# Heating ?



## Townfanjon (Jan 2, 2016)

Hi folks, still very new on here so please bear with me.
I know depending on the area there are potentialy cold winters in spain .
How do you heat your homes in the winter months ? .. log burners ? ( are logs readily available ) 
The obvious one to me is electricity , how do electricity prices compare with uk prices . 

Thanks in advance


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## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

hola 

We use a log fire , gas fire , air con and convection heater 

Logs are easy to get in our area about 15c per kilo 

We use day and night tariff electric use about 80 € pm 

Cheers Tony Agost Alicante


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## Townfanjon (Jan 2, 2016)

Many thanks Tony , as far as you know, is mains gas available throughout spain or is it selected areas ?


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## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

most people I know use bottled gas , natural gas is available in our village ( and towns ) 

To be honest I prefer to use bottled gas as you pay as you go , with out any nasty large bill surprises !

What area are you interested in ?

Cheers Tony


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## Townfanjon (Jan 2, 2016)

Do you know pal , I wish I knew lol lol , 

Probably Valencia southwards , perhaps alicanti lol .
Hopefully start off as a hoilday apartment. We definatly will learn the language but we must end up close to a expat community.
I think what will make us chose the area , will be the type/condition and location of what apartment we end up picking . 
Hows life in Alicante ??


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## svlinda (Aug 31, 2015)

Hi!! it´s very thoughtful to get prepared for the wintertime as the old buildings here in Valencia have no heating system at all! If you decide to use electricty heating, the bills go up and it can turn into a quite expensive experience  We use bottled gas heaters (the price in a store is around 100 Eur) - they heat up really fast! A gas bottle lasts a month at least and it costs around 13 Eur. When I need a new one, I watsapp the guy who delivers it to my door


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## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

Townfanjon said:


> Do you know pal , I wish I knew lol lol ,
> 
> Probably Valencia southwards , perhaps alicanti lol .
> Hopefully start off as a hoilday apartment. We definatly will learn the language but we must end up close to a expat community.
> ...



Its Ok been here 12 years , no plans to go back to the Uk any time soon !

skys blue , suns warm, beers cheep , not much traffic , live in a house that I could never have afforded in the UK 

I live away from the main expat areas , semi rural , but know many people like your self prefer to be amongst other expats , every one is different !

Best thing is to come over hire a car and go exploring !

Cheers Tony


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

UTT !!

I also hail from the Broad Acres, Holmfirth, I am now in the most southerly and westerly part of the Spanish territories, El Hierro.

Because we are rough tough West Yorkshire terriers, I like to think that we do not need heating, however it is probably to do with the climate here in the Canaries, my winter heating is a pullover, nowt else needed.

Wish you well with your move


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I've given up trying to keep the house warm, it's so badly insulated you might as well burn euro notes. Invest in thermal underwear and snuggies instead!

A decent electric blanket is worth its weight in gold though.


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## Townfanjon (Jan 2, 2016)

Hepa said:


> UTT !!
> 
> I also hail from the Broad Acres, Holmfirth, I am now in the most southerly and westerly part of the Spanish territories, El Hierro.
> 
> ...


Holmfirth !! Know it well , a customer of mine is in Netherthong . This rough tough terrier likes heat lol, winters spent down at the mac galharm smith stadium are bloody cold, as posted before , my big dilemma is do we go cannaries or spain, I can see a coin getting tossed here lol


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Townfanjon said:


> Holmfirth !! Know it well , a customer of mine is in Netherthong . This rough tough terrier likes heat lol, winters spent down at the mac galharm smith stadium are bloody cold, as posted before , my big dilemma is do we go cannaries or spain, I can see a coin getting tossed here lol


Do both, then decide, thats what we did.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, new years day 2016 !!


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## Townfanjon (Jan 2, 2016)

Hepa said:


> Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, new years day 2016 !!


Quality lol. 

I have lost count on the times we have done the canaries , love them all , really love them. 
Strangley never done mainland spain , only one thing against it , is the potential cold winters eventhough they are in a different league to uddersfield. 
Its the quicker flight that is helping the push to spain .
Wheres that coin . UTT .


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

Its our first Winter in Spain and I guess we have been lucky so far as its been mild. We use a log burner which is efficient at heating the house and use an electric radiator in the bigger room as a back up. We found good quality logs easily available locally at a good price with same day delivery. As its our first winter we are looking at costs and might consider a pellet stove but it would only be for convenience or cost as the log burner does a great job but obviously is more work to maintain and build the fire than a pellet stove. W e await the first full electricity bill in Feb to assess the cost of running the electric heaters. I have the window open at the mo as the room is too hot from the og burner !


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## VinhoVerde (May 2, 2014)

I second the suggestion to invest in good thermal underwear - makes a very big difference in your level of comfort. Might also make a big difference in your bills.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Where you choose to live in Spain will make more of a difference to your need for heating, and therefore your bills, than anything else. On or close to the coast temperatures will always be higher than further inland, and the higher the altitude, the colder it will be in winter.

