Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

seven-day-weekend

Small world indeed, especially when you consider our friend, who is from the French Alps, we met him here in Spain where he lived for 25 years and he ends up living next door to you in West Ogwell!

HappyinSpain

Wonder if anyone has advice about woodburners? We've seen some cast iron ones as well as the much lighter steel types, and the price difference is vast but is there very much difference in heat output or the quantity of logs needed?

Our house is a mid-terrace bungalow without a fireplace, so the chimney/flue would need to go through the roof or through a wall at the front of the house (although I'm not too keen on the look of that).

Any advice would be much appreciated.

seven-day-weekend

We got a really cheap one from Leroy Merlin and the heat it gives out is fine - it heats the quite large room it is in. (and we are 1000m up in the mountains). The flue goes through the roof.

Couldn't tell you about the quantity of logs, sorry.

Welcome to the forum btw.

arroli

We had to make the same descision a couple of years ago, we opted for a built in cast iron wood burning stove, as you say, more expensive than cheaper metal ones, but in the long term a good investment, wouldn't be without it now...
I think difference is in the kw output. I am sure if you go to a stove showroom the info is shown on each model. We chose one with a built in electric fan, (didnt see the point at the time) but if the room is chilly, you just flick fan on and hot air circulates, a bonus!
Our flue pipe had to be cut through the ceiling and out through outside wall...most spanish houses have them and you sort of dont notice it after a while!
We burn mainly olive wood on ours, but I think any type of wood will be good...probably the cheapest you can get because its quite an expensive form of heating (so we found out- paid 11c kilo for wood this winter)
We bought ours and had it fitted by Bronpi....if you google them, they have different locations in Spain

droopsnout

Do not burn resinous woods! Pine and similar will coat your chimneys/flues with sticky resin from the smoke, and there is the double disadvantage that it (the resin) can catch fire, and you will have to pay the chimney sweep to clean it, fire or not! And it's tenacious stuff!

Make sure that your buildings insurance covers your new installation, and check the conditions: it will probably stipulate that you should have the chimney cleaned professionally once a year.

Different woods produce different amounts of heat, and burn in different ways. Best are probably oak and hornbeam.

I have a pdf of a very helpful booklet (82 pages!) called "A Guide to Residential Wood Heating", produced in Canada. If anyone would like a copy, I would be happy to email it to you (it's 860Kb) if you PM me your email address, or of course you could do a search for the title. (Please note that I will be away from home from tomorrow for a few days, though).

Welcome to the forum, HappyInSpain, and good luck with your improvements.

donny-gal

Hi everyone

Welcome to the forum HappyInSpain :hello:

Not sure if there is a "cheap" form of heating in Spain other than the Gas heaters, we have an electronic parafin one for the cooler evening, and use that along with our air con unit on heat of course.

We are doing our lounge in the UK this summer (all being well, been under threat for a while) and are considering a log burner in there as we have a real chimney, and currently have a gas flame effect fire which which is only 50% efficient, either that or block the chimney up to avoid losing heat via it, and put some candles in there (MW). With all the talk of insufficient gas and electricity in the future it is a bit of an insurance for if the CH doesn't work.

Decisions, Decision.
DG

seven-day-weekend

We have various forms of heating in our Spanish house - as well as the logburner we have portable gas heaters and fan and halogen electric heaters. But being in Spain we do as the Spanish do and only heat one or two rooms at a time.

In the UK we have gas central heating, but we have kept our fireplaces and chimneys and also have a fan heater for emergencies.

You need to have a Plan B!

donny-gal

Our Plan B in the UK is just to decamp to our touring caravan on the drive;)
DG

HappyinSpain

Thank you to everyone for your advice on woodburners and also the welcome.

Oh for central heating...! Apart from family, I think thats all I miss.

This is our 3rd winter now and each one seems colder than the last, even though the thermometer tells us different!

We've bought those Econoheat panel heaters, 2 gas portable heaters and some small fan heaters. And I still feel cold! Hubby doesnt feel the cold, don't think men do, do they?

I've found the panel heaters OK for taking the chill factor off the rooms, the gas heaters give out a lot of heat but unfortunately loads of moisture as well. Consequently, several areas around the house get damp and if not checked can become quite mouldy. I dont think heating totally by electricity is an option as it is so expensive, even tho' we're on the 12 hour off-peak tariff.

Although I'm finding this winter cold, thankfully it is quite short in comparison to the UK, so reckon that we will probably research more on the types of woodburners available and aim to get one installed later in the year.

droopsnout

HappyinSpain wrote: »

I still feel cold! Hubby doesnt feel the cold, don't think men do, do they?

Forgive me for being rather forward, but I do think you have the answer to your own problem there!