Dr.Al
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- Gloucestershire, UK
I'm just about to swap from using rent-free gas to rental gas as I've got through a few bottles in a relatively short amount of time and it looks cheaper if you get more than 1 refill per year.
Just in case anyone else was interested, I did a bit of a price comparison between BOC's Small Weld Deal (prices correct as of 27th November 2019) and the rent-free option from Andy's Gas (one of my local Adam's Gas distributors).
I know there are other rent-free options (e.g. Hobbyweld, which seems to be a proper rent-free option), but my "local supplier" for Hobbyweld was a fair way away and the prices seemed the same as AG. Most of the other local-ish "rent-free" options don't give you your full deposit back if you have it for more than a year, so that sounds a lot like rent to me.
Anyway, pure argon, size "Y" equivalent bottle (this is 20 litres at 200 bar for Andy's Gas / Adam's Gas so 4000 litres, 4720 litres from BOC).
The table below gives prices based on two different metrics: the left-hand comparison assumes the bottles are the same size (ignoring the 4000 / 4720 discrepancy); the right-hand comparison has a selection of arbitrary volumes and pretends you can get partial refills to get that exact volume of gas (but it does take into account the volume discrepancy).
BOC price is based on one refill at a time (i.e. not collecting two bottles at once), which means the refill price is £48.01 + £0.79 + £5.99 + VAT = £65.75; the annual rental is £58.62 including VAT.
Andy's Gas / Adam's Gas price is based on refill price of £102.96 including VAT; deposit of £92.40 including VAT is ignored as you get that fully back when you finally return the bottle so it doesn't appear as an annual cost.
Just in case anyone else was interested, I did a bit of a price comparison between BOC's Small Weld Deal (prices correct as of 27th November 2019) and the rent-free option from Andy's Gas (one of my local Adam's Gas distributors).
I know there are other rent-free options (e.g. Hobbyweld, which seems to be a proper rent-free option), but my "local supplier" for Hobbyweld was a fair way away and the prices seemed the same as AG. Most of the other local-ish "rent-free" options don't give you your full deposit back if you have it for more than a year, so that sounds a lot like rent to me.
Anyway, pure argon, size "Y" equivalent bottle (this is 20 litres at 200 bar for Andy's Gas / Adam's Gas so 4000 litres, 4720 litres from BOC).
The table below gives prices based on two different metrics: the left-hand comparison assumes the bottles are the same size (ignoring the 4000 / 4720 discrepancy); the right-hand comparison has a selection of arbitrary volumes and pretends you can get partial refills to get that exact volume of gas (but it does take into account the volume discrepancy).
BOC price is based on one refill at a time (i.e. not collecting two bottles at once), which means the refill price is £48.01 + £0.79 + £5.99 + VAT = £65.75; the annual rental is £58.62 including VAT.
Andy's Gas / Adam's Gas price is based on refill price of £102.96 including VAT; deposit of £92.40 including VAT is ignored as you get that fully back when you finally return the bottle so it doesn't appear as an annual cost.