I live 5km inland, East of Málaga and we need heating for 4 months of the year, from around mid November to mid March usually, although at the beginning and towards the end of that period it could be needed just for an hour or two in the late evenings. We live in a fairly old townhouse with thick walls, and the ground floor is almost completely open plan. For heating we use a butane gas heater as mentioned by others earlier in the thread. At the coldest times of year one gas botttle for the heater lasts between 14-17 days, each gas bottle now costs €12.70. Last year, when the winter was cold, we replaced our gas heater with a more powerful 4.2kw one.

We also have an electric heater in one of our bathrooms (bathrooms are really, really cold in Spanish winters if you have no form of heating in them) and an electric duvet which is very cosy. 

Thermal underwear is something we have never felt the need for.


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## samthemainman (Aug 15, 2012)

I vote for central heating - if you're on a gas supply or have bottles. We kitted out a 4 bed large flat with a good Saunier Duval combi boiler, nice radiators and a wifi thermostat that saves us lots of energy by regulating temperature and switching on the boiler when it's needed to main a preset temperature. It cost us just short of 5K which is a big investment, but long term will be comfortable, economical and healthy. I'm in Valencia - so one of the mildest spots on the peninsula - but it does drop chilly of an evening in winter.

Not a fan of electric heating (though they have improved massively) or air con unit hot air - unless of course you have no other options. Electricity is just too expensive in Spain.

It all depends on your outside temperatures though - whereabouts are you?


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## Townfanjon (Jan 2, 2016)

Hi Sam nowhere yet lol , just testing the water at the moment . 
A right bonus for me if i find a place on mains gas, i am a heating engineer , although I have no idea how my quals stand up in spain , I would assume mains gas is only available in the city's ?


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## samthemainman (Aug 15, 2012)

Correct yes (I'm in Valencia city) - but I've heard reports of folk using bottles too. Can't help you on the qualifications side - the only noticeable difference to a layman like me is the radiators - Spaniards go for more compact but thicker radiators rather than wide/thin ones like the UK. Really happy so far though!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

VinhoVerde said:


> I second the suggestion to invest in good thermal underwear - makes a very big difference in your level of comfort. Might also make a big difference in your bills.


HeatGen range from M&S - brilliant! I love knitting aran sweaters and one of these over a long sleeve polo-neck thermal top is just the job.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Townfanjon said:


> Hi Sam nowhere yet lol , just testing the water at the moment .
> A right bonus for me if i find a place on mains gas, i am a heating engineer , although I have no idea how my quals stand up in spain , I would assume mains gas is only available in the city's ?


Town gas tends to be quite expensive but not as much as electricity. What you then do with it in terms of heating ,......


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

Townfanjon said:


> Hi Sam nowhere yet lol , just testing the water at the moment .
> A right bonus for me if i find a place on mains gas, i am a heating engineer , although I have no idea how my quals stand up in spain , I would assume mains gas is only available in the city's ?


I live out of town, in the foothills of the mountains 40km outside Madrid, and we've had a gas pipeline for around ten years. 
Check availability here:

http://www.gasnaturaldistribucion.com/en/conocenos/what+we+do/where+do+we+distribute+natural+gas/1297104603802/search+on+map.html


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## Robors2 (Jun 12, 2015)

Townfanjon said:


> Hi Sam nowhere yet lol , just testing the water at the moment .
> A right bonus for me if i find a place on mains gas, i am a heating engineer , although I have no idea how my quals stand up in spain , I would assume mains gas is only available in the city's ?


You can run your gas boiler from bank of gas bottles connected with manifold, you need to have your boiler adapted.


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## jimiansville (Oct 11, 2011)

We've just renovated and extended our villa and have fitted two pellet stoves with hot air ducts so that each stove can heat three rooms. They are fantastic and heat the whole villa which is a very large area to heat. They very easy to use with none of the hassle of log burners which we had in the villa originally. Very warm and cheap to run.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Townfanjon said:


> Do you know pal , I wish I knew lol lol ,
> 
> Probably Valencia southwards , perhaps alicanti lol .
> Hopefully start off as a hoilday apartment. We definatly will learn the language but we must end up close to a expat community.
> ...


Have a look at El Campello (just north of Alicante) sounds like it might fit the bill for you.

Good transport links. Great beaches. Small expat community but not overly so. Lots of apartments to rent.


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## captainendeavour (Jan 14, 2016)

samthemainman said:


> I vote for central heating - if you're on a gas supply or have bottles. We kitted out a 4 bed large flat with a good Saunier Duval combi boiler, nice radiators and a wifi thermostat that saves us lots of energy by regulating temperature and switching on the boiler when it's needed to main a preset temperature. It cost us just short of 5K which is a big investment, but long term will be comfortable, economical and healthy. I'm in Valencia - so one of the mildest spots on the peninsula - but it does drop chilly of an evening in winter.
> 
> Not a fan of electric heating (though they have improved massively) or air con unit hot air - unless of course you have no other options. Electricity is just too expensive in Spain.
> 
> It all depends on your outside temperatures though - whereabouts are you?


