bil

Well, consuption depends on a number of factors. To stretch ours as far as we can, I put off lighting the fire till the evening, I keep it as low as possible, and I never try and keep it in overnight. I usually aim to have it going out by the time I go to bed.

Plus, obviously we stop using it as soon as poss, don't use it unless we have to and leave lighting it as late into the winter as we can.

agoreira

Of course you can't. You cannot tell me that everywhere in Spain is warmer than everywhere in UK, that's an absolute nonsense. I live on the west coast of UK, yards from the sea, and we have not seen anything like the weather that you will have had, as I look out the window there's no snow, no ice to be seen anywhere. You might be able to speak for your area, but no way can you speak for the whole of the UK and Spain, many parts of Spain experience far colder temps than we ever get here. Places like Madrid regularly get temps far lower than we ever do.

fionamw

A ton in 2-3 weeks sounds a lot, maybe it's not depending on the size of the house &/or how many fires you've got & so on. That's (one of) the problems with forums - we know what we mean but we can't possibly spend all our time saying how many rooms we've got, what we drive, eat, watch & why, etc etc it's always just a snapshot! (strangely enoughAgoreira's post bears this out...) I'd say for us we're lucky to get through a 12 month period on less than 300€ worth of wood which only (partly) heats one room successfully then there are the two other rooms with aircon heaters, two oil filled rads & I resort to the oven to warm the kitchen for 7yo's breakfast time .... and keeping doors & windows shut through the summer months is something OH taught me. It'll come soon enough
Back to snow.... there are still very large collections by the roadside near home but it's too cloudy to tell just how brilliant the Sierra Nevada must look

Harry Bohun

Crickey! We pay £250 for 2 tonnes of kiln dried beech ..

Thats in the UK and delivered.

A tonne/bag lasts about 3 months! We worked out that we use about 3 pieces (each piece is about a foot long and half a foot wide) every 3 hours in the Morso. Burns up to 350-400 degrees with the right air control.

Open hearth you got or something? Or very wet wood? I think its well worth investing some dosh in a secondary rinse/burn stove with variable air control your wood/fuel goes soooo much further!

bil

Ouch! That's a big energy spend. I reckon 300 euros of wood will last us 2 winters, and it heats our main room very well indeed.

Firewood is a lot more expensive in Spain, I find.

Open fires absolutely p*ss the heat up the chimney.

Harry Bohun

Hmm. Geographical positioning, proximity to Atlantic and North Sea weather fronts, siberian winds, equator etc. Its all kinda scientific - we are further north on the axis and so its gonna be colder and darker. Barring unusual weather patterns in the Atlantic or freak cold snaps (high low pressure etc), the UK is always going to enjoy more wet and cold weather than 80% of Spain.

The difference is not in the duration of or voracity of the weather, its in the temperatures. What is freezing here might be a few degrees above there and relatively that makes all the difference to how cold it actually feels on the ground, not least the wind chill!

You can probably find any single place in Spain that is colder than any single place in the UK, but the mean average national temperatures over the winter months is nowhere near as cold in Spain, nor is the level of precipitation, water/ice etc. even if you factor in the mitigating harsher northern climates and elevation above sea level et al.

Wales, Scotland, most of central and northern England and the Isles are simply much colder, more of the time.

Now if we were arguing about France it'd be close. Probably say France is colder this time of year! Especially Aquitaine, Poitiers, Brittany etc. The same weather front/s usually come in over and cover most of Galicia, Asturias and Navarre of course.

BTW where abouts are you on the coast? I should be there not here!

cricketman

You're just rambling, what is the point in saying Spain on average is warmer than the UK on average??

And the whole North being colder thing is a huge generalisation too. You've only got to remember geography at school.

Spain has 5 different climates in the country which is why the weather is so disperse - Mediterranean, Temperate, Continental, Mountaneous and one other I cant remember

Yes Galicia and Asturias has the same climate as the UK (temperate I think). That has nothing in common with the continental climate in Madrid or the Mediterranean climate of Barcelona

agoreira

I agree, generally the UK is colder, but my argument is you cannot make a blanket statement, the UK is always colder than Spain, there will always be exceptions. You are back tracking now by saying "80% of Spain", and "more of the time". You gave Leon as -4ºc, I have just looked at my ten day look ahead and the coldest forecast is between 2º and 5º, it´s very rare we ever get below zero. (we have the last week, but I still haven´t felt cold!)

valenciatim

We have averaged about €250 - €300 worth of wood to get us through each of the last 6 winters, maybe you are buying from the wrong places?

agoreira

Especially when they reckon it´s warmer outside than inside!

paintermujer

We get it from the lena man at casinos.

His service is good.

Regardless,Id rather be warm and burning lots of wood gives us that warmth than freezing.

Fire is burning now but I still feel cold.when school finishes the fire will be full on roaring.

In the UK we had the heating on constantly and still paid so much for coal for the open fire.

Our bills were very high.

I like being warm.

jjh

We pay 120€ for a tonne of Olive. We´re just running out of our first load, which was delivered in October.

jjh

I wish we could do that bil but, as I suffer from poor circulation, I really feel the cold.

Mitzyboy

I buy a 4 x 4 load of olive / oak mix for about €40 - €45 and that lasts us 3 - 4 weeks if we have to have a fire most days, thats burning in an enclosed casita

paintermujer

Seems were a bit overindulgent then.

Never mind we wont have to buy it in the summer.

In the UK we used to continue with the coal fire right through the year if the weather wasnt great which was often.

So we will still save.

Anyway better get back to the snow thread.