Oxyfuel prices UK

[DennisCA]

Am I missing something, is this what you pay for instance for a 20 liter bottle, or is this just the echange cost for the bottle? If the latter it's still twice as cheap as here. Not that I have ever seen a cylinder like this. I just got a good deal by finnish standards on 20l ace and 20L oxy bottles, 700€ for both, new bottles and would be owned by me. This seemingly puts that to shame.

https://www.boconline.co.uk/shop/en/uk/gas/welding-gas/genie-cylinder-oxygen

 

[jimbo84]

Can't comment on BOC as I don't use them and have always been put off by their extortionate delivery charges.

This is my local supplier. They don't do acetylene but do everything else.

The prices listed are the price you pay for the gas and there is a £50 deposit on a cylinder, you always get your £50 back (unless you're taking a full cylinder again) when you give them the cylinder back, non of this reduced rate deposit return some suppliers do. They deliver free next day too.

https://chorleybottlegas.co.uk/gas-cylinders-north-west/welding-gas/page/2/

 

[Munkul]

BOC price is for refill only, not including rental charges.
For that Genie bottle it's £187 rental/year:
https://www.boconline.co.uk/en/images/industrial-gases-price-list-uk_tcm410-573314.pdf
No-one owns cylinders in the UK any more, I don't think.

 

[jimbo84]

For that Genie bottle it's £187 rental/year:

and then they stick you with a £65.99 +vat delivery charge on top, they even charge you £16 if you go and get the thing yourself!

 

[DennisCA]

OK so it's a rental, what are the options for purchased bottles in the UK?

Over here people used to own their own bottles in the 60s and 70s but we had a gas monopoly by AGA and they saw more money in renting than refilling bottles. So they stopped filling bottles bigger than 5 liters. People were encouraged to swap out their owned bottles to rental ones. My dad gave up his oxy-acetylene rig because rent was too expensive.

Nowadays there are two other companies and some smaller ones and one of the bigger companies, Woikoski offers to refill privately owned bottles. Downside to an owned bottle is they have to be inspected every 10 years and it's 300€ per bottle to do that. But that's the only way you can have a bottle bigger than 11 liters without renting.

The most common hobbyist bottles are swappable bottles 5/10/11 liters are the usual sizes. You buy the bottle and the first time it's more expensive, like 300-350€ for a 10/11 liter bottle @ 200 bar. Then you swap the bottle in for a new one and it's 80-90€ for argon, or 55€ for oxygen.

 

[Munkul]

No-one owns any more. Unless they're super old and sat doing nothing for years on end.

non-rental options are quite good though. Hobbyweld is one of the better ones, I think I paid around £110 deposit for a 20ltr bottle of oxygen, £65 IIRC for a refill... not cheap, but not the worst.

 

[DennisCA]

Super cheap to my eyes. Twice as much here, easily.

Around here as I mentioned, there seems to be options again for owning bottles, it's the only way to get anything bigger than 11l. So I am looking into it.

Some people buy bottles from Poland, 8 liters 100€ with shipping. Throw them away once emptied.

 

[Dcal]

See @Dr.Al post which sums up the present gass prices in GB pretty well.

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum...ective-january-2020.96203/page-2#post-1516330

I think the last 20l argon bottle I got was £61 all in and then £54 a year rental which I think is OK
I don't worry about the price of gas for the amount of welding I do. A 20l bottle last me about 3 months.
Of course not much use to you.

 

[DennisCA]

It's good to know much we're getting shafted here though. An 11l argon bottle lasts me 2 years. I am cheap with it. I think 90 euros to swap in the bottle is just too much... So stick weld as much as possible.

Quick update, just this second a mail dropped on with prices for local refill if I where to buy those 20l bottles
Oxy 20l 66,25€
Ace 20l 146,90€

Including VAT. I think that's decent. Compared to the argon swap in costs anyway.

 

[TechnicAl]

It's good to know much we're getting shafted here though. An 11l argon bottle lasts me 2 years. I am cheap with it. I think 90 euros to swap in the bottle is just too much... So stick weld as much as possible.

Quick update, just this second a mail dropped on with prices for local refill if I where to buy those 20l bottles
Oxy 20l 66,25€
Ace 20l 146,90€

Including VAT. I think that's decent. Compared to the argon swap in costs anyway.

I guess the geography plays a part. Ive been to Finland a few times and its a vast place with very few people compared to the UK........Im guessing but I suspect we use much more gas than you do in Finland so, if nothing else, that will create competition you just dont have.

 

[minimutly]

£80 or £90 for a refill of my argon bottle the other day - not cheap, but I got fed up being shafted by boc years ago when I used Oxy-acetylene. Still miss it sometimes though.

 

[DennisCA]

Hey what does a reinspection cost in the UK? I assume it's every 10 years there too. It's 300 € per bottle here, pretty yikes...

I still think it's worth owning an oxygen cylinder though compared to the cost of the smaller deposit scheme bottles. 350 + 30€ delivered to my door for a new oxygen 20l bottle, mfg 2020 so it's OK until 2030.

 

[Munkul]

I keep telling you, no-one owns bottles here any more. So no-one needs to pay for re-inspections.
We do pay for diving bottle inspections though. Not sure on cost yet, mine's still in date...

 

[DennisCA]

I assumed you meant it colloquially, as in it's very rare nowdays (like it is here), not as in it's not possible so nobody does it.

 

[imagedude]

This is what I pay (+VAT)

 

[TechnicAl]

What sort of gas is GWYNEDD.....welsh I guess

 

[DennisCA]

I have bought just the oxygen bottle. It should be ready sometime in July I hope, they will contact me when it's ready to ship so I can pay. Might consider working on an oxy-propane cart until then. The shape of the propane cylinder doesn't make for a pretty setup.

 

[armalites]

No-one owns any more. Unless they're super old and sat doing nothing for years on end.

non-rental options are quite good though. Hobbyweld is one of the better ones, I think I paid around £110 deposit for a 20ltr bottle of oxygen, £65 IIRC for a refill... not cheap, but not the worst.

With Albee you actually buy the cylinder

 

[DennisCA]

Oh it arrived last week, I put a hook on the wall and wrapped a lifting loop around the bottle to keep it provisionally secure. Plan is to modify or build a gas bottle cart to take the oxygen and a propane bottle.

And this is what the propane bottle looks like, seller sold me on a newer composite model

I think in retrospect I should have gotten an old fashioned steel bottle though. This one has a much rarer push valve rather than a screw connection.

 

[Ashley Burton]

@Dennis Aspö The only thing I don't like about those gas bottles in a workshop environment is hot sparks melting through the bottle