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Sun, 11/18/2012 - 06:40

Thank you very much indeed for this - really clear. For a house twice the size of mine (and I think most are at least that!) you'd see the return on your investment in, what, five to seven years? Sounds a pretty good ROI to me. Does anyone know if the government provides grants or tax incentives to help offset the initial costs for this?

Sat, 11/17/2012 - 13:02

Many thanks for this info Badger. But can you tell me how it works. Do I dig a hole for it? How do I connect it to the radiators (which at the mo are powered by gas - not that I ever use them as GPL is too expensive). Roughly what sort of cost are we looking at? As is probably obvious from my questions, I know really nothing about this!

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 17:11

Excuse me for being dense, but what is a heat pump, and what does it do? Can it work with existing systems, and how much does it cost? Is it anything like geothermic heating (scuse my lack of knowledge here)? Many thanks for your patience!

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 16:59

For an absolutely tiny house (about 60 sq metre on one floor, 15 on another) we get through about 40 quintale a winter. (2 stufa). Stufa goes on from about beginning to mid November, and until it gets warmer again - March  / April time. Even then, you couldn't say the house was that warm - temp right now is 20C.  We use seasoned wood - mixture of beech, oak etc, no other heating, and this year I think we paid around 13 euro a quintale (from our neighbour). We stack it haphazardly. Life is too short to be any more precise. Probably worth pointing out that in the six or seven years we've been here, the price has pretty much always been the same, give or take a euro per quintale.

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 16:46

I'd love to know how much you'd charge - and whether you'd accept a discount if it was for a longer period of time. We live about 45 minutes away from Sarnano and would love to travel for a month or so at a time.  I'd just be worried that our cats would return to their original feral state if there wasn't someone actually in the house to welcome them in...

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 14:44

SanSeverino - schools (in San Sev) are closed today and tomorrow - at the very least.About a foot or so or snow (more where it drifts). We're about 10 km from San Severino about 500m up. The roads in the villages around here have been ploughed, but as it keeps snowing, it doesn't do much good. Apparently the provinciale road is icy and unpleasant (we wouldn't know - we can't get there to try it.)Are you planning on coming out? As far as I know, airports are closed at Falconara and Pescara, though Bologna has opened. All the officials are urging people to stay put and not travel unless they have to. It should all be back to normal from about Weds onwards.Meanwhile, if you are who I think you are (and you have the house above ours!!) all seems fine. We even still have a phone line, power and water, though the track down is pretty much impassable unless you're on a tractor.

Answer to: New Year's Eve
Tue, 12/07/2010 - 14:42

Ooh - do you actually live in San Severino? We're about 10km outside (maybe even know you?) I haven't seen any of the plate banging either - here or in Rome. Lots of food, including lentils, fireworks / guns being fired though. I'm not sure you'll find much dancing in the square, but most restaurants will be putting on a do. Saw a flyer for one at pizzeria LK (€60 per head I think).