Winter in Corfu pt 2 - exploring ways to keep warm.

Looking at three different ways to heat a villa, from the ancient to the modern. Diesel fired central heating, air source heat pumps and old fashioned olive wood

[@dasnutnock6408]

V interesting Rossy. Hadn’t thought about having multiple heating options, but we’ve got several here, too - gas central heating, thermostatic electric rads in our loft extension, portable AC units for dealing with heatwaves, a fireplace in the front room, and in my garden office, a pair of oil-filled electric rads connected to a wireless thermostat. Sadly, they’re all bloody expensive to run (including the fireplace, as fire wood round here is more like £350/T). Reckon our energy bills to run the house were around £18-21 a day during a recent cold snap, and we’re expecting prices to climb in the new year.

[@dasnutnock6408]

Oh yeah, and go careful with the chainsaws, eh :)

[@davidstorm4015]

Where in Corfu are you (looks like NE Coast?). We're in Kassiopi, have 4 apartments, 3 of which are for holiday rental and the 4th we live in during the season (March to end of October). We just have mini-splits (6 of), which are adequate for the time we live in the apartment, as we're never there during the coldest weather.

[@carl14allen]

Thanks for sharing! What's Corfu town like now in general? We were there at the tail end of October last year and majority of the shops outside of the main town has already closed.

[@newlifemarine1476]

Town is actually quite busy still. A lot of the touristy shops are closed, but the vast majority of everything else is open. All the eateries on the Liston are open, all the non tourist shops are open. Life goes on here even in the rain :)

[@ironix1]

Very informative. Thank you. Are solar panels not a valid option there?

[@newlifemarine1476]

Yes. If you have the money. Which I don’t, currently. I’d love to though - all that free sunshine going to waste!!

[@ironix1]

@@newlifemarine1476 I can imagine that it is far more expensive to install than it is here in the UK. Maybe sometime, hopefully! 👍

[@newlifemarine1476]

@@ironix1 yeah, we have had a few quotes - about €22k for a system big enough to run the house, so just not affordable for us.

[@ironix1]

@@newlifemarine1476 Wow. That is quite expensive. Is that for about 6 panels?

[@newlifemarine1476]

@@ironix1 no, 18x 410w panels, 8kw three phase inverter and 9.6kw battery. Aircon and pool pump use a LOT of kWh!!

[@drawingroomforkids]

Why not solar???

[@sdnalyam]

Very ineffective systems. Large waste of energy. ObviouslyNot a passive building. So you cant complain about energy costs.

[@sweetlou2597]

Your house is definitely not a Greek house.

[@newlifemarine1476]

Well, it’s in Corfu and it’s a house, so by definition it really is a Greek house :)

[@sweetlou2597]

@@newlifemarine1476 that’s not what I meant, my house is Greek too but the inside isn’t