1266 To burn or not

My system is even worse, I have oil or wood fired boiler for the central heating system, last year, if I had run on oil only, it would have cost around €2.500,00 using wood €400,00, I also supplement with a wood burning stove in the main room, very useful, also, if the electricity goes out, you can also cook on it :)

[QUOTE=Annie T]Would those of you living in Italy, Le Marche, recommend a wood burning stove as a necessary addition to central heating or is it just a poncy fashion accessory?[/QUOTE]

I thought that for most Brits, ...... having the house in Italy was the poncy fashion accessory

Will, don't have any spare pennies, or these foreign things they have here at the moment (why doesn't everyone use sterling anyway :( ) the boiler here is in great condition too, so, guess I will learn to love my legno as they say, and what can be better on a cold winters day than tramping downstairs every few hours, fighting off the dogs then sling ing a few logs in the boiler...(answers on a postcard.):D

Hi Annie
It depends on the amount of freely available fuel (wood) . If you have a convection system (where you use the principle of hot water rising to circulate round the house) Then this can be doubly advantageous as it won't cost you any energy and you won't be affected by powercuts.It is vital if you decide to burn wood that you make sure it is dry. Damp wood causes the ensuing moisture to condense at the top of your chimney, this makes a sticky goo (steady george!!) any soot now sticks to the goo and blocks your chimney.
If you run your heating from a solid fuel stove and a solar heating panel on the roof you 'll reduce all your high energy costs

......what make of wood burning stove and are there any outlets you could recommend in Le Marche?
Our poncy fashion accessory of a house is an old one being renovated and we will have central heating running on town gas, and apart from supplementing the heating (we were there in March) I thought it would make a nice focal point. Thanks for all the advice so far.

Hi - on this subject - we are looking into getting a stove to sit in the fireplace - we are in Abruzzo - can anyone suggest where we can purchase one - (also been mentioned using chicken pellets as fuel rather than wood - any comments?)

Thanks
Mark

I spent 8 years with wood only heat - it has it's good points but it's a lot of work and messy.
A wood stove in the living room for occasional use is a great idea. This way you will have one nice and toasty warm room.

After 8 years of heating with just a wood stove (which was also connected to the radiators and water boiler) I got tired of it - it was never freezing but never ever warm enough.
We had a fireplace in the living room upstairs which made life a little nicer except you always have to put wood on it so laying on the couch all day and doing nothing is not an option.

Currently I have a pellet stove. I love it. They are a little expensive to buy but not that expensive to run - actually I dont know how much it costs to run - its worth whatever it costs.

Personally I think some sort of fire is a necessity.
Being cold in the winter or having to wear 5 billion jumpers inside allways is no fun at all.

[we are about to go down that route and like Mr Lucotzzi in Amandola - he has tiles and everything... nice man. Chicken pellets might smell? I am told you can buy wood pellets outside Amandola quite cheaply...Janet

[QUOTE=Annie T]Would those of you living in Italy, Le Marche, recommend a wood burning stove as a necessary addition to central heating or is it just a poncy fashion accessory?[/QUOTE]

Lucky you to have central heating. we've only got an old fireplace in the corner of the main room which doesn't heat up the rest of the house at all really. We've got lots of trees to prune though so will probably get one of those poncy fashion wood burning things eventually.

Still can't get those smiley things to work !

Still can't get those smiley things to work ![/QUOTE]

Ohh, :) that's a shame :) BTW, chicken pellets are a term sometimes used to describe the wood pellets by those not in the know ;)