3566 Heating Options

Oh - and I forgot to say in my last post that we would be open to an oil option but our estate agent told us oil burners are no longer allowed in Italy! Is this true?

[QUOTE=umbriabuyer]Hi all. I wonder if anyone can advise us? We have been wrestling with the dilemma of how to heat our Italian house in Umbria. We intend to rent it our during the summer months and use it ourselves for several weeks in winter. Because we need something instantaneous for our guests and background heat in winter when we are not there (to prevent damp), we have ruled out pellet/wood options. We have considered installing a GPL central heating & hot water system (we can't get connected to mains gas) - this is still on the cards but is likely to be costly to install (and run). As we have a 6kW electricity supply, for heating we could bring several oil-filled radiators (the type you plug into the wall) over from the UK but would feel uncomfortable leaving these on for extended winter periods. To provide the background heat we need, we thought about night storage heaters - does anyone know if these are available in Italy? For hot water, it would have to be electric - any suggestions? :confused: Many thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]
We have gone through the same dilema in Le Marche. We have an old oil boiler at the moment. It works but needs updating. We are going for a replacement LPG Boiler for Heating and instant Hot Water ( new LPG Boiler old rads ) I know LPG is relatively expensive , still comparable with oil if like us ,you buy oil in small quantities. We will suppliment the LPG with eventually, wood burners using piped hot air and solar options. We are also installing underfloor pipework to run off the LPG. Our thoughts are that if we are in Italy when its cold or have guests and the heating and hot water are sadly lacking, we might as well go home.

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]If you want to read a good overview of how a pellet boiler works take a look at this.its particularly interesting on storage of pellets.[url]http://www.buccleuch-bioenergy.com/download/Typical%20Pellet%20Boiler%20Manual.pdf[/url]

Some problems you may have with Pellet heating include overheating of the boiler and backburning into the fuel system caused by cheap pellets.Pellets that crumble into dust can be a problem as can pellets including metal,dirt and paint.

The major problem is that if the pellet industry continues to expand then the supply will run out!Grass pellets seem to be a viable alternative so it may well be worth checking if a pellet boiler you buy could use grass/maize pellets too.

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

[LEFT][quote=Graham Lane]......[URL="http://www.laportaverde.com/pagina.aspx?pageid=340"]http://www.laportaverde.com/pagina.aspx?pageid=340[/URL]
....[/quote]

Thanks Graham, I found this really useful!
D[/LEFT]

If you do a search for pellet stufe/boiler you'll find lots of info.

As has been said here before many times if you do by a very large house in Italy and 'open it up' to make it more spacious you are going to need very,very,deep pockets!

You will see that its possible to buy pellet or wood stufe that also heat water for radiators or hot air heating.These seem to cost from I,000 -7,000 euro.some are very ugly but you could conceal them within an exsisting fire place if its possible.Apparently you do need to get at the back to empty ash.[url]http://www.jolly-mec.it/inglese/guida7.html[/url]

Becky

My heating engineer will supply and fit a 'calcium remover' (water softener) at cost. He believes it saves him time and effort and the client a lot of money in the long run.

[QUOTE=tuscanhills][LEFT]

Thanks Graham, I found this really useful!
D[/LEFT][/QUOTE]
Niente. Glad you found it useful. It's not complete, by any means, and doesn't cover under floor heating, but it will be enhanced as time goes on.

[quote=Graham Lane]Niente. Glad you found it useful. It's not complete, by any means, and doesn't cover under floor heating, but it will be enhanced as time goes on.[/quote]

Can you add the alternative energies to it too such as solar, geothermal and wind? It would be really usefull to lots of people - especially with links to suppliers/installers in italy (with english :D ) and all over Italy if you can

[quote=manopello]If you do a search for pellet stufe/boiler you'll find lots of info.

As has been said here before many times if you do by a very large house in Italy and 'open it up' to make it more spacious you are going to need very,very,deep pockets!

