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Hi everyone, following on from my thread about looking for a house to rent in Murcia I wondered if anyone living down there could shed some light on why none of the houses i've looked at have any form of heating except log stoves. I've have visited the area a couple of times and do understand that its a lot warmer than up here in Asturias, but i just wondered if someone down there could give me some first hand knowledge of what the temperatures are like down there during the winter months? Thanks
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We have a three bed appartment near Puerto Mazarron. Although we have central A/C we never use it in the winter. We simply have a portable gas fire as do most of our neighbours. Last winter we used one bottle of gas only. The only other forms of heating are fan wall mounted heaters in the bathrooms and occasionally an electric blanket. We have seen frost a couple of times, but very rarely. Last three xmas lunches have been eaten outside. Hope this helps explain.
GUy
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We have a 3 bed Villa in playa flamenca, south of Torrevieja. We have a portable gas fire and use one bottle a fortnight. Our place is north facing. I'm sure a south facing property would need very little heating. Hope this helps. Kevin
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Murcia is a very large region with very differerent climates. Depends which part you want to stay at, the coast in winter is fairly mild but can have cold days and nights, the inland region can get very cold in winter and obviously the mountains freezing. I dont know what kind of places you are looking at but many homes ive seen in Murcia have heating and air con for summer!
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Gcarton.
One bottle of gas seems very little as one 'bar' of gas burns for just around 30 hours.
I fitted a gas tap in the pipe to my fire so I can run it at less than one bar, but even then I use more than one bottle over the winter.
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Hi there,from some one who has lived in the Mazarron Area for the last 7 years,yes the dreaded Camposol but we love it,it can get very cold here in the winter.like most ex pats we though Spain was hot all the year round.
We have a portable gas heater in the lounge,but the spanish houses are just not built for cold weather,in fact some times it is warmer sitting on the terrace than in the house.But at least we have shorter winters here.Saying that I have just purchased my fleecy nightware from Primark ready for the cold evenings.and we were quite surprised to see how many ex-pats had installed central heating on Camposol.But still love living here and just put on a extra jumper.
Maureen.
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I agree with Moggy that there's an assumption it's hot all year round, and it's just NOT! My ex had a house that was all marble and tiles - stunning, but bl**dy cold! Mine is traditional old Spanish so thick stone walls, and l hope the wood burners and little wall heaters will keep me cosy. Also, rugs down for the winter and stored away in summer. And we are still entitled to the Winter Fuel Allowance when we reach pension age!
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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Hmm, thanks everyone for your replies. We are looking just inland from the coast rather than high up in the mountains. So i guess aslong as we prepare ourselves properly (ie buy a couple of gas heaters and some nice PJ's) we will probably make it though the winter.
Guess it can't be any worse than South Wales with only storage heaters!!!!
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I would recommend an eco pellet burner, we installed one last year. The heat is great and it is cheap to run. We wish we had done it sooner, after spending many winters round a portable gas heater.
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Can you say more about this Eco-pellet burner, Cazzy? Is it free-standing or does it need a chimney/flue? Where do you get the pellets?
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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March through to November - great weather. Having said that Easter can be the same temperatures as the UK.
December through to February- cold apart from about five hours in the daytime when it is possible to have Summer clothes on so you need to keep them around. About 4 o'clock the cold starts to come in fast but in 4 years we have never seen frost and have hardly any rain. The wind can be bitter at times.
We have storage heaters in every room, the bathrooms are cold but the SUN shines so much that it does not feel a bit like the UK where Winter seems to go on for ever. Electric bills are high but it evens out over the year.
Hardest time for us is August when the children are on holiday and they really can't go out until almost dark when it cools down.
School holidays here are for 12 weeks and we are on the very last week!
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Daveil
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wow- where can I buy a portable gas heater that only uses 1 bottle all winter?! We'd all like one of those! Many wealthy people on Camposol have central heating, and are very smug about how cosy they are-I don't, I have a fitted gas fire that is greedy for gas. Wish we had installed a wood burner, but there again, wood is not cheap, and it's messy. We do have so called economy electric thermostatically controlled heaters, but too expensive to run more than a couple of hours a day. We have had frost several times, enough to scrape off the windscreen. Some people with solar heating found their pipes had burst one particularly hard winter. the temp in my lounge has been 10 degrees. It is often warmer outside. You could use the bathrooms as a fridge. It is rubbish to say that you only need heating for a few weeks a year-4-5 months more like it. We arrived in Spain 11 years ago, in May, and I wore a fleece some evenings. I would like to invite Ian Duncan Smith to stay overnight in my villa when it's at its coldest! Unfortunatetly some ex pats don't do us a favour by stating that they sunbathe in their bikinis on Christmas day, eat outside all winter, just putting on a jumper if it's extra cold. Some firms offer double glazing, but it's useless in these villas with their concrete walls. Believe me I look forward to spending Christmas with my family, in a cosy ,centrally heated house. I've known some here go to the UK especially to get away from the cold here!
