Gas bottle

lendusaquid wrote:

...
(till I hopefully get some one to fit the WB combo I've brought over from a UK house refurb)
although the house has mains gas....  So how the heck do I get a spare gas bottle without a gas bottle !

Not quite the same but I have an oxyacetylene set of gas bottles for welding and like you I did not have bottles to trade.  I was before actually renting my bottles which is insanely stupid and expensive.   In the end I had to find some dealers who would sell me a bottle to trade for full ones. It took about 5 attempts to find someone who would do it.  Once I had achieved that, I was "in the system" and I had no problem thereafter.  You'd just got to find the right person!  Welcome to Hungary!

Regarding your boiler, if you connect anything to the gas, you need approval from the gas company (i.e. a plan) and an authorised person to make the connection.  It's not like you can find a plumber and get them to do it.  It's really a very painful process which can take months to do.  Get it installed asap otherwise you'll be snookered for winter!

You may find may chicken and egg or Catch 22 problems in Hungary.

We moved from an electric cooktop to gas maybe a decade ago. I had no problems buying a full bottle from our local gas supplier (that is his only business -- supply gas bottles). After a few times running out of gas on the weekend, I even bought a second one from him so we can switch out the bottle and take our time to get another full one.

But that was a few years ago. Maybe rules/laws have changed. Or also likely .. that person simply did not want to be bothered selling you a bottle, so rather than explain himself properly why not, simply tells you "it can't be done" (Yes, that actually happens a lot here).

Side note: Am planning on moving to an induction cooktop eventually. Gas is nice to cook on, but those bottles take up space which can be put to better use in our small kitchen.

We could only use our gas clothing dryer in Hilo Hawaii with a gas unit. Butane.
We shipped over all of our things and forgot that Hawaii uses mostly electric for everything.
Didn't want to buy a new electric dryer as I had already paid for shipping from Ca.
Ok, you MUST purchase your own refillable gas bottle. No other way  around it. I forgot how much it was in the mid 90's. Think $60. for 10 0r 20 lbs of butane gas to fit inside.$60. for the bottle alone.
They used to refill the same bottle for me.
One bottle lasted about one month for daily drying, one load a day.
I know why use a dryer in Hawaii, we lived in a rain forest area and it was always damp outside.
Depending on the weather conditions you may have to replace the bottle every so often as well. They do not refill rusty or damaged bottles for safety reasons.

klsallee wrote:

..... Or also likely .. that person simply did not want to be bothered selling you a bottle, so rather than explain himself properly why not, simply tells you "it can't be done" (Yes, that actually happens a lot here)...

I think this is the case when one goes to the petrol/gas station to get a refill. 

If one goes and see local dealer Lajos around the corner, he'd sort it out without the "corporate" or "lazy employee"  behaviour.

Once again, one needs to know a guy!

We use bottled gas in the Balaton summer house - bottle lasts a long time - all summer.   Not really any kind of problem down there.  We just get the gas bottle refill from the local guy who isn't that bothered about procedure.

fluffy2560 wrote:

If one goes and see local dealer Lajos around the corner, he'd sort it out without the "corporate" or "lazy employee"  behaviour.

Once again, one needs to know a guy!

Absolutely.

In Hungary, to get many things done with the minimal amount of pain and suffering, one must indeed "know a guy".

Of course, "knowing a guy" might sometimes result in some... legal gray areas..... to get the job done. Not always of course. But one must really examine and judge the conditions to be sure.

Not judging. Just saying.... 

Personally prefer the long hard way, so to be fully stamped, certified, legit and golden (so no need to be beholding to "that guy" for a counter favor later). But takes a lot longer. Sometimes a hell of a lot longer. Am talking years not just months. Been there.

But each to their own. 

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

If one goes and see local dealer Lajos around the corner, he'd sort it out without the "corporate" or "lazy employee"  behaviour.

Once again, one needs to know a guy!

Absolutely.

In Hungary, to get many things done with the minimal amount of pain and suffering, one must indeed "know a guy".

Of course, "knowing a guy" might sometimes result in some... legal gray areas..... to get the job done. Not always of course. But one must really examine and judge the conditions to be sure.

Not judging. Just saying.... 