You will see that its possible to buy pellet or wood stufe that also heat water for radiators or hot air heating.These seem to cost from I,000 -7,000 euro.some are very ugly but you could conceal them within an exsisting fire place if its possible.Apparently you do need to get at the back to empty ash.[URL="http://www.jolly-mec.it/inglese/guida7.html"]http://www.jolly-mec.it/inglese/guida7.html[/URL]

Becky[/quote]

This is great Becky, but couldn't find any pricing information

Has anyone got or know some one that has one of these wood/pellet burners? We were in a shop on Saturday and we asked about these particular stoves. We were told that because they are quite new, there are a number of teething problems with them, or maybe because the shop did not stock them....:confused: I had already checked them out on the net and quite liked the idea.

Mark

[QUOTE=umbriabuyer]Hi all. I wonder if anyone can advise us? We have been wrestling with the dilemma of how to heat our Italian house in Umbria. We intend to rent it our during the summer months and use it ourselves for several weeks in winter. Because we need something instantaneous for our guests and background heat in winter when we are not there (to prevent damp), we have ruled out pellet/wood options. We have considered installing a GPL central heating & hot water system (we can't get connected to mains gas) - this is still on the cards but is likely to be costly to install (and run). As we have a 6kW electricity supply, for heating we could bring several oil-filled radiators (the type you plug into the wall) over from the UK but would feel uncomfortable leaving these on for extended winter periods. To provide the background heat we need, we thought about night storage heaters - does anyone know if these are available in Italy? For hot water, it would have to be electric - any suggestions? :confused: Many thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

As your house will be empty for most of the winter, and occupied by holiday makers in the summer you need something which is very simple to use. People renting your property will need instant hot water, you need instant heat in the winter when you arrive for your holidays, and you also need constant low heat in the winter when you are not there to prevent the property freezing and getting damp.

Therefore I would recommend a simple electric combi boiler with water filled radiators. A good link with info about the advantages of combi boilers is [url]http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/combi.html[/url] - in short, you get a mains water powered shower, hot water in under a minute, no tank in the attic to freeze up, and it's very affordable and relatively efficient. They are very simple to use and have built in timers and thermostats so you can set everything up to keep the house above zero when you are not present.

Later on if you decided to live more long term in Italy it would be worth investing in a Thermosyphon Solar Water Heating system as well [url]http://www.reuk.co.uk/Thermosyphon-Solar-Water-Heating.htm[/url] to provide you with free hot water in summer, and enormously reduce your electricity bills in the winter.

Excellent thread.
So electric combi boiler for central heating, plus electric under floor heating, real fire with a back boiler for hot water in the winter, solar panels for hot water in the summer with immersion heater back up.
Hallelujah, finally made my mind up what I'm going to do.:D :D

Just need to pick up a second-hand wind turbine and I’m sorted.

Thanks for all the useful info.
Have noticed there seems to be a bit of a shortage of pellets
which is why we wondered if the multi pellet/wood burner might
be sensible.

Anyone any thoughts on the wood/pellet/anything else you can find
insert on following link.
[url]http://www.moretticamini.it/caldaie%20automatiche.html[/url]

[LEFT]
Can't believe I did it, but I actually bought a magazine during my last visit called 'Il Camino'. Good source of information for heating ideas, distributors, re-sellers etc... Carefully hid it inside a football magazine on the plane home tho... :)

[URL="http://www.dibaio.com/ilcamino/welcome.htm"]http://www.dibaio.com/ilcamino/welcome.htm[/URL]

[/LEFT]

Well, this advert (in your link) seems to be offering a "stove" which will burn just about anything! I'm not experienced enough to know whether it will work practically, but the idea is perfectly okay.
So far in Italy I only know people who have installed a combined pellet/mais stove - and they are very happy with it, but it has only been installed for six months. I have been mildly warned off pellet/wood combinations simply on the basis that the ash created by pellets is not the same as wood ash, and thus requires more intelligent management - if you are willing to concentrate on your stove this is achievable.
It seems to me that the technology of the pellet stove (which can be automated, given the known chracteristcs of pellets, and how to automaticaly set light to them) can logically be extended to almond shells etc etc, but you will probably still have to have the separate hopper for the pellets to get the "automation" facility.
But to sum up - seems a good idea to me!!

