British Expats - Electricity 'potencia'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynn R (Post 12689296)

We moved from an old town house to an Ã¡tico just over 18 months ago, and find the indoor temperature a few degrees warmer in winter even when there is no heating on. Our old house wasn't attached to others on either side and the side walls in particular were very, very cold. We use our aircon for almost all our heating now (apart from supplementary electric heating in one of the bathrooms) and find it pretty quick to warm up and not too expensive to use. I had feared that going all electric would be very much more expensive (although undoubtedly more convenient) than using butano for cooking and almost all heating as we had always done before, but actually it has not worked out any more expensive. My electricity bills for the past 12 months averaged out at â‚¬59 per month, and of course we are not now buying the 10 gas bottles a year we used to have. Our water heater isn't on a timer but is a Fleck Duo which uses a so-called "intelligent" system so that it heats up according to your normal usage pattern (eg for a period before morning showers) and then just keeps the water at 40C for the time in between.

I remember we came in mid-winter once after 3 months away.

The BH took some kitchen paper roll and rubbed it on the floor and it was damp.

â€‹â€‹â€‹Humidity is horrible and penetrating, in both hot and cold season. The first time I went to Singapore they opened the airplane door and I felt like I hit a wall of 99% hot sticky humidity.

IMO butane heaters give out a lot of heat, but also have bi-products of combustion like water vapour. This is why we need ventilation and things like air bricks etc in these days of double glazing and well sealed windows and doors.

Electric heating is 'clean'. Also our system of heating as mentioned before has us warm and toasty immediately in the cold damp winters.

We think AIrcon heating is great, especially as it may dehumidify as well, quick to warm the air around you, (but not the walls) also it might be more effective with an inverter system. But we personally don't like the flow of warm air, we both end up with scratchy throats. So we would use it to get the air temperature up, before switching to convection heaters to maintain the air temperature.

We have 2 AC systems in our place one managing the downstairs, one for our upstairs bedroom. We use cheap fan heaters because I have this internet switch on my phone, as mentioned, and we only need our living room warmed up. We come into our warm living room, nip upstairs hit the button to warm the bedroom with AC. It seems odd to have the big unit driving one room. So we bought these cheap fan heaters from Worten and the internet switch and the convection heater

With mozzie screens and open windows and terrace doors, even in summer we feel ok, using the bedroom AC when it gets stifling at night. We are lucky that our place traverses and we get a good airflow. Last night we had both terrace doors open at the start with the blinds 80% down and in the night we got a bit chilly and closed both terrace doors.

The mozzie screens are the best big ticket item we bought, the AC is lower on the list in our personal situation

Electric heating is also the future as we get more 'green' solar and wind power..

Jon

PS its good to hear that cost wise there has been no difference moving from butane