our system up and running again?

Fred James

I don't know the exact price, but it is much more expensive than using small ones.

The small ones are heavily subsided by the government. When I last checked the big ones were at least 50% more expensive in terms of €/Kg.

amideislas

Repsol being able to track anything? That's probably optimistic.

The "inspection" usually costs about €60.

Butane is €17.50 per bottle here. Propane is €15.50. We have 10 propane bottles for our heating.

You can exchange one or as many bottles as you have to exchange. It sounds as though your system is divided 4btls x 4btls, so at a minimum, you would need to exchange 4 bottles at a time, although you can connect one full bottle and 3 empty ones (as you need to block the remaining connections to prevent the gas from leaking out of them). It's just not very practical and won't last very long.


I inquired once about the really "big" bottles, and IIRC, it was a bureaucratic nightmare. Besides, you can't just toss them in boot and go to the local repsol garage to exchange them.

amideislas

The little plastic ones? yes, they are about €12 to exchange, but net about half as much as a €17.50 "big" bottle.

Why is it that in Spain, things that are "subsidised", presumably to make them more "affordable", are always so much more expensive?

Fredbargate

The 35 kg bottles are priced at between €60 & €65 depending on the local agent, there is no price control on them.

Al tener una capacidad de más de 20kg, el precio de las botellas de 35kg no está regulado por el Gobierno y se sitúa situado entre 60 y 65 € en función del proveedor elegido.
Botella de 35 Kg de gas propano

They are normally supplied in two units with an automatic change over valve and normally comprise of 2 x1 up to 2x10 bottles.
Plan Confort 35 para tu vivienda unifamiliar - repsol.com

The larger bottles from memory have screw on adaptors as against the push on ones for the smaller 11 kg bottles

Any change to the installation would require to be done by the supplier.

MrsMac59

Thanks for that, we had no idea how much we would expect to pay for them but there was a lot of shaking of the wrist and sucking of teeth by our local maintenance agent as he was telling us we needed to replace all of them so we gathered it would be a lot.

Fred James

No, I was talking about the standard orange Butano bottles.

Bri and Katee

Our friends in the village have a similar system. You do not have to show any certificate to get the bottles changed, you just exchange them. However the price will be prohibitive. They pay around €100 a bottle last time they were bemoaning the fact they wish they'd gone to oil!

There are several small trucks that travel the area and will swap out the bottles for you. In our area if you leave one by the gate they stop and make contact with you, it must be a similar system where you are, its not easy to get one of those sizes in your car and down to the repsol supplier!

amideislas

You can exchange those large 35kg bottles, but like you say, a normal car isn't suitable to carry them, so most people would have them delivered.

But delivery requires a contract, and a contract requires an inspection.

And you're also right about oil boilers, less expensive to operate than either gas or electric. Our neighbour says he pays less than €300 per year for oil, has the tank filled once in October, and his house is always toasty in winter.

gill556

With the small portable gas fires does it matter whether you use orange or silver bottles and are they the same gas?

amideislas

Silver? Haven't seen those yet.

There is Butane butano (what most people use) and there's propane propano. Both come in identical orange bottles but with either butano or propano written on them.

We use propane for the heating because it's cheaper. Some will say it's not cheaper, just heavier, but even the local Repsol gas installer tells us that propane actually delivers a bit more energy per tank than butane for a few euros less, so that's why we use it.

gill556

I have only ever used the silver bottles but my friend who has just rented an apartment has orange and he needs another. I have been offered a couple of silver ones by other friends but don't know if they are interchangeable. He has only just moved to Spain and doesn't have a gas man that calls so I also have to try and find a shop or garage that sells the gas.

lyric030250

Orange = Repsol, Silver = Cepsa, identical in terms of content Cepsa bottles are aluminium and therefore considerably lighter.
Either normally fit appliances.

pwwm

Orange bottles are heavy the silver are aluminum and therefore lighter to carry, especially if female like me

gill556

Thank you, so I can buy either bottle and should be ok