[QUOTE=neilmcn]As your house will be empty for most of the winter, and occupied by holiday makers in the summer you need something which is very simple to use. People renting your property will need instant hot water, you need instant heat in the winter when you arrive for your holidays, and you also need constant low heat in the winter when you are not there to prevent the property freezing and getting damp.

Therefore I would recommend a simple electric combi boiler with water filled radiators. A good link with info about the advantages of combi boilers is [url]http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/combi.html[/url] - in short, you get a mains water powered shower, hot water in under a minute, no tank in the attic to freeze up, and it's very affordable and relatively efficient. They are very simple to use and have built in timers and thermostats so you can set everything up to keep the house above zero when you are not present.

Later on if you decided to live more long term in Italy it would be worth investing in a Thermosyphon Solar Water Heating system as well [url]http://www.reuk.co.uk/Thermosyphon-Solar-Water-Heating.htm[/url] to provide you with free hot water in summer, and enormously reduce your electricity bills in the winter.[/QUOTE]

One of the problems with instantaneous combi boilers is that if the water flow is high (shower, filling bath etc) the heat required is high. Thus, electricity consumption may exceed what you have. These are available with internal storage, but take up a lot of floor space. (As does a hot water tank) They may also preclude the use of solar water heaters due to the connections to the storage element.

In the case that the water pressure in your area is low, the pressure of the water from the pipes will also be low and vice versa. Personally, I would prefer a storage system because it resolves these issues, although an investigation into the available systems will probably show which system is better without question.

Andy

[QUOTE=Relaxed]Well, this advert (in your link) seems to be offering a "stove" which will burn just about anything! I'm not experienced enough to know whether it will work practically, but the idea is perfectly okay.
So far in Italy I only know people who have installed a combined pellet/mais stove - and they are very happy with it, but it has only been installed for six months. I have been mildly warned off pellet/wood combinations simply on the basis that the ash created by pellets is not the same as wood ash, and thus requires more intelligent management - if you are willing to concentrate on your stove this is achievable.
It seems to me that the technology of the pellet stove (which can be automated, given the known chracteristcs of pellets, and how to automaticaly set light to them) can logically be extended to almond shells etc etc, but you will probably still have to have the separate hopper for the pellets to get the "automation" facility.
But to sum up - seems a good idea to me!![/QUOTE]

Ash management, now there's an issue. Why, when most wood pellet boilers are clean burning, leave very little ash etc does it become an issue?

Simple, cheap pellets and storage. Cheap pellets speak for themselves. Manufacturers often recommend pallets. Sometimes it's because they make them, but often it's because the boiler has been designed around them.

Storage is more of an issue. When pellets are stored in a cellar for example, it may be unheated and damp. Often it may have an earth floor. All this will result in the pellets taking on moisture. This will mean that the combustion process will be incomplete and a substantial amount of ash will be left. Dry pellets stored in a warm dry environment will leave very little ash.

Andy

Very useful to know, libero!

We have storage heaters and have been watching our use over the last couple of months. This additional information can help us further... :)

Hi. We live here permantenly and before we arrived we had a gas bombola installed and central heating. Apart from the fact that it took several months to get it working properly we find the cost of gas off the planet! About 6,000euros for the last year. As we have a small pine wood and lots of other trees we are now looking at a wood burning system which will work off the fireplace in the living area. It can be very cold here, north of Imperia, in the winter. In fact last year our pipes all froze and we were snowed in too. Locals tell me this is unusual for this area, but where is the global warming?! We also have a portable gas fire and plenty of rugs around the place. Has anyone else connected their system to a wood burning fireplace?

