camping in concrete
Discussion
is how a recent visitor from blighty described a stay in our country pile here in spain. he was referencing how foooking cold it is inside our spainish homes in winter. despite woodburners,those smart electric rads,and the odd gas "dalek" butane things we are still cold,18c is the best we can do. tis true in uk you dont tend to feel the cold with central heating everywhere. pals here have oil c/h but never stop crying about the cost to run even a modest home. going to light a fire on the lounge floor tonight and cook lips eyeballs and b
ks on it and feel really spanish!
ks on it and feel really spanish!haha firewood,i have personally embarked on my own deforestation program. its about 18c a kilo round these parts plus delivery if you don't take 3 ton minimum. our open fire uses at least a fully loaded wheelbarrow per night.the woodburner uses about 30% less.my husquvarna 42 special chainsaw bought 15+ years ago for £80 iirc = free wood ssssssh. still cold tho.leccy bill with rads on is 200+ pm,pal spent 600 euros on oil yesterday and will use it by march so spose its just what it is. dont think people realize how cold spain gets in winter.no worry's nice warm drink-oh hang on can't do that with rads on,kettle will trip the luz. ho hum roll on the warmth.
cabbron said:
haha firewood,i have personally embarked on my own deforestation program. its about 18c a kilo round these parts plus delivery if you don't take 3 ton minimum. our open fire uses at least a fully loaded wheelbarrow per night.the woodburner uses about 30% less.my husquvarna 42 special chainsaw bought 15+ years ago for £80 iirc = free wood ssssssh. still cold tho.leccy bill with rads on is 200+ pm,pal spent 600 euros on oil yesterday and will use it by march so spose its just what it is. dont think people realize how cold spain gets in winter.no worry's nice warm drink-oh hang on can't do that with rads on,kettle will trip the luz. ho hum roll on the warmth.
I have had 3 houses that I built in Andalucia, Spain to the same spec as we would build in the U.K. with Cavity wall & Insulation and they were fine in the Spanish winters with an open fire and Central Heating.I have had a Water Mill in Galicia with some seriously thick walls, which had Oil Fired Central Heating with Radiators and 1 open Fire/Bread Oven & 1 Log Burner.
1 house in Ibiza that I bought that was an existing property and then re-furbished and I could never get warm in that even with the log burners.
If it's Spanish built normally it's crap without any insulation and poor construction, end of.
Sell up and move,in the end that's what I did last year now just getting back to the U.K.
The very best of luck.
Kneetrembler said:
I have had 3 houses that I built in Andalucia, Spain to the same spec as we would build in the U.K. with Cavity wall & Insulation and they were fine in the Spanish winters with an open fire and Central Heating.
I have had a Water Mill in Galicia with some seriously thick walls, which had Oil Fired Central Heating with Radiators and 1 open Fire/Bread Oven & 1 Log Burner.
1 house in Ibiza that I bought that was an existing property and then re-furbished and I could never get warm in that even with the log burners.
If it's Spanish built normally it's crap without any insulation and poor construction, end of.
Sell up and move,in the end that's what I did last year now just getting back to the U.K.
The very best of luck.
trying very hard to sell up,got 3 to get rid of,slashed the prices and being very pro-active,just need that slice of luck!I have had a Water Mill in Galicia with some seriously thick walls, which had Oil Fired Central Heating with Radiators and 1 open Fire/Bread Oven & 1 Log Burner.
1 house in Ibiza that I bought that was an existing property and then re-furbished and I could never get warm in that even with the log burners.
If it's Spanish built normally it's crap without any insulation and poor construction, end of.
Sell up and move,in the end that's what I did last year now just getting back to the U.K.
The very best of luck.
cabbron said:
haha firewood,i have personally embarked on my own deforestation program. its about 18c a kilo round these parts plus delivery if you don't take 3 ton minimum. our open fire uses at least a fully loaded wheelbarrow per night.the woodburner uses about 30% less.my husquvarna 42 special chainsaw bought 15+ years ago for £80 iirc = free wood ssssssh. still cold tho.leccy bill with rads on is 200+ pm,pal spent 600 euros on oil yesterday and will use it by march so spose its just what it is. dont think people realize how cold spain gets in winter.no worry's nice warm drink-oh hang on can't do that with rads on,kettle will trip the luz. ho hum roll on the warmth.
Just got the Luz bill for December and Jan, 511€ 
Given we were away for 2 weeks out of the 8, I'm not impressed.DPM
Insulation
Underfloor heating + 300% efficient air/air heat pump.
24mm double glazing, 9 zones with wireless thermostat in each room, + a cast iron log burner going in.
Solar panels for the hot water planned next.
At the moment however, we're still in our fridge/apartment. We have a big de-humidifyer that heats too, which we have running all day. It definately takes the cill off, and we empty over 5 liters of water out of it every other day!
I have one the same running in the house above, and it keeps all 112 sq. M. warm, and needs emptying once a week. I can't reccomend them enough! Just goes to show what a difference the insulation makes. Even though it still has the crap block walls. Although most of those have been replaced with the large double glazed windows.