Another fallacy is that we don't get much rain. Yes, this year has been exceptionally dry, but normally we get a lot of often torrential rain, which is worse because the Spanish don't believe in drains. When it's sahara rain it's an absolute nightmare-ask anyone jet washing their brown streaked walls.
I've heard Spain described as a cold country with a hot summer, or in my own words, freeze or fry!
I await the onslaught now!
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Camposol, I find your sarcasm offensive. I didn't say we lived "inland" at Camposol where it is freezing. Yes we used one gas bottle only last winter. Yes it was very mild. Yes we are on the coast and it is south facing top floor appartment, double glazed and well built. I can't imagine hiding a stash of gas bottles. Please respect other users on this site when they are giving input.
Regards
Guy
This message was last edited by gcarton on 09/09/2012.
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The pellet burner has a small flue, ours goes straight out the wall so it can't be seen. They can be free standing or they can be built in. They can also run radiators. They start at about 1,000 euro and the pellets are about 3.5 euro a bag. We have a 13kw fire and one bag gives us about 10 hours heat. The fires are programable, so nice and warm when you get up in the morning! Pellets are readily available.
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The best thing we did for the trip down in our van full of possions was to buy a new king size electric blanket from Lidl and from night one we were cozy from Jan through March then it was summer again. We get it out of the wardrobe every Jan and away in March. We have other heating in the house now but thar first winter we had none and the blanket was a life saver. 1/2 hr before bed and we are fine.
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QUOTE: Camposol, I find your sarcasm offensive. I didn't say we lived "inland" at Camposol where it is freezing. Yes we used one gas bottle only last winter. Yes it was very mild. Yes we are on the coast and it is south facing top floor appartment, double glazed and well built. I can't imagine hiding a stash of gas bottles. Please respect other users on this site when they are giving input. Regards Guy END QUOTE Hi Guy - just thought l'd let you know that you may have been the victim of Identity Theft. Someone using your User Name ripped into me on another thread because my experience of money transfers was different from theirs, AND criticised me for being a relatively new poster. I agree with you that everyone's experience is valid and their input should be respected. So l wonder who this other gcarton was, passing himself off as you???
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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Not happy the way this thread is going.
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Daveil
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Dear All,
it seems that the pellet stove is similar to old hopper fed solid fuel appliences, but with forced airflow like modern gas boilers, though manufacturers still recomend a free flue if poss, to cover electrical power cut problems.
They are complex and expensive and once in common use fuel costs may rise as happened here with government incentives to push log burners.
Storage also has to be available.
Regards
Norman
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N. Sands
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gcarton-didn't realise I was being sarcastic- someone else thought 1 bottle used over winter was surprising. For you at least, the winter fuel bill is low. Glad you said Camposol was freezing in winter- yes it is, due in part to the concrete shell of villas. It also appears that our area is colder than many other s in Spain-don't know why. Certainly the chimneys are smoking for 4-5 months here, none of this "put on an extra cardigan" or "we eat outside at 7pm". The winter fuel payment is sorely needed!
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To come back to the original post - it depends to some degree on the area and more importantly your own comfort levels, but for me I
find the depths of winters on the coast to be too cold without some form of heating. I tend to feel the cold more the average person, but on the Mar Menor coast in winter, I go use heating from the mid/late November through to the end of Feburary, and most of all (i.e. sometimes during the day) in December and January.
It is also true that quite often it can be quite comfortable outside with a jacket or fleece, but inside it's fluffy socks and huddle in a dressing gown and fluffy PJs cold - the insulation in most buildings in Murcia (and in Alicante) really isn't that great.
See if you can find a place with air con though, since you might luck out and get one that works as a heater as well and gives a much nicer heat than the bottle gas stoves do as they dehumidify the air as well.
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