The only thing I worry about with the ones that use only pellets, is no pellets no heat. I have seen plenty of wood yards round here, but no signs of pellet for sale. As I have no storage at all, or very little anyway, I wanted to buy as needed.

[QUOTE=widow twanky]One of the problems with instantaneous combi boilers is that if the water flow is high (shower, filling bath etc) the heat required is high.[/QUOTE]

I agree that one disadvantage of combi boilers is that bath filling is slow and it can be difficult to get a bathful of water hot enough. However I live in a low water pressure area and combi boiler powered showers are lovely and hot.

Instead of feeding mains pressure water into the combi boiler, it is also possible to use gravity to feed from a tank of water in the attic pre-heated by solar panels. Therefore the water pressure entering the boiler can be fixed and electricity saved.

Hi Tanny
I'm having a sort of Back Boiler being built at the moment, hoping to fit it when I out again in June, i let you know how I get on, however this many for the hot water and a couple of radiators. for serious c/h system, pellet/mulitfuel boiler seem to be the best option, info sent to me by Rafey about the Clam Niagra was very useful and probably the sort of c/h system that we will be fitting with the lpg gas back up boiler.

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]I've read in another post that bags of pellets can now be bought in some of the hypermakets selling household goods.Seem to cost about 3 euros a bag.

As far as [B]underfloor heating [/B]goes I've also been reading about the calcium in Italian water and how it can clog up heating systems.Apparently 10 years seems to be all it takes to clog up underfloor heating .I'm continuing to research this as its a concern for us with solar hot water heating.

found this info!

What factors are affected by the amount of calcium and water hardness in a watershed?
1. Hard water may precipitate carbonate mineral deposits, scale, and incrustations on pipes, hot water heaters, boilers, and cooking utensils.
2. Water hardness can cause other problems in homes such as increased soap consumption because it can prevents soap and other detergents from lathering.
3. Calcium is an important component of aquatic plant cell walls
4. Calcium is an important component in the shells and bones of aquatic animals.
5. Magnesium is an essential nutrient for plants, and it is a component of the chlorophyll molecule.
6. Water with low calcium levels are usually oligotrophic, and can support only sparse plant and animal life.
7. High calcium levels are typical of eutrophic waters.

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=libero]Hi Tanny
I'm having a sort of Back Boiler being built at the moment, hoping to fit it when I out again in June, i let you know how I get on, however this many for the hot water and a couple of radiators. for serious c/h system, pellet/mulitfuel boiler seem to be the best option, info sent to me by Rafey about the Clam Niagra was very useful and probably the sort of c/h system that we will be fitting with the lpg gas back up boiler.[/QUOTE]
Who or what is Rafey, and Clam Niagra?

If you are going to have underfloor heating in a hard water area - which I am in - then can you not get water filters in the system - but I would then assume these need maintenance - not nec. a problem

Wood pellets- I have heard that there are different classes of pellets - and the cheaper ones bung up the system so your Pellet Stufa may only last 2 years! - and at a cost of about €4000 that may figure in your budget -

Plus as winter arrives - finding pellets becomes more of a problem - what a lot of people do - is put a load in storage if you have space

A Wood pellet stufa is generally designed for a larger house - I was told that the ones I was looking at would be too big for my house!!!! I would be too hot - hard to think as how cold I was this year!

[QUOTE=manopello]As far as [B]underfloor heating [/B]goes I've also been reading about the calcium in Italian water and how it can clog up heating systems.Apparently 10 years seems to be all it takes to clog up underfloor heating.[/QUOTE]

Cynical ol' me wonders if this claim is being made by someone who [I]doesn't[/I] sell underfloor heating!

I don't understand why calcium deposits should be a problem with an underfloor heating system. I've never lived in a hard-water area, but I don't recall hearing that central heating systems in, say, London, clog up in a few years like kettles, domestic hot water boilers and hot taps all can do.