Personally prefer the long hard way, so to be fully stamped, certified, legit and golden (so no need to be beholding to "that guy" for a counter favor later). But takes a lot longer. Sometimes a hell of a lot longer. Am talking years not just months. Been there.

But each to their own. 

Yes indeed.

I think that idea of favours is part of the culture here but possibly we - me in the UK, you in the USA - where that kind of system is less visible or engaged is harder for us to negotiate.   Mrs Fluffy seems to have an intuition for these things that I do not have.  It's not just language, it's a kind of feel for it.  I theorise that scratching horse trading in commie times was a way to survive not just for say straight forward financial advantage or making a deal. 

If there's any chance of blowback, for sure, rubber stamp definitely needed, even if a rubber stamp is supposedly not required, just get one anyway!

fluffy2560 wrote:

If there's any chance of blowback, for sure, rubber stamp definitely needed, even if a rubber stamp is supposedly not required, just get one anyway!

I once did a lot of business on "gentleman agreements". And the other gentleman kept to their agreement. Even on international issues.

Then, around 2005, things started to change. Got screwed on a lot on hand shake deals.

So started insisting on clear and unambiguous written contracts simply to protect myself and my fiscal interests. That was kind of a sad day when I installed that requirement into my business plan. Clearly, the world of 'gentlemen" had past. Sad.

I don't do business in Hungary, but some people I know do... and they till today report how shockingly difficult it is here to get people here to agree to a written contract. Seems people here don't want to be honest and keep to their agreement. Also: Sad.

klsallee wrote:

....

I don't do business in Hungary, but some people I know do... and they till today report how shockingly difficult it is here to get people here to agree to a written contract. Seems people here don't want to be honest and keep to their agreement. Also: Sad.

Tell me about it. 

I'm often dealing with contracts and people are wilfully ignorant beyond understanding.  I was helping one guy from a country far away from here telling me he was quite prepared to renege on parts of a multi-million dollar contract if he found there was insufficient budget to pay for what was contracted. 

I got quite irate and told him that doing such things was highly unprofessional, was bad faith and possibly illegal and he didn't know what he was doing. If he intended to do something like that, he would be in serious legal trouble and could be liable for considerable costs.  That's even if a contract does not actually exist.  Just negotiating is enough in some jurisdictions to create a liability.

I'm not a lawyer but I do know something about it and told him to seek legal advice locally about what he intended to do and if he intended to do that, to put his thoughts in writing to those above him so others below would be absolved and wouldn't get caught up in anything untoward.  We needed to be in CYA mode.   He was an utter clown.

I think the problems here in Hungary are much the same.  They recognise the law is there but they think it's a remote concept or think it doesn't apply to them or they don't realise there's the possibility of someone seeking redress against them. 

As this has been a recurrent problem - what I usually do first thing is say, here's the model contract and after they looked at it for a bit - are you prepared to sign a contract in this form?  If they say no, then that's that for them.

Yes, it is hard to collect a payment from some people.
That's where my soon to be ex- neighbor comes in but that's a whole new kettle of fish...
I wanted to use his "services" a few times but thought the better of it.
Could use him ATM for a parking garage refund... I digress...

I'm not sure what size gas bottle is needed to heat up water for a bath and how long it would last.
The one we used for our dryer was a "normal" sized one, I could barely lift it up when it was empty so those very large ones would need a couple of guys to lift it when full.
In the US they have those gas exchange bottles outside many regular grocery stores, think people use them for the BBQ grills.
In Hawaii we had to buy our own bottle, limited options over there just like here in Hungary, off the grid so to speak in many ways.
It's best to invest in a good new bottle for your own safety, could blow up on you and then that wouldn't be too good.
Ours lasted a few years and that's with it being used one year in a damp climate.
We had to have a special sort of hose professionally fitted for it to be used with our clothing dryer. That was a few bucks to get done as well.
Sometimes you have to just spend the money and get things done right so not to lead to bigger issues later on.
Our gas bottle cost an average of $20. to refill in 1995, that would be around 5,000 Forints I suppose.
Since your current bottle is connected and can't be removed, I think you may need someone to come out and fill it on site?
Can't go wrong with an exchange of beer and wine though!