Morning all,
I have been reading through some of the previous discussions on the above but I have become all confused.
We are due to move in 9 weeks and will be living very close to large forest in Burgundy so am hoping that wood for our wood burner (which we haven't purchased yet so god knows what size/type to go for) will be on the cheaper side. We can buy in bulk and store in barn, so if it needs seasoning that should be a problem.
However, with three kids etc we want to have electricity as our main source of heat and water heating (ok.. we don't actually want electricity because it's expensive but we don't have a gas supply). Just slightly bewildered by options for combined heating and wondering if there is any advice out there.
House is well over 100 years old and has nada in terms of insulation so that is our first (after reconnecting electricity and plumbing) thought whilst doing up the house. Father in law (French) has done this sort of thing before so hopefully he will know what and where to put insulation (other than the obvious places).
We would love underfloor heating but wondered what the thoughts are on this..
I look forward to the barrage of responses (dons hard hat).
Having bought the house you have a DPE (Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique) anyway (the energy consumption report) and EDF seem to go happily into places with the roof off, so I guess so.
Hi Gerda and David.. yes I have been looking online at prices of buying one here and taking it with us but until we know exactly what model we need and what we want it to do (and we might not know this until a few weeks in of actually moving to France) then it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. My god do I use that analogy a lot at the moment. (Still dunno whether or not I am the chicken or the egg..)
Wonderful thanks Brian (I secretly knew you would pop up with some info!).. Is it possible to do a DPE and EDF audit when there is only rubble on the ground floor? My husband's great aunt has the geothermal underground thingbob and her tiles were lovely toasty warm when we visited during the snow in February. However, apparently it can be very costly and like you say it depends on your ground. The problem is that it would be all too easy to go down the easier route of just installing electric based everything and getting a wood burner for basic coziness during the colder months but then we aren't being trés eco are we? However, money being the essence 'n all that.. means that we are more worried about getting the bulk of the work done in budget and don't want to blow a massive proportion on getting the heating right if we then can't afford the windows to keep the stuff in!
Go to the group 'Renewable energy systems, Sustainable technologies and Eco lifestyles'. I've recently put up details about eco-insulation, PV roof tiles and so on and others are doing some good posts there too.
I imported a used and refurbished Rayburn. It runs central heating, hot water, heats the kitchen and we cook in it. With the solar it is now over a year since we have used electricity for the hot water. Wood can be expensive, you need a good mix for overnight slow burning and so on, but you'll get there.
Make sure your DPE report is right, and get the EDF audit but avoid their 'partners'. Some of them are expensive, others are totally duff. I know you are here in a few weeks but the DPE and audit will give you the basis on which to begin to work out actual needs. That is what counts and gets you started. Find out about the ground on which you are, if you have shallow soil on hard bedrock soil sources are far too expensive. Heat pumps are questionable thus far, some people are lucky and others not, location seems to make or break that one.
We are still looking at it all and saving pennies for the day but there are good products on the market and in the renewables group I reckon you'll get the answers you want.
Good info there David, especially about the price of woodburners!
Wonder why some of the goods are so much more expensive in France, as I would have expected the UK to be more costly, what with being an island!
Bear in mind that work like this can qualify for tax credits BUT only if done by a registered French contractor.
Ok thanks David, very helpful :-)
I would definitely add some kind of wood burner - wood is relatively cheap and plentiful. If you can buy the wood burner in England as they are very expensive in France (at least double). You will need to work out the room size and get a recommendation for your fireplace and heated area.
For insulation we used a company called Quali Confort to inject rock wool into our attic spaces, they are very helpful and professional and much cheaper than the competition plus being recommended by EDF. For about €300 EDF will do a complete energy audit on your house and tell you what the best method of insulation and heating is - well worth it.
If you have no heating system now, look into heat pumps. Solar is only a back-up but in the right place it can save you a lot of money - I had a 5kw system in California which took my electric bills to zero and I had air-conditioning and a pool.
Cheers
David