I have a question to all of you that already live out in Bulgaria, and it is how do you cope with the winters? in other words how do you keep warm and what do you do during the winter sesaon months ?

Hi ya Daisy,

We started by having a Three Phase Electric heating system. Basicaly it acted like a rapid imersion heater which then pumped hot water around the radiators. Good system and very effective, but my god was it expensive average outlay was about 500nb per month so for an average four month winter Nov - Feb would be 2000nb in old money about 900 Pounds. One bill was over 650nb [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But as my wife is a cold soul our winter started in October and will end possibly in April so you can see very expensive. We still have the system as a back up to our now fully installed wood burner. It looks like an old fashioned Coal Furnace but uses wood logs. Obviously more labour intensive and dirty but just as good and keeps the house nice and warm (Toast). [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Much more economical as a cubic meter of logs costs anywhere between 40 - 60nb depending when you buy them. We generaly use about 5 Cubic meters per month. Slightly more if it is realy cold. We back this up with 2 Calor Gas heaters for the milder times when the heating is just on in the evening. So if there is a sudden drop in temperature we whack on the calor gas.

Hope this helps

Tony

Hi Daisy,
Thats a hard one everyone is different,we use a wood burner,but i am not yet convinced its the cheapest way,so far 2 months of cold weather we have used about 6 cube of wood,plus we have been using aircon unit on hot,so this being our first winter we are testing everything,i think the next stage is a wood burner that can run about 5 radiators,thats for next winter,but we have friends that run their petchka with rads and they burn a lot more wood than we do.i do believe the answer out here is insulation,we have another friend who runs 2 aircon units all through the winter at 25 degrees never turned off and his heating bill is less than ours for wood,but his house is welll insulated,so i think thats the key here,insulation,its trial and error,how warm you want to be,hope this is of help to you



Mike

Very good point on the insulation Mike. We are having our house done in September of this year. That is on the outside walls. I will also put a layer of something in the loft heat rises and all that.

Tony

Hi Tony if you going to insulate dont use that white rubbish its not a lot of good use the blue high denisity it is brill



Mike

insulation is a must. i use a combination of oil, gas and electric. no wood burning at all. i found wood expensive, smelly and dirty.

in the winter i decorate, work on my novel, read, watch tv and enjoy company of friends. much the same you do back in the uk.

I have found a big fat women and lots of sex helps a lot . But to tell the truth i just throw a log on the fire .

This suggestion from Mike makes this a . Is this blue stuff called Febran by any chance and can you get it from ABC?

Tony

Yes it is and yes you can,but ABC is not the cheapest place



Mike

Keep it coming Mike. Surprise me where. Is it that place opposite or where?

Just up the road from ABC they are cheaper,but i get discount as well because i buy loads off them,give me a shout when your getting it and i will meet you there and it will be far cheaper for you




Mike

Cheers me dear your on

No problem Tony i am in Yambol most days doing my material deliveries so i am sure we can make it a mutual day




Mike

Now if you can get my roofing gear cheaper then your in for a beer or 2

My programme is:- end of May new roof. End September insulation. Us poor pensioners have to eek out the pennies [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]