It seems to me that the difference between all those things and a central heating system that uses hot water -- whether in pipes underfloor or in conventional radiators -- is that a specific batch of water ciculates in the heating system and there will be only a finite amount of calcium disolved in that water. Okay, so there will be small loses that will be topped up with fresh water from the header tank, but it's not like you're going to be changing the water in the system regularly and so constantly introducing more disolved calcium just looking for somewhere where it can get back to being a rock.

Once the limited amount of calcium in the water has undisolved itself, that's it. More of the stuff doesn't magically appear.

I also recall that the manufacturers' brochure I read for a particular brand of underfloor tubing made the point of mentioning that the inner surface of the tubing was super-smooth just so there was nowhere for calcium deposits to start to build up.

Dubious claim, methinks.

Al

[QUOTE=HTB]A normal way of treating central heating systems is to add Fernox inhibitor. This stops calcium deposits. It also stops the reaction between the copper and steel joints that leads to the generation of hydrogen which is the gas that sometimes needs bleeding.

Regards

H[/QUOTE]
Dear H
You are absolutely right. I brought my whole wood-burning central heating system with me from the UK and installed it myself. I added Fernox and have no problems. The quantity I added was enough to allow for topping up the system over a period of many years, which is automatic for a header tank in the loft.

Rafey is a menber who sent me info on a pellet boiler made by Clam and the model is Niagara.

[QUOTE=umbriabuyer]Hi all. I wonder if anyone can advise us? We have been wrestling with the dilemma of how to heat our Italian house in Umbria. We intend to rent it our during the summer months and use it ourselves for several weeks in winter. Because we need something instantaneous for our guests and background heat in winter when we are not there (to prevent damp), we have ruled out pellet/wood options. We have considered installing a GPL central heating & hot water system (we can't get connected to mains gas) - this is still on the cards but is likely to be costly to install (and run). As we have a 6kW electricity supply, for heating we could bring several oil-filled radiators (the type you plug into the wall) over from the UK but would feel uncomfortable leaving these on for extended winter periods. To provide the background heat we need, we thought about night storage heaters - does anyone know if these are available in Italy? For hot water, it would have to be electric - any suggestions? :confused: Many thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

I would agree that wood options are the wrong way to go if you are renting out the property. Whilst the products on the Italian market have become far more efficient, are environmentally friendly and very safe, it is important that your clients understand how to use them. In the UK, they are not common and this presents a phsycological barrier to people actually being able to turn them on.

Fire risk with electric heaters is an issue. Convector heaters are the biggest source of fire. That said, any electrical heater which is covered presents a risk. Storage and convectors cause the biggest problems. Having lived in flat shares, people do not understand this, no matter how much they are told and continuously drape towels across them to warm them. Also, the issues with response times and controllability of storage heaters have considerably improved over recent years, but in Italy, there does not appear to be the cheap off peak electricity we have in the UK.

LPG using a wet radiator system is obviously an option, a very good one actually. The only issues are really the maintenance issue and the lump sum payments required to fill the tank.

Another option is an electric boiler. These replace a gas fired boiler and act in the same way. That said, it depends very much on what else you have in the house. As noted above, some devices take more electricity than others. It is not however a simple case of adding them up and that's what you can have.

Cookers for example heat up inside, reach a certain temperature and switch off. When the temperature drops to a preset level, they turn on again. This type of action means you can apply an element of 'diversity' to the systems.

Any domestic heating system will require about 40W/m2 to work effectively, so a 100m2 dwelling would require a 4kW boiler. This means that the reamaining stuff needs to be thought about carefully.

It is also possible with this type of system to heat the water through a tank and also intergrate solar water heating into the system. This could significantly over time reduce the money you spend on energy etc.

I have attached below some links to the major manufacturers. I don't know if they are available in Italy. That said, they are available from aroun £400 each in the UK, so if they are not, it could be possible to buy two and take them across.

