Southwest Gas Supplies

[Gazz292]

i'm looking to get a 20 litre bottle of pure argon for my tig welder thats coming next week,

unfortunately i live on the north east coast of yorkshire, near scarborough, which seems to be an area where gas is expensive for some reason,

i only found one resellers website that listed SGS prices, and they (york motor factors) want £122.40 deposit, plus £122.50 for the gas, So £244.90 for a 20 litre bottle!!!
Unfortunately seeing this price made me think SGS is a rip off and i discounted ever using them (i have rentfreegas in my area charging £80 deposit and £102 for the gas on a 20 litre bottle)



For £210 i could get a 50!!! litre bottle with deposit if i was willing to do a 256 mile round trip to chorley gas... a 5 hour trip that would cost me £30 in fuel



Do you have any idea of the cost i 'should' be paying for a 20 litre bottle of pure argon from SGS? and which distributor in my area to go to?
i don't mind traveling a bit to get a cheaper deal, so got York, Hull, Whitby kind of areas i'd happily go to for a cheaper deal, as adding the £20 cashback offer would possibly be the thing that makes me choose SGS for my gas needs,

 

[johnyev]

Just made a couple of calls thought I'd share.



Northamptonshire

Local Motor Factors

Fill Dep ALL PLUS VAT
10 £40 £60
20 £60 £85
30 £85 £125

All SGS gases rent free


Surprisingly Oxygen was the same price, I think BOC is much cheaper for O2



Gas Direct Rental @ 230 Bar

all plus VAT
£12.50 delivery ( not sure if that's per cylinder or per order)

Fill Rent
5%/95% Argon
10 £14 £3.50
20 £16 £4.00

Oxygen same rent
10 £6
20 £7


So 2 x 20Litre Argon cylinders a year would be £126 rent or £144 deposit, interesting.

 

[Gazz292]

my local motor factor charges way more for those sgs gas bottles, a 20 litre argon is well over 200 quid to get the initial bottle,

so i have decided to use BOC for now, that will cost me £132 (inc vat) to get a 20 litre bottle of argon in my shed ready to use, about 60 of that is rent, the rest gas plus the collection charge,
sure i wont get the deposit back like the rent free options (i can get some back if i return the cylinder before the end of the yearly rental period tho) but i just don't have over 200 quid to spare right now,

 

[MysterG]

I've got an SGS bottle I got from APD in Chippenham a few years back (quite a few actually), just discovered the other day that APD have gone (how long ago?), so for a refill I'm going to have to go elsewhere.
I know I can check the SGS website for places in North Wilts, but any recommendations for places where the staff are decent. I used to find APD quite helpful. I'm halfway to Swindon now and I see there are a few distributers there....

 

[mike 109444]

I've got an SGS bottle I got from APD in Chippenham a few years back (quite a few actually), just discovered the other day that APD have gone (how long ago?), so for a refill I'm going to have to go elsewhere.
I know I can check the SGS website for places in North Wilts, but any recommendations for places where the staff are decent. I used to find APD quite helpful. I'm halfway to Swindon now and I see there are a few distributers there....

Beggars the question "what has now happened to your deposit" ? As it was held by APD.
APD were the ones with the weird green vans ?
Can't help with suppliers though.

 

[MysterG]

Beggars the question "what has now happened to your deposit" ? As it was held by APD.
APD were the ones with the weird green vans ?
Can't help with suppliers though.

Hmmm. I'd not thought about the deposit. I assumed that any SGS distributor would be responsible for refunding that as and when, and get it back from SGS themselves?
If that's not the case then yes that's a PITA.

APD had white/blue vans I think. They still exist but not in Chippenham any more. Actually 2 of the SGS distributors listed in Swindon are APD branches. Guess I'll be going to one of those.

 

[mike 109444]

"I assumed that any SGS distributor would be responsible for refunding that"
Thing is you might notice members queering why one motor factor charges one price for the bottle/gas and another charges a different price. If I recall Alan of SGS did say that they are free to charge what ever they like and your deposit is/was held by APD !

 

[Gazz292]

I can confirm that motor factors do charge what they like for the gas and deposits, as the one near me is almost charging half as much again as the published SGS price leaflet, which is why i went with boc.

 

[MysterG]

Well that's all a bit of a bugger then.
Will have to dig out my receipt.

 

[Hmac]

How much is a 10ltr argon sgs refill

My local welding shop wants 60 +vat is that average

 

[Country Joe]

Beggars the question "what has now happened to your deposit" ? As it was held by APD.
APD were the ones with the weird green vans ?
Can't help with suppliers though.

Probably FPS - and I'm sure I still see them about?

All the Best,
CJ

 

[mike 109444]

^^ Maybe. Will have to keep my eye open when driving around.

 

[Country Joe]

^^ - I've only seen the small vans, not the larger ones, like above.
CJ

 

[mike 109444]

^ that is what I thought when I seen that image I had only seen the smaller vans

 

[Country Joe]

^^ - I think I've only ever seen the small ones, but that was the only photo I could find, so guessed they must have (had?) larger ones, too?
I'm sure I always see them around St Phillips Causeway, I think they've got a placw somewhere around there.
CJ

 

[Ruffian]

Probably FPS - and I'm sure I still see them about?
View attachment 269640
All the Best,
CJ

Fps is ferraris piston solutions or something.
Which is the big boys which distribute to most of the major motor factors.

 

[MysterG]

Well my 20l bottle is running on fumes so I contacted APD in Swindon and (the confusingly similarly named) MPD in Chippenham (formerly APD where I got the original bottle).
APD 20l 5% CO2/Argon , £59+VAT
MPD £104.35 inc vat

Stupid question but how much is the VAT on gas ???? Even at 20% that makes APD much cheaper ....