On 19/12/2010 10:34, MM wrote:
On Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:19:38 +0000, Clive George
wrote:

On 18/12/2010 12:54, MM wrote:

- use an external propane red bottle to power the gas hob

At present, the hob is electric (wipe-clean flat-surface type)

Which one of those scenarios appeals? NB: Take into account the
current enormous rise in heating oil price, which might not drop for
several months.

We have an external propane red bottle (two actually) to power our gas
hob instead of electric, but that's just because we find a gas hob nicer
to use, nothing to do with heating the house and price of oil.

Well, yes, that was what motivated my neighbour to change and what
initially interested me, too, since I also hate cooking on an electric
hob. An electric oven is fine, but gas rings are so much more
controllable for everything else. However, in Flackwell Heath, my
previous demesne, the gas hob was very useful for quickly spreading
warmth throughout the kitchen on very cold days.

We have 2 13kg bottles on an automatic changeover, one lasts about 6
months, and we can easily swap them ourselves. (I think a 47kg cylinder
would fail on the last point.). It's a fairly easy job to install a
setup like that (flexible 10mm-ish copper, ours was done in one run,
though the cylinders are just outside the kitchen), there's no worries
about gas boards looking at your installation and condemning it, so if
you're at all competent I'd say do it.