[url]http://www.trianco.co.uk/aztec.cfm[/url]
[url]http://www.heatraesadia.com/hs/heatraes.nsf[/url]

Regards

Andy

PS: If you take across from the UK, make sure the thread sizes are ok. You can get adaptors, but it depends a bit on what your dealing with, how difficult they are to source.

[QUOTE=GlenB]A Wood pellet stufa is generally designed for a larger house - I was told that the ones I was looking at would be too big for my house!!!! I would be too hot - hard to think as how cold I was this year![/QUOTE]

This can be more of a problem than you think; I bought a high output stove in Britain, thinking better too big than too small. Unfortunately we were often reduced to sitting there naked in the middle of the winter:o But on the up side it did stop the problem of Jehovah's Witness's keeping you hanging around on the door step:D

[QUOTE=Relaxed]Well, this advert (in your link) seems to be offering a "stove" which will burn just about anything! I'm not experienced enough to know whether it will work practically, but the idea is perfectly okay.
So far in Italy I only know people who have installed a combined pellet/mais stove - and they are very happy with it, but it has only been installed for six months. I have been mildly warned off pellet/wood combinations simply on the basis that the ash created by pellets is not the same as wood ash, and thus requires more intelligent management - if you are willing to concentrate on your stove this is achievable.
It seems to me that the technology of the pellet stove (which can be automated, given the known chracteristcs of pellets, and how to automaticaly set light to them) can logically be extended to almond shells etc etc, but you will probably still have to have the separate hopper for the pellets to get the "automation" facility.
But to sum up - seems a good idea to me!![/QUOTE]

THANKS
LIKE THE IDEA OF BEING ABLE TO BURN WOOD OR PELLETS
(NOT SURE ABOUT THE ASH PROBLEM- WILL CHECK)
BUT WONDERED IF ALL OTHER OPTIONS WOULD MAKE THE SYSTEM MORE
PRONE TO DEVELOP FAULTS OR WOULD BE AN ADVANTAGE.

A normal way of treating central heating systems is to add Fernox inhibitor. This stops calcium deposits. It also stops the reaction between the copper and steel joints that leads to the generation of hydrogen which is the gas that sometimes needs bleeding.

Regards

H

The expert suggestion by widow twanky of using electricity for space heating may well raise some UK eyebrows.

But you must remember that although the cost of electricity in Italy is slightly higher than in the UK, the cost of gas (particularly lpg) in Italy is only very sightly lower than the cost of electricity in Italy.

It might also be worth bearing in mind that the cost of lpg is rising by the week, but the price of electricity - being more of a political issue - is determined by the government.

[QUOTE=Relaxed]The expert suggestion by widow twanky of using electricity for space heating may well raise some UK eyebrows.

But you must remember that although the cost of electricity in Italy is slightly higher than in the UK, the cost of gas (particularly lpg) in Italy is only very sightly lower than the cost of electricity in Italy.

It might also be worth bearing in mind that the cost of lpg is rising by the week, but the price of electricity - being more of a political issue - is determined by the government.[/QUOTE]

Just taking up on this point, there a number of things that jump out at me here.

Firstly, UK issues. Differences are generally driven by the investment in infrastructure.

There is far more investment in the infrastructure of UK utilities than in Italy. Some may call it foresight when it was built, but i prefer to think it's the british tendancy to over engineer everything you possibly can. As such we are lucky. The gas mains in the uk are well established, so it's more common to use them. Also, gas manufacturers are benefited by the new legislation regarding energy efficiency (SAP) requirements. That's mainly because all our gas is piped. When the North sea runs dry, we then have to factor in the cost of shipping from Russia or China etc.

Maintenance is an issue as well. Whilst the electric boiler is not quite a 'fit and forget' solution, it is getting there.

