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General Plumbing and Gasfitting Talk => Ask Plumbers (Public) => Plumbing => Q & A - Hot Water Cylinders => Topic started by: Wholemullet on November 26, 2012, 05:34:11 PM

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Title: Replacing HW Cylinder with Gas
Post by: Wholemullet on November 26, 2012, 05:34:11 PM
Hi all, im new here and just wanted a bit of an idea on an approximate price of getting a Calafont and gas bottles to replace a electric cylinder, reason being the house does not have a pantry so we want to get rid of the cylinder and make use of the space
The cylinder is located inside an external wall, and would be the perfect position for the calafont and bottles to go out side, the House was built in the late 60s and I think it has copper pipes.

Any info or ideas would be appreciated

Note: I am a bit of a DIY'er so could possibly do most of the work myself other than what needs to be signed off


Cheers

Jason
Title: Re: Replacing HW Cylinder with Gas
Post by: Plumber on November 27, 2012, 09:11:26 AM
Hi Jason, Its very difficult to pull a magic number that covers all scenarios. there are many companies that offer free quotes, I would suggest getting a few. Just to give you an Idea the last one we did cost $ 4000 whereas the one before was $ 2800. It depends on accessibility, how far away are the bottles, pipe material, size of heater and the list goes on. In your own interest no DIY is possible on this kind of installation, every bit needs to be done by a qualified tradesman. More about what you can and cant do yourself on the DHB website. Hope this helps.  :)
Title: Re: Replacing HW Cylinder with Gas
Post by: Jaxcat on November 27, 2012, 05:59:02 PM
I concur with Plumber - it will also depend on where you live as labour rates vary around the country - I would expect it to be dearer in say Auckland and Wellinton than maybe in Invercargill.  About $4k is a reasonable rule of thumb though, and also  I don't reckon any self respecting gasfitter would sign off on work that they had not done themselves.  Cheap is not always good and it is a false economy to think you can do some of it yourself and then the whole thing goes tits up - your insurane company would run a mile...  LPG is the most dangerous of all if not done properly, but very good if done well.