A small solar panel would easily take care of keeping the battery topped up. I use one to keep my lawmower batteries from failing especially over winter.
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Then I think that is what we will try for too.
Was it very expensive, or did you do it yourself? Is there anything clever about it?
Perhaps Iāll try it some time but I CBB with that at this stage. Iām also not sure where I would install a panel.
One thing to consider, if you go the pellet route then you are locked into buying only pellets.
If you go the wood burner route then you may be able to obtain wood free, also many wood burners are multi fuel so that you can burn coal as well. We have wood burners and are very pleased with them. You can open the front if you want the open fire look.
If you go for a back boiler to heat the water choose a stainless steel one.
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Not advisable with most of the closed front systems nowadays.
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How very last century. Possibly the worst polluting fossil fuel.
Letās keep the thread friendly please.
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Planet friendly?
Iād like to think that no-one would consider coal as a long-term fuel option these days, especially in France where there is so much wood. OTOH if the leccy were off and I were unable to get wood for a couple of days & needed heat badly, Iād certainly consider coal in a rural environment.
The last thread on this topic got a bit nasty, and I was hoping that we might avoid that happening again.
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As we were getting ācredit dāimpotā for buying the pellet burner we had to have the installation done by a correctly registered pro. However, the process was not hard & would be easy to DIY.
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Ours is being installed as I type!
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Details, details 
your a journalist so you canāt get away with something as short as that 
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I stayed in a single story gite in Les Landes 2 years ago, the pellet burning heater in the lounge was efficient but so noisy. When it kicked in at 06.00, it woke everyone up.
Am looking to see whether a pellet fired boiler in the cellar might be a solution for my needs, should be far enough away from the bedrooms
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Noise levels may well be device-specific. The unit we had in our room on our last trip in Feb wasnāt silent but certainly didnāt keep us awake. By comparison, the oil fired pressure jet system in our Rayburn is effectively a small rocket motor that can be heard upstairs too, but after a while we simply donāt notice it.
At the moment Iām slightly more inclined towards 2 pellet stoves for ease of use and room-sealing, even though my heart prefers traditional woodburners which are also cheaper.
It was more a question of waking people up when it kicked off at 6 AM
My neighbour has invested in a very efficient wood burner that heats water that in turn heats water in a 1500L tank that is circulated through his existing radiators. Luckily he has the space for it as the tank replaces the oil tank he had in his cellar. He has free access to firewood so his heating costs are very little these days.
And maintenance specific, one dry bearingā¦
How much looking after do they need?
Well I am in love with it thus far. And I didnāt expect to be as I loved my cream enamel Invicta stove.
But the convenience of being able to turn it on at will and not worrying about tending to the fire when its first lit, keeping it in or not overnight , dust, wood buying, stacking, carting etc etc has totally sold me.
And we are blissfully warm.
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What have you got Cat? Iām looking at the possibility of a pellet burner for what we hope will eventually be an extension / lounge to our cottage. I am struggling with quite how the practicalities of the chimney will work.
Hi Sue, we have got one of these:
@james will be able to tell you about the technical stuff. I just chose the colourā¦!
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