sagraiasolar's activity

Kensington,  I wonder why you are starting off with a comparison with gas or oil. The cheapest energy sources in Italy are wood and solar and for €10,000 you can buy a good quality stufa with back boiler, solar panels, gas boiler (for boosting and back up) and a 475 litre DPS heat bank to manage all the energy and integrate all the inputs and outputs properly... running costs will be only a little less than a heat pump, but the general performance of the system is a bit more punchy and capable of running radiators and underfloor together and delivering astonishing rates of really hot water... all with no risk from legionella. You do have to lug the wood of course.Having levelled the playing field a bit I should go on in favour of heat pumps. I believe that relations between the West and Russia are going downhill and some believe that less favoured countries will suffer gas cuts - that's us probably - maybe within 5 years. It may be then that full on GPL gas systems will be looking like a big mistake in the future. You might notice that most renewable energy sources are delivered to you as electricity so it follows that the future lies with heat pumps for many people. We make sure all our systems are heat pump ready (or indeed work well with just a heat pump). If you are speccing up your house now I would urge you to go for underfloor heating as this is preferable in view of the low grade heat that heat pumps deliver when running efficiently.I'm just the other side of lake Trasimeno from you so pop over for a chat if you would like to..... the kit is all running here. We install almost ZERO GAS systems now but the PV solar panels are going on trial this week so I expect to be going ZERO COST on all energy quite soon but I won't claim that until proven.

http://www.dishpointer.com/         you will need to point at Astra for SKY and FREESAT     2D is the narrow beam that holds the EPG and is the key to getting Freesat in Italy with a huge dish.This is a great site... just find your house on the map, select satellite and all the directions are given for pointing your dish.

Carl, While checking the market, have a look at the Parkray range in UK. They are very unpopular at the moment  - with their competition - because their prices are so low... the quality is not quite up to some of the competition but they are slaughtering them with cheaper production methods. With the € so strong of late the UK prices are pretty good for all this sort of stuff (solar controllers etc) and you can buy VAT free for export if the product is shipped directly to you from the factory... although you might feel inclined to pay it in Italy on arrival. I should get your wood ordered now too while the 2009 cut is still being sold - 80 quintale should leave a bit over for a dry start to next year.I feel you are wondering about rads etc ... you could try a plain stufa first and then upgrade it to a boiler if you find you need it... in that case go for a Clearview 750 flat top which can be upgraded with a clip in boiler later.... mmmm lovely lovely. £1,704 last time I looked and that was with the boiler fitted.If and when you do decide to go for a wet system you really ought to store and smooth the heat output in a heat bank and get hotwater too. I won't go on about it but have a look at www.heatweb.com for case studies etc.As for gas ... you are well on the way to eliminating your horrible gas bills and relegating that boiler to boosting and back up duties.

Carl,  I see you are thinking of fitting an inset stufa in the kitchen... wouldn't a wood fired cooker be more useful? See Ebay.it for hundreds. Otherwise some nice flat tops from the UK might do for lots of heat, quality, and a bit of cooking... eg Clearview, Parkray and Charnwood. Assuming you have something of 14Kw or more you should have enough energy to heat the house to a bearable level but maybe you could get away with not having fans blowing it around. Instead of shutting doors to trap heat I think you should go the other way; opening up the house and taking off all the wood cladding round your stairs. Have excess heat production in the kitchen and let it all spill out and circulate naturally. Your downstairs rooms will be all the better for it especially if you plan the airflow. A curtain hung along the corridor just away from the stairs should channel the return airflow from above back into the kitchen and then the hot flow will be pushed nearer the downstairs doors. There - so none of us agree!

http://www.astra2d.com/italy.htmThis is quite informative on dish suitability and sizes. and I think it links you on to another site that gives you the exact pointing co-ordinates for particular sattelites.... Astra 2D is the tricky one - narrow beam to the UK but carries the EPG, but it's the one you want. 

your 3 foot snake was not a viper. they are about 2 feet long with the body suddenly diminishing at the end into a cute little tail. the head is V shaped. they tend to move very slowly so you can tread on them by mistake. if one of those bites you then yes, pronto sicorso. The big ones (green or brown) go like a rocket at first sight of you so most unlikely to bite you. We had a couple in the house when it was very hot so keep an eye out if you are near outside cover. I got the tape on a brown one I whacked with a broom and it was 1.2m long.

mmm interesting..... do you know if a log cabin can be classed as a mobile home out here? I think you can get away with it in England.  I somehow doubt it as we're even feeling nervous about building a hidden treehouse.Your mention a base for your mobile home - presumably this would be a flat gravelled patch with anti-weed mat underneath? Our forestale get quite antsy about cast concrete which is why we don't put solar panels on them any more.

