If you are pondering the safety of house prices in Italy this article in The Money Spy might give you some encouragement....
sagraiasolar's activity
Questions Asked
Has anyone had any experience with the Lycee in Florence to relate please? The dilemma with further education for an 11 year old boy looms. Already fluent in Italian it would certainly be a great asset for him to go to a French school.
Mon, 05/20/2013 - 09:49
I have a domestic emergency which can only be solved by going to the Marmite shop in Rome. Can anyone kindly direct me there please.Thanks
Sun, 01/27/2013 - 07:10
Just out of interest are there any Scottish reeling clubs operating out there? I'm starting one in Umbertide where there seem to be a few enthusiasts and others willing to have a go.
Wed, 11/21/2012 - 07:50
The Beeb site has an article on exceptional glacial melting going on right now making the 2012 records show that something really different is under way.
Sun, 09/09/2012 - 07:42
The Perseids appear to come from the direction of the Persius constellation so if you look generally North or better still point your i-Pad you'll get there. There are also a few from Delta Aquarid which come across from the South I think.
Thu, 08/09/2012 - 08:46
The local comune recently started a purge on stranieri who had not got an 'agibilita' for their property. Large fines were being dished out so we started to get organised.
Sun, 02/26/2012 - 10:01
Comments posted
when starting turn on ignition and wait for glow plug light to go off... turn off and repeat a couple of times to get the plugs even hotter... then start with foot on clutch, lights off etc.
Sprostoni, The symptoms describe exactly what happened. ... and quite usual... the fuel is fine in the tank and lines but the waxy platelets in the fuel clog in the fuel filter (like a canister under the bonnet). You can revive it by pouring some hot water over it and trying again.. after a while the engine heat should keep it thawed... hair dryer is good too. An engineer friend of mine is emphatically against mixing a bit of petrol in with the fuel... use proper winter additives... good tip for next year!
... yes power cuts briefly near Perugia but OK now... heating system runs power free so no problem anyway. However the new issue round here for many people is that diesel fuel is freezing up and so even if the roads cleared up there is no going anywhere. The 1km white road to our house is 1.5m deep so there is no point in seeing if the car will start.
... 5 ft high drifts round here in the hills between Umbertide and Lago Trasimeno.... locals say it's the worst in the last 60 years. We're here for a good week as we can't even walk out let alone drive.
There's nothing like being snowed in for a few days - or weeks? - to focus the mind on energy etc. I know I keep banging on about wood being the best and cheapest but there is another consideration. Does your system work when there is a power cut? Pumped well water, Heat pumps, Gas boilers, pellet stoves, wood furnaces, pumped radiator circuits and even badly installed wood stoves on pumped circuits don't. Apart from being the cheapest energy source by a big margin a wood stove can be made to run heating and cooking with no electical assistance. All it takes is a bit of crafty plumbing to make it work safely and what you do is to use the heat dump circuit normally found on a pumped wood stove and fit that even if the stove is fitted to thermosyphon to a heat bank. Then the circuit can deliver heat to a radiator or two whenever you like and also double as the emergency heat dump. There have been some costs mentioned for pellets and gas. This exposed 300mq farmhouse consumes €6 a day in wood (€1,200 \ 200 days) and the gas bill is around €200 (yes hundred) a year although that's mainly down to cooking.
Is there any particular inverter you favour?
Yup, I think Badger has nailed it for you... the inverters will be about 3 times cheaper than gas (correct me if I'm wrong Badger) so you'll get your money back quite quickly. All very quick to install too. If you were there more of the time then joining us log luggers with a stove and heat bank would be nice and about as cheap as we can go in Italy.
This bombola thing is a legacy of old gas heating technology... there is no need for them these days. You can't afford to use gas for heating and there are plenty of alternatives that run on a fraction of the price - if not free. A couple of small cylinders are adequate for cooking and as you are not paying back the gas company for their expensive bombola installation it's much cheaper. My bombola lasts for around 6 years between refills and I wish I'd never had it in the first place.
...Bunterboy..... the next one is on the 23rd Jan!
Bunterboy.... just did a reply when the forum site hung so here we go again. The web site is a bit furbo eg...'savings of up to 80%' er would that be 5% then? and 'hot water 365 days a year'.... not out here, must be talking about Arabia. This is just a slab tank in the sun so do we expect freezing and boiling problems? What we really need is big panels - 5mq + - loading a big tank, all with good control and a pressurised circuit with antifreeze. Efficiency is not relevant because the sun is free.. all we need to know is the cost per mq. of panel... invariably some simple flat panels are best.