We have also just changed our electrikery supplier from Endesa. 10 of us got together, and told Fenosa, if they gave us discount on what Endesa are chaging, we would go with them. After a bit of haggleing, they gave us a 19% discount.
A Spanish fellow once told me I was crazey putting all the insulation in my place, as it would make it too hot in the summer!
I also get fed up with folks saying how this year it's the coldest they've known it.
IT'S COLD EVERY FECKIN' YEAR! IT SNOWS EVERY FECKIN YEAR! WAKE UP! SMELL THE COFFEE!
It snowed yesterday in the port.
I go through fases of wanting to get out, but I've put 200k into a house to make it habitable, and now it's only worth what I paid for it before I did all the hard work, so I'll enjoy it for a few years, and have a re-think then.
I'll probably be very happy once I have a nice workshop to play in. That's the next project. I'm seroiusly thinking of putting underfloor heating in that too!
Insulation
Underfloor heating + 300% efficient air/air heat pump.
24mm double glazing, 9 zones with wireless thermostat in each room, + a cast iron log burner going in.
Solar panels for the hot water planned next.
At the moment however, we're still in our fridge/apartment. We have a big de-humidifyer that heats too, which we have running all day. It definately takes the cill off, and we empty over 5 liters of water out of it every other day!
I have one the same running in the house above, and it keeps all 112 sq. M. warm, and needs emptying once a week. I can't reccomend them enough! Just goes to show what a difference the insulation makes. Even though it still has the crap block walls. Although most of those have been replaced with the large double glazed windows.
We have also just changed our electrikery supplier from Endesa. 10 of us got together, and told Fenosa, if they gave us discount on what Endesa are chaging, we would go with them. After a bit of haggleing, they gave us a 19% discount.
A Spanish fellow once told me I was crazey putting all the insulation in my place, as it would make it too hot in the summer!
I also get fed up with folks saying how this year it's the coldest they've known it.
IT'S COLD EVERY FECKIN' YEAR! IT SNOWS EVERY FECKIN YEAR! WAKE UP! SMELL THE COFFEE!
It snowed yesterday in the port.
I go through fases of wanting to get out, but I've put 200k into a house to make it habitable, and now it's only worth what I paid for it before I did all the hard work, so I'll enjoy it for a few years, and have a re-think then.
I'll probably be very happy once I have a nice workshop to play in. That's the next project. I'm seroiusly thinking of putting underfloor heating in that too!
cabbron said:
iberdrola has hiked the bills beyond reason-defo more expensive than uk for the leccy,still the same old ste service tho! 10 yrs ago when we came to spain i reckon it was about 30% cheaper overall to live here but now its neglible,leccy being just one major increase.
The last year that I was in Ibiza the Electricity bills were horrendous and also direct debit, in one month once I had 3 bills taken out for €900 each time then another time a bill for €2000 it took me until I sold up to get it sorted.te service tho! 10 yrs ago when we came to spain i reckon it was about 30% cheaper overall to live here but now its neglible,leccy being just one major increase.This was all because I lived in the Campo up an un made road so they did everyone of us with an estimate then spanked the arse out of us all, load of robbing bastrds.
Kneetrembler said:
The last year that I was in Ibiza the Electricity bills were horrendous and also direct debit, in one month once I had 3 bills taken out for €900 each time then another time a bill for €2000 it took me until I sold up to get it sorted.
This was all because I lived in the Campo up an un made road so they did everyone of us with an estimate then spanked the arse out of us all, load of robbing bastrds.
and when you out wit them on the phone(not hard)or prove them wrong they just put the phone down on you.hit me with a €1300 bill,law unto themselves. still arguing. they said they hadnt read my meter for 2 years and blamed it on the fact they couldnt acess it,when asked how they did it for the previous 8 years and told the meter hasn't moved off the side of the house since the original connection 15 years ago they hung up.hung up again when i told them they are legally obliged to read my meter yearly.fThis was all because I lived in the Campo up an un made road so they did everyone of us with an estimate then spanked the arse out of us all, load of robbing bastrds.
king sick and tired of spain, living the dream glol,the reality is a total fking nightmare. iberdrola/telefonica/suma office/town hall,fking jobsworths the lot of em. arrrrrrgh get me outa here. s,tts,aholes,horse fkers........still breathing.........just! Having a bad day? Pour yourself a 
Well, here's me being all smug about my 19% discount with fenosa...........
Picked up my first bill from the box today..........
f
king 5 times the price of my last Endesa bill! 
Everything was more expensive than Endesa, and they say they estimated it because there's no one to read domestic meters on the island, so Endesa are thier agents. 
I called the guy who sold us the contract, and told him where the f
k is my 19% cheaper bill? and he has until Wednesday evening to sort it, then I'm pulling the DD back and going straight back to the Endesa office. 
Is there anything here they can't f
k up? Ya gotta laugh, or you'll go Mad! 
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