Sam, I had a Saunier Duval combi to heat my house in Bristol. Thank goodness for the 2 year warranty. Over that period is was pretty much rebuilt in every part. One breakdown involved the efforts of two guys, removing it from the wall, replacement of major parts - all the electronic controls, the heat exchanger - that boiler must have cost S.D. a fortune. I'll not have an S.D. again. Hope yours is behaving.

But here I am in central VLC, like you. My flat will be a total interior refit, so I have the choice of anything I like, within budget. The gas supply pipe runs right past my kitchen window (2nd floor) so I will defo have a gas boiler for the water and hob. 

I wondered whether the additional cost of a combi to run c/h over a purely hot water boiler, combined with major excavations through floor tiles and the concrete floor to run pipework (if that's even possible), would go a long way towards paying electricity bills for a simple and up to date electric heating setup. I've been in VLC in Jan when it's been 3°C. and it's been 23°C, as it was this Jan past. 

I'd be very interested in your experience of choosing your setup, supplier and installers.


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## Anciana (Jul 14, 2014)

VinhoVerde said:


> I second the suggestion to invest in good thermal underwear - makes a very big difference in your level of comfort. Might also make a big difference in your bills.


Having been outdoors in winter in Sweden I do have good termal underwear plus down boots and woolen mittens with cuts on fingertips to type. I also invested in a clown nose, as my nose freezes easily due to circulation problems. All that + ac did not make me comfortable during winter in Costa Blanca. I was freezing miserably, so I would need to add gas heaters if I decided to stay for another winter here. :-(


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Anciana said:


> Having been outdoors in winter in Sweden I do have good termal underwear plus down boots and woolen mittens with cuts on fingertips to type. I also invested in a clown nose, as my nose freezes easily due to circulation problems. All that + ac did not make me comfortable during winter in Costa Blanca. I was freezing miserably, so I would need to add gas heaters if I decided to stay for another winter here. :-(


Was that this last winter?

I'm on the Costa Blanca too, & this winter I neither wore a coat outside, nor turned a heater on inside!

& yes, I'm acclimatised after 13 years & hate the cold. It was a particularly mild winter!


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## Anciana (Jul 14, 2014)

xabiachica said:


> Was that this last winter?
> 
> I'm on the Costa Blanca too, & this winter I neither wore a coat outside, nor turned a heater on inside!
> 
> & yes, I'm acclimatised after 13 years & hate the cold. It was a particularly mild winter!


Yes, it was the last winter - my first in Spain and yes it was reasonably warm through December, but come january indoors in my apartment I was freezing, mostly in the living room (I have a down comforter, so at night in the bedroom I was comfortable with the inefficient a/c at 18 degrees C. Mornings the bathroom was a freezer, so, I am ashamed to admit, I stopped showering and washing my hair in the mornings, waiting all day to brave the bathroom temperature. No ac made a difference there. 
Definitively not the way I want to spend my retirement.

But you are right: I did not use any coat outdoors - just a sweater on colder days. Outdoor temperture was fine for walking, eating outside. But indoor - brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Anciana said:


> Y Mornings the bathroom was a freezer, so, I am ashamed to admit, I stopped showering and washing my hair in the mornings, waiting all day to brave the bathroom temperature. No ac made a difference there.


We bought one of these for our bathroom (not the nicest looking thing, but they are effective and very easy to fit without spoiling existing tiling, as they just replace the existing light fitting). One of the best things we've bought for the house, along with our electric duvet, and not at all expensive to run.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0038LR...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=QMJBGE2JMX9YB0H4RR29


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## Anciana (Jul 14, 2014)

Thanks, Lynn for the tip on a bathroom heater.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

Lynn R said:


> We bought one of these for our bathroom (not the nicest looking thing, but they are effective and very easy to fit without spoiling existing tiling, as they just replace the existing light fitting). One of the best things we've bought for the house, along with our electric duvet, and not at all expensive to run.
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0038LR...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=QMJBGE2JMX9YB0H4RR29


That looks good, I've bookmarked it for future use. 

When staying in a cold, draughty, unheated house in the Sierra Morena, I find these fantastic in the bathroom (theirs has two bars):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Infra-red-Bathroom-Heater-Dimplex-IRX500/dp/B0043XDHNC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_201_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=41xA5d7aG0L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=TM6YS4Y34W2MMAHBMVH7

It really heats up fast and makes showering possible, even on chilly mornings!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Madliz said:


> That looks good, I've bookmarked it for future use.
> 
> When staying in a cold, draughty, unheated house in the Sierra Morena, I find these fantastic in the bathroom (theirs has two bars):
> 
> ...


Yes, that obviously works the same way as ours. I just switch it on, close the door and go back about 10 minutes later to take my shower, by which time the bathroom is warm. When we originally used the house just for holidays I found out just how cold the bathroom was in winter with no heating, so a solution had to be found!


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