As for gas and electricity prices. Consider what is happening. Gas and oil reserves are being stretched. This means they become expensive. On the electricity front ther is investment in wind, wave, hydro and geothermal sources of energy. These will not be affected by the increasing cost of fossil fuels. Does it take a genius to work out which will be cheaper in the long term??:D :D

Andy

I haven't read everything here as I don't have time, but we have done a lot of research on the comparative costs of heating a house in Italy and would like to offer a link to the following page on our website. We can also recommend a company that supplies, installs and even integrates various systems (e.g. gas, solar and pellets) to get the best possible solution.
[URL="http://www.laportaverde.com/pagina.aspx?pageid=340"]http://www.laportaverde.com/pagina.aspx?pageid=340[/URL]
Here is an extract from the page, concerning pellet burning stoves:
[B]Pellets[/B]
You can now also buy pellet burning stoves which work very well and because they are so eco friendly (the pellets are made out of sawdust) you can claim 36% of the cost as a deduction on your taxes! Expect to use about €1.50 worth of pellets a day when it is around 0°C. These stoves can be computer controlled and even be programmed to fire up by a telephone call so the house is warm when you arrive! There is a hopper in the top of the stove in which you load the pellets, then an archimedes screw turns slowly to deliver them into a small crucible where they burn with very high efficiency. They do need an electricity supply and there would still be a problem in a power cut. The stoves come in a wide variety of designs and you can buy one that goes in an outhouse or boiler room with a huge hopper. Not pretty but cheaper than the ones you put in the lounge and much more powerful. The one I am considering is 29kw and will heat the whole house, which is twenty-two rooms totalling 320m2.

I hope that helps.

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]Allan I have no idea whether what you say is the case .Can't recall where i Isaw the info but it may be worth time having a chat with local plumber/heating engineer before putting in costly system.

this is a system that helps to reduce calcium depositshttp://www.printingtalk.com/news/wte/wte100.html

BECKY[/SIZE][/FONT]

We had Storage Heater many years ago in the UK, expensive to run and we had to rewire the house due to the KW each Storage Heater needs.

With only a 6KW supply underfloor heating maybe a useful alternative.
I remember reading on the net that 150 watts per 1msq, plus you have the benefit of a built in Storage Heater the concrete floor.
Hope some of this helps

Watt does it cost?
Electrical appliances are rated in watts (W) or kilowatts (kW). One kilowatt is the same as 1000 watts. The higher the rating of the appliance the more electricity it uses.

Units of electricity on your bill are measured in kilowatt hours (kWh) - this is 1000 watts or 1 kilowatt of electricity used for one hour. Therefore a 1000 watt appliance used for 1 hour uses 1 kWh of electricity which is commonly referred to as 1 unit of electricity.

The following will give you some indication of how much electricity modern everyday appliances use:

Appliance - How long it takes to use 1 unit of electricity (1 kWh) - Number of units used

Cooker (hob) - 1 to 3 hours - 0 units

Cooker (oven) - ½ hour to 1 ½ hours - 0 units

Cooker (grill) - ½ hour to 1 ½ hours - 0 units

Microwave - 1 to 2 hours - 0 units

Automatic Washing Machine - 0 hours - 2 units for an average family wash

Tumble Dryer - ½ hour - 2 to 4 units for an average drying load

Fridge - 24 hours - 0 units

Fridge freezer - 12 hours - 0 units

Fan Heater (2kW) - ½ hour - 0 units

Storage Heater (2.5kW) - 0 hours - 45 to 75 units per week in winter

Infra red or single bar fire - 1 hour - 0 units

Immersion Heater - 20 minutes - 0 units

Dishwasher - 0 hours - 2 units for a full load on cold fill

Television - 6 to 9 hours - 0 units

Kettle - ½ hour - 1 unit to boil 12 pints of water

Vacuum cleaner - 2 hours - 0 units

Iron - 1 to 2 hours - 0 units

Double electric blanket - 18 hours - 0 units