Thank you to everyone who has replied to my post. Im very confused now but also glad we didnt start anything yet. I obviously want the most efficient way but i need hot water on demand and we do have a large fireplace for now so need to just figure out the best way for heating i know some other british have bought in combi boilers but i dont know how good they are. Electricians all give us different advice and weve had 0 luck with getting one in as they are all booked until march.
Where can i get a heat pump and does this provide both heating and water? Thank you
The usual solution is to put a freestanding log burner, either traditional, or contemporary design in an old French fireplace However worth considering the convenience of a pellet stove as a reasonably economical alternative.
Heat pumps are useful in the south not simply for quick heating but for cooling through the summer. People often think of them as air conditioning, but most also have a dehumidifier mode that cools the room without making it icy cold and is more economical to run.
Wow thats great do you have a mumber for them please
1 Like
Amazing thank you so much
The advantage of the log burner is you donât need electricity, the disadvantage of the pellet burner is that you do.
We have a large fireplace downstairs. The electric heaters would only be on in the evenings at a decent temperature so not allday.
Weâve got a log burner, a pellet stove and four heat pumps (last came with the house) so itâs easy to compare the three. I like the log burner, but itâs the most work and weâve never been without electricity for more than an hour or two in the past twelve years. The pellet stove is far less hassle, moves heat around the house more effectively and itâs instant. The heat pumps we mainly use for cooling.
You obviously didnât live round here when the Grande Tempete hit in '99. We were weeks without it, and water. They brought in leccys all the way from Norfolk in little blue vans to tackle the job.
2 Likes
You obviously didnât live round here when the Grande Tempete hit in '99.
No, but that was in the last century and these days most of our local electric is underground.
Hi Adam, it was actually an English electrician, we told him we wanted hot water on demand and he recommended we get an electric balloon boiler and instal electric wall heaters. We also thought it was odd but as were new here we havent been able to get any other opinions so all this information here is very helpful to us. We do have q large fireolace for downstairs so thats not an issue just need some heating in the bedrooms upstairs during the cold months. We do know that summers here are very hot and we have already installed a solar shower in our garden. The problem is, at the moment we just dont know where to look for all this stuff and who can fix it for us
Please advice me on where i can get this and who could install it ? Thanks
Hi again Lola,
It might be helpful if you can tell people whether youâre in a traditionally built house - stone walls, smaller windows or somewhere more recent with different construction.
1 Like
Hi, thank you, solar panels ?
You need to go on line to find Shipley, you then ask for quotes and describe what you need to be moved and from where to where.Hope this helps.
Well good for you, ours isnât.
As others have pointed out itâs very straightforward to arrange to be billed for the electricity that you have used. I have always paid every two months. I used to fill in my meter reading on the dates given and record them online but itâs much simpler now with the Linky smart meter. Itâs very difficult to work try to work out your future electricity costs based on the example of others. Not only do we all have different family sizes and lifestyles but there are huge climatic differences within France and a huge range of different houses. The best way to get estimates would be to ask neighbours with similar houses to your own. I rely a lot on electricity. I cook and heat my water with electricity and have a sort of electric storage heater in my kitchen that runs from the beginning of December to the end of March. My only other heating is a powerful woodburner. My house is very different to your own being a stone building under an insulated roof. I pay two big electricity bills a year during the winter, to reasonable ones in the autumn and spring and two much smaller ones in the summer. When I have visitors to stay other than in the summer I use oil filled electric radiators in their bedrooms. The spike in the daily electricity reading caused by just one of them is eye watering. A huge number of my neighbours use air sourced heat pumps and everybody that I know who uses them says theyâre great. A lot of people had them fitted when the government was offering subsidies. My house is very comfortable as it is. The stone walls hold a lot of heat and the logburner warms everything up very quickly but if I was starting again I would probably install air-source heat pumps and underfloor heating. At the moment Iâm happy to have the log burner but managing the firewood is quite a time consuming part of my routine and when my wood supplier stopped supplying it was a bit of a worry. In the next ten years I will be changing the logburner for a pellet burner to cut down on the wood preparation. My immediate neighbour has used pellet burners for over 12 years and they are very easy to manage. Good luck with your adventure and make a start on that insulation.
1 Like
They sit on your roof and generate electricity, you can also get evacuated tubes for hot water. Free solar energy!
1 Like
Lola - as youâre moving to France, I STRONGLY suggest that you talk to a electrician whoâs registered in France and take their advice. Many French homes have been wrecked by a P&O builder!
3 Likes
The other thing to add about rural France is that the best artisans can be booked up for a year in advance. It is deeply frustrating if you have come from somewhere where plumbers and electricians are abundant, and maybe youâll be lucky. We waited nearly two years for our roof. If someone is available to start straight away ask why?
But ask neighbours for recommendations, and local mairie and check that the artisan or company is correctly registered and i sured.
1 Like