..Budgie, sorry to ignore your question - I've been on a beach for a week - I see it has been answered anyway... and annec has cleared up the green issue of burning wood too.. I would go further to say that to be totally green with wood you should grow lots of it then cut it down and bury it deeply - sort of un-coal mining - but as a wood stove enthusiast I'll be burning mine.To add to bunterboy and allan mason's comments on heat banks - The Pandora from DPS Ltd is hugely upgraded for 2009 and is called the Xcel. A lovely stainless tank with masses of extra bosses for heat pumps etc and two really big ones for fitting gravity circuit stufas. All the pumps and wiring come on the tank so there is minimal work to do to fit one. An important principle to gather is that ALL connections to the tank are direct except the solar one which is via a coil. The water in the tank is unpressurised and is the same dirty black stuff that goeas round the rads, floors etc. The clever bit comes when everyone wants to have a shower at the same time. The hot tank water gives its heat to the pressurised mains water via a heat exchanger. This allows 160Kw to hit the water giving flow rates of 45 litres a minute and the hot water is POTABLE. You can fill your kettle from the hot tap!As for the wood vs. heat pump debate... Wood is the cheapest fuel available here and some of us have a bit of our own which helps. Also there is something about a fire which is so hugely satisfying that I suspect we would have one even if it cost more. As it is €2,000 gets you a good one. Heat pumps are super bits of kit but more suited to modern well insulated houses with lower demands. They are not normally very powerful. To compare - an 18Kw wood stove can heat up a 300mq stone house quite adequately (preferably to 21 - 22C for me), but that much power on a COP of say 4.5 would take 4Kw of input power (two pool pumps roughly). The norm is half that but still useful for all that. So it seems to me that we could stop arguing about this. We love wood stoves and with good systems engineering you can integrate a heat pump to make a really good year round workable system with 'ZERO GAS'.Allan Mason - I do install solar gear on my patch but you are a bit far out for me. Maybe a couple of hints might encourage you to have a go at a DIY job. Although solar is free the return on capital is not too hot so you have to keep it cheap €4,000 say. We currently get 5mq of plain old flat plate jobs for €1,200. Ground mounting is easy DIY. Don't cast a concrete pad. Use concrete filled drain pipes to make legs and gravel underneath. Insulated 16mm copper tube should be easily big enough ( I can check calcs for anyone that asks) put it in that red plastic tubing before you bury it and squirt foam all around it as well to keep out rats and water. Don't forget .75mm twin flex wire down one tube as well for the panel sensor. The other bits come cheaply and easily from 'The Solar shop' - great site. You'll need a pump station and a controller (can come combined) and an expansion vessel. Don't buy €70 worth of antifreeze - car stuff will do. Use a weed sprayer to fill the system.... There - that's saved you a grand already!  PM me if you get stuck.

Annec, The answers to your questions are YES... slightly.  Winter insolarity is half that of the summer so your panels will not be good for much more than freeze protection while you are away, but at least that gives peace of mind. For a real example, my panels run nearly every day of the winter with the pump starting at 8 in the morning and running until a bit before dark.Are your stufas connected to water in any way? Once you get them adding to the pool of energy you will be able to turn that horrid gas boiler off.As for the PV question... generally the cost/benefit ration is so absurd they would never get off the ground. e.g. 5mq wet solar panel costing €1,200 = about 26mq of PV panels costing €32,000. But with the Enel deal the whole thing is really good. That €32,000 can give you a nice car port and earn €4,000 a year.... giving enough power to run a heat pump and a pool pump amongst other things.

You are quite right - solar is a good thing indeed. Having experienced different set-ups with top class evacuated tube panels and cheaper flat plate jobs I find that the best value for money comes from the cheaper ones. We get 5 square metres for €1,200 and they deliver slightly excessive performance in mid summer and then extend the adjacent seasons. Solar energy is free so who cares about efficiency?Many people have thought that they will never come out here for winter but soon change their minds when they find how fabulous it is, so be careful not to ruin a perfectly good house by putting in an inadequate heating system. A good wood burning stove is the most important bit of kit in the armoury and will be good enough to keep a gas boiler 'off'' nearly all the time. Both wood and solar heat sources are unregulated and untimely so you need to store  and smooth the energy in a big tank of water - a heat bank. The DPS heat bank (www.heatweb.com) comes with all the pumps and controls already fitted and will solve all your problems in one go. Your safety concerns are well answered with a vented system with power free heat dumping. Whatever you do, I would suggest you leave the door open for heat pumps. Within 10 years gas boilers will be heading for the skip and renewable energy, delivered as electricity, will be moving in along with heat pumps. Our target for this year has been to design 'Zero Gas' systems....Thanks to the Enel deal a PV car port will be going in this month and an enticing new prospect looks possible - 'Negative Cost heating'Anyway, good luck with the project; I hope it all goes well.