1816 Heating in Puglia

I live further north in Le Marche but the cost of electricity and gas/oil is substantially more than in the UK so I would say electric heating is a no-no. Go for the good old wood burning stoves or a pellet burner (not quite so prety and can make a weird wooshing noise) if you don't want central heating.

[QUOTE=matt]Hi All,

I have just bought a place in Ostuni, and am completely renovating it.
What does everyone feel are the best options for heating it?

Most of the time I will be renting it out during the summer months, but occasionally I will be down there during the winter.

I don't really want to have to install an expensive central heating system (partly because the reonvations are already well under way!!) - are electric heaters an option?

Many thanks for any advice,

Matthew[/QUOTE]

It depends on what sort of place it is. Is it in the centro storico or in the country? Unless it`s really tiny I would say, if at all possible, go for the central heating even if it`s a bit tricky to put in. Another problem with electric heaters is the wattage (I`m completely untechnical - I think it`s the wattage!). Unless you pay to have a higher wattage available from ENEL you`ll be getting constant power cuts as heaters use a lot of electicity & you won`t be able to have other appliances on at the same time. You do need really good, efficient heating down here - I find it gets much colder than in the UK. Without central heating, probably the suggestion of stoves is the best or one of those glass-fronted fires (?termosifone?) :confused:

recently saw an advert for a pellet stove which for some reason did not need a chimney.... god knows how that works.... and another ad for a pellet stove...programmable... which ran a few radiators ...these all come with hopper type things and can run for about three days on one load... they rate them by calorific value and also burn rate...low setting they use 0.5 kg of fuel per hour up to a max of 3kg perhour.... find a pellet store and you can work out running costs... they also had prices from the most simple.... just a stove really to the last two more complicated versions which ran from e 100 up to max e25000

if you compare this to a gas fired (mains ) boiler which costs say e500 it might seem expensive...but if you take your standing charge ...say about e200-300 per year...more if you are non resident... it might well be an atractive alternative... especially if the heating costs are lower...dont ask me the cost of gas...they require all people that read the back of their bills to try and work out unit costs here to have a degree in advanced mathematics....just let me say that i agree with allpoints mentioned about costs....excessive and cold.... worse than england...its very hard to make an old house warm here....

i would also include the fact that in general puglia seems one of the wettest areas in southern italy... they have just had bad floods again and more are due the day after tomorrow

so to conclude ....if you can afford to... get the best heating system possable and before doing that get the best double glazing ... and insulating ... because for what heating costs here you will not be wanting cold air entering your house at all...

the smiths are also right on the kw allowance..in general either 3 or 3,5.... you add in anything heavy it just does not work.... you can opt for a higher rating ...but then all charges go up...ie monthly standing charge more... and bills higher becuse you are using more anyway

also right on the glass fronted stoves...we have a wood one rated to a capacity of 300 metre cube... it saves in the first couple of months...eg oct/nov putting on the central heating... and you can stop the central heating earlier... its cleaner than a fireplace and more efficient....

actually nice to read a realistic posting on life here.... i sometimes think we are the only family with children that happen to post... and have concerns over normal things like costs of living...cold houses... life beyond walks along the beach...commuting into towns.... etc etc..... not that i want to put words into their mouths

Apologies for my ignorance but what are pellet stoves? Where does one buy pellets, what are they and how bulky are they? - Would the pellets need to be stored in the equivalent of a coal bunker?

Ciao Jane,
Nobody knows everything.
The pellets are compacted sawdust & can be bought in hardware stores. They are about the size of chicken feed. They are not cheap as they have to be 'compacted'. It is a dedicated stove, (as it will only burn the pellets). So if you are looking for a heat scource to heat your house & water, try to pick a stove that will burn more than one fuel.
Salve
Rob

Rob,

Thanks for the info, perhaps a wood burning stove is what I need.

Jane

Thanks to every one for theire postings.

In reply to The Smiths: The house is in the countryside.

It seems that Stove / Glass fronted fires seem the best option.

Does anyone know how much these cost? How much to install.

Thanks once agian for all your help. It is incredibly valuable.

Allthe best,

Matthew

Ciao Matt.
Just a quick note re pellet stoves, if you do a search on pellet and then look at a thread entitled 'LPG per litre .........' started by Tekkytyke you will find on page 3 info on pellet stoves including costs of pellets.
Also lot of other interesting info.
Saluti
Stribs

Go for a simple stufa........ a wood-burning stove that's quick & simple!

There's a bewildering range of products, but the simple ones are best (a good range can be seen here [url]http://www.casadellastufa.it/html/stufelegna.html[/url])

[QUOTE=tuscanhills]..........[url]http://www.casadellastufa.it/html/stufelegna.html[/url])[/QUOTE]

It's also got a range of pellet ones too if you're still curious ;)

[QUOTE=matt]Thanks to every one for theire postings.

In reply to The Smiths: The house is in the countryside.

It seems that Stove / Glass fronted fires seem the best option.

Does anyone know how much these cost? How much to install.

Thanks once agian for all your help. It is incredibly valuable.

Allthe best,

Matthew[/QUOTE]
We finally (thank god) got rid of our open fire place (dust, dirt, cleaning, 80% heat lost up the chimney,can't use "poor" wood ,won't burn,can't burn chestnut ..spits etc so we had it closed in it's a large iron cube basically with a thermal glass front so you still see the flames (as that is what appears to excite people) it generates (now) a heat that personally i find even too much but on the other hand can heat the entire ground floor without any tubes etc we do not run hot water from this neither do we try to heat other parts of the house from it.The cost including vat @20% was about Euro 1.500 of which i think 60% tax deductable over 8 years with declaration if you're actually paying tax.So we thought well worth the investment.It incinerates even damp or lousy wood ,produces very little ash,you can regulate the speed of burning/heat, looks nice and is absolutely efficient and creates no dust/dirt.

[QUOTE=matt]Thanks to every one for theire postings.

In reply to The Smiths: The house is in the countryside.

It seems that Stove / Glass fronted fires seem the best option.

Does anyone know how much these cost? How much to install.

Thanks once agian for all your help. It is incredibly valuable.

Allthe best,

Matthew[/QUOTE]

What I meant to say, Matt, was a termo-cammino. Termosifoni are radiators!! A termo-cammino has the water pipes running through it directly heated by the fire. A pump circulates the water to heat the radiators. They are v. efficient, as long as you keep the fire going, but are apparently fairly expensive for a decent one.

Hi All.

Thanks everyone for you invaluable advice. Sebastiano, who did you get to close in the fire?

All the best,

Matthew