with the winter switch, the blades do not send cool air down on us… rather they push air towards the ceiling… and on the slowest setting the draught is imperceptible…
With the summer switch… we sit and let a cool breeze revitalize us… with 3 speeds… easy peasy…
I’ve just heard… the plumber will be out tomorrow to hopefully mend the CH boiler…
Until then… pile on the logs… and keep the kettle full… … roll on Summer 
Interesting - I’ve never really thought about wood burners and their heat output but I did some back of envelope calculations and came to the conclusion that, if you have a 12kW wood burner, lit for 24/7 you will, indeed, get through a corde of wood a month.
If you can get a corde for 220€ this is actually not dissimilar to my costs for keeping the heat pump going, nor to my gas use in the UK.
Depending on insulation 50-100W per m2 is a reasonable starting point so that should be enough to heat a decent sized house so I suspect that Stella is on to something with distribution of the heat.
As for the oil filled electric radiators, switching to paraffin heaters for cold corners will be (a bit) cheaper - given supermarket prices for heating paraffin it works out to the equivalent of 10c per kWh. Finally if you are using most electricity during the day “Heures Creuses” might not be the best tariff, though you probably have to look at your 'leccy use over the whole year to decide which tariff would work out cheaper.
Don’t forget, a wood burners kW rating is the output it can tolerate constantly without damage, not the heat output of the burner. That always depends on what you put in to it and the way it’s burnt, I.e. vents open or closed, fast or slow burn.
Does anyone else use buches du bois in their wood burners, we find they give out far more heat than ordinary wood and leave very little ash?
Valid point.
Actually I forgot to factor in burn efficiency so a corde would probably provide about 9kW of heat continuously for a month (very roughly).
I suppose what I’m getting at is:
220€ a corde is not an unreasonable price
a corde a month is not outside the bounds of what is expected/needed to heat a reasonable sized house.
So Maddie might not have an easy fix, probably several small improvements are needed - insulation, fixing the central heating etc. Difficult if money is tight.
Paul… I think you hit on a valid point…
Any heating is OK provided the warmth moves about a bit and that there is a certain level of insulation… otherwise you are just heating the street and your neighbours… 
I recall days from my youth… everyone huddled around the fire in the bar…warm fronts and freezing backs… brrrrr
Tried them but decided that they wouldn’t be economic to use all the time. This was based on absolutely no fancy calculations, just a feeling…
Now I just use them to light the wood burner initially as they produce heat so quickly and in 10 mins it’s up to temp and pumping out plenty of heat.
Actually I have a feeling they could be economical enough to use all the time. Perhaps I should try them for a week and work out a cost comparison. Our logs are kept in a dry barn but I think pallets of buche bois would really need storing indoors.
We buy ours by the tonne and keep them in an attached barn, they’re packaged in plastic so always stay dry.
We only light the log insert whilst Zi sm preparing the dinner, so that we can cost up in the evenings.
During the day, we wear layers of clothing, and try to keep busy with the renovations, cleaning etc.
If we sit down in the day, we choose the funniest room, or sit outside as it is often warmer than indoors !
We have the petrol heaters with electric fans for use in cold dull days, as these can be turned off and on when required.
No heat in bedroom, just electric under -blanket ( hot water bottles last year, but I got wicked villains on my feet!)
Radient electric wall heater in the bathroom, 10 mins before shower, until we’ve dried off. . .
We still managed to accuse about 1000€ electricity bill over the year, and 5 stère of wood, plus the ‘petrol’ which we buy when it’s on offer in the supermarkets, at 19€ per 20ltrs.
The standing charges for electricity are huge here!
One bill, it was more than the units!
We have approx same area of living space as U.K. but over one level, not two, and our fuel costs are almost double!
Partly insulation, partly type used, but at least there, we were never cold!!
free insulation? I do not joke
we had ours done (well my mother in laws house) for next to nothing
the guy coming to check it out is free also
Just in case anyone may be interested - Mint Energie, a fairly recent start up offering around 11% reduction on EDF electricity tarifs whilst still maintaining Enedis for interventions.
ZHello Madeson Jones.
And everybody.
Please be kind as I am just an observer, retired and have time on my hands.
I also only live in France 83 for 2/3 warm months a year. However I live in Luxembourg where I have for many years observed houses being built without UK style cavity walls.
Here all modern house and apartment buildings have insulation applied to the OUTSIDE of the building this is then finished with a decorative Finnish.
The property we have owned for 27 years in 83 is a holiday home and has insulation appropriate to that description.
In the winter the property is COLD. So I have over the years given a lot of thought to insulation. All the above is to qualify my thinking as I have actually not done anything about it.
If you live in a beautiful old stone building you may have reservations about changing the cosmetics. However if the heating costs are driving you to bankruptcy you may want to consider applying insulation to the outside of the building. This can be applied for example only to north facing walls and without the decorative Finnish can be quite cheap.
It might actually be possible to remove it in the summer!
Further, even without the insulation, have you thought of the wind/cold penetration around the window units. A “gun” and a tube of transparent insulating “stuff” (€8) can make a huge difference.
My apologies to all those in the midst of reservations who know much more than I can ever know, but I have never been able to keep my mouth shut!
I wouldn’t call that extortionate, though I think you are paying rather a lot for wood. Here in Normandie, we get a cord of wood for around 140 €. Having said that, if you are getting all hardwood, the calorific value will be higher and could justify the extra cost.
I suspect that most households in the UK are paying much more for heating.
Old stone houses are a problem to keep warm. The cheapest short-term solution is to try to eliminate draughts and wear more clothes and do more physical work. Longer term, a cheap solution is to line all your external walls with insulation backed plasterboard. However, this will reduce the size of your rooms to a certain extent and architectural purists may object on aesthetic grounds.
But the sad truth is that most old houses can never be made to match the standard of insulation that you can get with a new build.
Just a thought - is your loft space insulated ? We are all aware that the most heat loss is through the roof. Just now there is a French government scheme for insulating the loft space for one euro - yes one euro. It applied to old properties which are not insulated. I had my roof space insulated last summer, and wow - what a difference this Winter.
Would you like to tell us how the work was done… what it entailed… I am sure it would be of interest…
Harry’s link above has some videos of how it’s done. For those of us without loft space it’s not possible though😢
You learn a lot how your house works if you start by searching for air leaks. Perfect time now with all the stormy weather.
Google Find-Air-Leaks-in-Your-Home or something similar.
And of course insulation of attic not only works for in winter, it also keeps the house cooler in a heatwave .
There are several companies throughout France who do this insulation. At present Super U have a stand in their foyer
The company I used is :- Combles Eco Energie, 33 av du Maine BP 195, 75 PARIS Cedex 15
Telephone 0171703201
Email : pes@certinergy.com
I can thoroughly recommend this company - they are very professional.
First of all you have to measure the area of the loft - I did this by measuring my total ground floor/ then I put all my details to them including measurements up on line onto their website. they then replied that a rep would call and verify everything - who he did and pronounced that work would take place in due course. I waited around 2 weeks for a phone call to tell me if it was OK with me for the date for the work. 2 chaps arrived on due date and time and the insulation which resembles wool fibres, was pumped via a tube into my loft space. No dirt, no mess and the whole operation took around 40 minutes. a week or so later I had a phone call from the company to tell me the rep would return and inspect the job was satisfactory. After that I received a bill for ONE EURO… I have to say it is the first time in my life I have written a cheque for a euro !!
Have a look at their website. Good luck
Have replied to you Stella please see further down page