karenj66

Yes that does help - Thanks

I love my gas fire, but can only have it on during the evening, as we have a toddler. We have used aircon heat today and have been fine

DonQuixote

If you get one of these ( hope I'm not breaking any rules here) http://www.eco-eye.com/products-elite.html

They will not post to Spain so you will need to get a family member in the UK to post it on to you.

Takes about 10 minutes to setup and then you can watch what draws all the power. We found ourselfs switching off things like the phone charger that was still drawing amps even when the phone was not attached!!!!

Regards Don

EsuriJohn

Portable gas heaters may produce instant hot heat but are not a good idea they also produce gallons of water through the combustion process and in Spain that seems to be an instant invitation to black mold. There is also the chance of carbon monoxide (a very dangerous gas) may be produced if the heater has any problems.

karenj66

So how does that work then? What do you plug it into?

DonQuixote

Good point, but a well ventilated home can reduce this. I would also recommend getting a carbon monoxide alarm ( very cheap ) and well worth it

The Don

DonQuixote

Download the instructions: http://www.eco-eye.com/instructions.html

Change settings to euros and enter the unit cost ( from your bill ) of electric and it's up and running. Remember it will not add the IVA!!!!

The Don

EsuriJohn

I believe very much in good ventilation however people on tight budgets tend to see the production of expensive heat and then opening window as counter productive. Small hit and miss ventilators in the window head are the answer but but not easy to retrofit.

Mitzyboy

As I said, it heats up the room tremendously quickly, but I, and others around here, have discovered that when we put our aircon on, the bill soar. With the radiators they are acceptable

Mitzyboy

Sorry, I missed this. We used to have our pump on for about 4 or 5 hours a day when we came here because thats what people told us we needed.

When I reduced it to 1.5 hours a day in the summer, and just an hour a day in the winter our bills dropped. It makes no difference to the water quality, and so I concluded that 5 hours a day was a complete waste of money

EsuriJohn

Are your aircon units "Invertor" type they are the efficient ones. My thoughts on the use of our aircon (invertor)together with the log burner(fan assisted) are that the hot air rises to the ceiling and the units blow this warm air back down adding heat as reqd. to give the desired room temp. That is why I think they work well in combination.

EsuriJohn

We follow your advised pattern exactly however I guess the water quality depends on loading and most times there is just the 2 of swimming for about an hour each late afternoon.

karenj66

Mine isn't a portable gas fire. It's a fire in a fireplace on mains gas

karenj66

Thanks. I'll look into that

Fred James

I couldn't agree more. We run our pump for a maximum of 1.5 hours in summer and 15 minutes in winter.

Almost all the recommendations for 8 hours a day are based on health and safety rules for public or heavily used pools where "faecal incidences" are common - I will leave that to your imagination!

Sand filters can only remove particulate matter - they have no effect on "bugs" - the chlorine does that job. There is absolutely no point in pumping clear water through a very inefficient sand filter. The main reason for running the pump is the circulate the water so that the chemicals are evenly distributed and, if you put the chlorine tablets in the skimmers, to ensure that the right amount gets dissolved in the water - and that doesn't take 8 hours.

Running a pool pump - which often uses as much electricity as an electric kettle or small radiator, for 8 hours a day is a complete waste of power.

EsuriJohn

With "hot" flue gases going up the chimney, lots of heat there.