Cyprus-Forum.com

[cyprusgrump]

thanks grump, ah so my house is smaller so it would prob be ok how much is it to fill the tha tank?

About CY£80

[mountainman]

Littlemiss
Is your house still being built, if so then you could add or upgrade the insulation which will make a big difference to your fuel costs

[michalis5354]

There are also A/C that have both Cold and hot air and there are cheaper than the c/h but not as good as the C/heating.

On the other hand these A/Conditioning can be used also in the summer! Unlike the C/heating which u can use only in the winter!

[andri_cy]

There are also A/C that have both Cold and hot air and there are cheaper than the c/h but not as good as the C/heating.

On the other hand these A/Conditioning can be used also in the summer! Unlike the C/heating which u can use only in the winter!

There is such a thing as central air which is both heat and cold and it is very cost effective.(well at least here)

[nhowarth]

Hi littlemiss,

I've got a 220 sq.m concrete & brick bungalow and have both air conditioning and underfloor central heating - using hot water heated by an LPG burning boiler.

Last winter I spent about CYP 160 on LPG - we have a 400 litre storage tank.

Because our rooms are quite large, we don't need the air conditioners on during the day - ceiling fans in the lounge area are enough to keep us comfortable. At night we have the bedroom a/c on for an hour or so before we go to bed and then have it timed to run for three hours.

Regarding insulation, we have a pitched wooden roof over a reinforced concrete ceiling. This provides good insulation, it stops the house heating up like an oven in summer and helps retain the heat in the winter. I suggest you avoid having a concrete roof. It will act like a storage radiator in the summer and you can imagine how hot the concrete gets with the Mediterannean sun beating down on it all day and in the winter it lets all the heat escape and increases your fuel bills. (These days you only find concrete roofs being used in low-cost housing).
Also in the floor we have a layer of aerated concrete and layers of a polystyrene-like insulation material supplied with the underfloor heating.
Our external walls are built using 25cm bricks rather than the more normal 20cm - this too improves insulation.

You can also build with cavity walls or 'Ytong' blocks (although I was advised by our architect that these do not withstand earth tremors as well as the local brick) or you can line the walls with plasterboard over an insulating layer of rockwool.

Regarding your '3 phases' question. This is actually 3 supplies running to your house - and you have a 'special' electricity meter that shows 3 separate electricity consumption readings. What your electrician will do is balance the total electricity supply demand of your house across the three supplies. This stops circuits tripping out, lights flickering, etc when the load on a single supply would exceed its capacity. When you get your electricity bill, it will have 3 meter readings on it. Unless your house is very small or is very cheaply built, it will have three phases (and you will have four electricity cables running to the property rather than two).

Other things you can do to improve insulation is to fit tinted double-glazed window and patio door units and window shutters to stop the sun flooding in (and the heat flooding out).

Regards,

[littlemiss]

eek well the house is almost finished, so all the other extras it will be a bit late to add, they all sound pretty expensive to. thank you guys for all your advice deff food for thought. I think i will hold on to the money and see how this winter goes, my parents do not have c/h in thier house and have been fine for 4 years the house tends to stay warm in the day and they use their split air con at night for a while, but have been known to get high electricity bills maybe it will be best to use this winter as a test.

[Supertrotter]

Unfortunately, we took over our property too late in the build stage to have c heat installed. We will be reliant on warm air a/c wall units but I didn't think about rooms like bathrooms/downstairs wc.

[nhowarth]

Hi Supertrotter

Many people who visit Cyprus in summer don't always appreciate how much the temperature drops winter. I was in Polis a couple of years ago and we had snow - the hotel was freezing cold. And there was snow in Paphos & Limassol.

Regards,

[caroler]

Hi everyone

Is there a company in Limassol that delivers gas bottles to your home?

[nhowarth]

Hi Caroler,

If you're talking about the small 'caravan' type gas bottles, you can get these from many places in and around Limassol. But I don't know of any company that will deliver them to your house.

If you're talking about the 400 litre bottles, you have to buy these (we got ours from Petrolina) and then you phone for it to be refilled. LPG is delivered by a small tanker.

Currently, the LPG storage depot is in Larnaca but it's planned to move it to Zygi (on the coast between Larnaca & Limassol) in the next few years.

Regards,