Chauffage

[Lancashire Lass]

Hi all!

what sort of heating do you have? What do you think of it? I know woodburners are good and heat a large area but in the winter more than that is needed! Are woodburners with radiators off good? My past experience of electrical heating is that it is a very dry heat and is fiendishly expensive! Has anyone got geothermal? Our plumber says that it is not a good idea to install now as ,with climate change, the water table is drying up! Is this just bullxxxx? He recommends a 'pompe a l'air'. If I understand right these only supplement another heating system?

I would be grateful to hear your opinions.

[La Guerriere]

A few points:

a) The ordinary cheap convector radiators are very drying. The more sophisticated ones are better, but the pricing in Fr is outrageous.

b) Geothermal has *** to do with water table. The pipes are laid in the ground and extract heat from the soil. It's only really viable if you have a nice big patch of land to trench up and lay coils of pipe. If you are on lumpy stuff or rock forget it.

c) It sounds as though your plumber is heavily into aerothermie and wants to sell that system. Investigate further.

d) Insulate, insulate, insulate: it is the cheapest thing to do and you never have to worry about rising costs

[Benjamin]

[quote user="La Guerriere"] The pipes are laid in the ground and extract heat from the soil. It's only really viable if you have a nice big patch of land to trench up and lay coils of pipe. If you are on lumpy stuff or rock forget it.[/quote]

I'm no heating engineer but my son is. Can't you just go straight down and back up if your land/soil allows it?

[powerdesal]

Yes, but boreholes are much more expensive.

[BIG MAC]

New system being used in UK works the ground source pipework into concrete piles (Tubes are tied off to reinforcement cage)

[Lancashire Lass]

[quote user="BIG MAC"]New system being used in UK works the ground source pipework into concrete piles (Tubes are tied off to reinforcement cage)[/quote]

That sounds good but I have not heard of it over here!

And the digging of a bore hole or 'forage' as I think it is called is VERY expensive!

I would like to buy a newish house (under 6 years to save on notaire's fees!) but all the houses I see seem to only have the cheap electric heating mentioned here with a log burner if you are lucky!

Even if we go the 'terassement' route for geothermal and have the lawn dug up, we then will have the problem of having pipes everywhere in the house going to rads! You can't chase a dry lined wall!

The only solution seems to be to go into rented accomodation for a year, buy the plot and have a house built! As a golden oldy with two dogs, this is really not my preferred option but I see no other way!

[Maricopa]

[quote user="Lancashire Lass"]He recommends a 'pompe a l'air'. If I understand right these only supplement another heating system?[/quote]

A friend has thes system it heats up water which then goes round wet radiators. 

We have reversible clim and a woodburner, works very well for us.

[herbert]

Hello L-Lass

Perhaps you have seen my other post from today.

The house I bought 13 years ago, had a "central heating" i.e. a wood burner attached to radiators and a tank for the hot water. Last year I changed the system and put 10 m2 of solar panels, a 1000 Liter tank, plus the woodburner added to this tank with its radiators. This works fine. Hot water for all the village in summer and in winter, my own wood is helped by the sun ..

The French plumbers do like the pompe a air systems, but they are not the solution to help our planet. You have to use electricity to keep the system working. They tell you, that for an input of 1Watt, you receive 3 to four Watt. That only works in Summer. when there is frost outside, you can forget it.

If you are interested, I would show you the system

Herbert, living in dept 24, Riberac

[Lancashire Lass]

[quote user="herbert"]Hello L-Lass Perhaps you have seen my other post from today. The house I bought 13 years ago, had a "central heating" i.e. a wood burner attached to radiators and a tank for the hot water. Last year I changed the system and put 10 m2 of solar panels, a 1000 Liter tank, plus the woodburner added to this tank with its radiators. This works fine. Hot water for all the village in summer and in winter, my own wood is helped by the sun .. The French plumbers do like the pompe a air systems, but they are not the solution to help our planet. You have to use electricity to keep the system working. They tell you, that for an input of 1Watt, you receive 3 to four Watt. That only works in Summer. when there is frost outside, you can forget it. If you are interested, I would show you the system Herbert, living in dept 24, Riberac[/quote]

 

Your heating sounds great!