Ok I know it was 21deg today, but OH & I were talking about how to pep up the heating for what we assume will become winter at some point. We've got one of those expensive to buy but very slimline heaters you fix to the wall & paint, thought about buying more, but remembered there's been some talk of other better types. Anyone any suggestions?

We used a halogen heater and they are quite economical.

The slimline wall heaters are no more efficient than any other form of electric radiator - they tend to be low power and hence low cost but that does not make them efficient.

The most efficient form of electrical room heating is an aircon unit with, the almost always standard, heat pump.

Dont you just miss your old "COMBI" in the UK??

Why limit yourself to electric heaters. Gas is about half the price for the equivalent amount of heat - buying a new gas fire will save it's own cost in fuel quite quickly.

Fred is right, but that doesn't stop remarkable claims being made by companies trying to flog electrical heating systems. I think it's the Spanish equivalent of double glazing!

Our (Spanish) next door neighbour was so convinced, he spent 10,000 euros on electric radiators last year. Apparently they contained very expensive oil or something! The house was warmer than before, but it got even warmer in the house when the electricity bill arrived in January...

Electricity here must be about 12 cents/kWh now - but you can get different tarrifs e.g. night time rates which are much cheaper, but more expensive in the day. Radiators, water heaters, halogen heaters, convector heaters, fan heaters, etc fall into this category.

Butane is 10.70 a bottle (probably going up in January no doubt) but that's something like (maths in head!) 170kWh per bottle so works out at about 6 cents per kWh.

Air-con produces 3-4 times the heat from the electrical input (because the heat comes from outside - you just pay for the pump) - so that would be as little as 3 cents per kWh based on 12 cents for the electricity - obviously even less on a 'good' night rate.

It's about 10 degrees in Aspe at the moment...

Hi

One point I would make is that you need to consider dehumidifying no matter what heating method you choose.

But I will agree that all electrical systems can be very expensive - no matter what the claims

Davexf

I've always said that if I ever contemplated a move to Spain, any house would have to come with air conditioning and central heating! Heat at the flick of a switch. These sort of threads come up every year, and I'm always amazed at the number of expats that must be shuffling around trying to keep warm out there. There are no magic, cheap electric heaters, the only seemingly cheap one's are very low wattage which give out very little heat. Not sure why people don't just admit it's get bl00dy cold in some Spanish houses and fit a decent heating system instead humping logs and bombonas about.

There is one such system sold here in UK (German manufacturer) with these gel filled rads, and they make some fantastic claims, and they ain't cheap either. It was being discussed in a forum, and an expert there said you might just as well hang a load of one or two bar fires on the wall, same effect but a lot cheaper. Not to run, but to buy!

just got me winter fuel allowance today so will be buying a bloody big bag-ful of logs. and can now have the electric rad on for half an hour a day,yippee, ain't life as a pensioner grand.....

Not quite the same subject, but can you buy those bulgarwheat-filled bags in Spain - the one's you warm up in the microwave so they act like a kind of hot water bottle? They seem to have become a big seller here in the UK.

I have to be honest, I have never seen them, but my nephew is an ocean racer, and he races for Hugo Boss. He was telling us that nearly all the owners are millionaires, and one of them, a real jack the lad, that's how he made his millions! The guy said he expected it to pass, a quick passing fad, but he said we keep changing the product slightly and they just keep selling! So despite me never having heard of them, you're right, someone must be buying them.

Because for some of us, to do that would involve Herculean attempts to set piping into stone walls which are in places a metre thick, that's why .... I'd love to install proper central heating, though I've yet to find a supplier of anything like the multifuel stove with back boiler arrangements we had in the UK - but it still comes back to whether you are prepared to wreck the look of a lovely old house with pipes the Pompidou centre would be proud of!

You've got to get the fuel to the heating system one way or another, whether its wood, butane, oil or natural gas. Anyway there's nothing wrong with burning wood, its much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than other fuels.
3 to 1 is about the limit of an air to air heat pump and they get a lot more inefficient as the temperature difference increases. In the colder spells you are looking at 2 to 1 or worse. Wood is the cheapest heat source at the moment. Free if you have some land and up to 15 cents a kilo for everyone else. Each kilo releases 4.5 kWh so you are looking at 3.3 cents/kWh. Bit more labour intensive though.