Preparing for winter

@kaththomas700

Hi Kathy, you need to make sure you have enough fuel in, for whatever heating system you have. Freezers stocked up and some big bottles of water.of course the obvious, enough of your goodies, things to do, I usually have books, crosswords,knitting anything you like to do. Cos if it snows you maybe won't see anyone for a while. I start to save papers, for lighting our fire, and firelighters. Torch batteries, and matches....But for the last few years winters have been mild

That doesn't say this one will be, we just get prepared for the worst, and you can't go wrong....

Thank you Pat

Pat what you do to prepare sounds just what I like to do throw in Radio4 on an internet radio and I'm one very happy Baba.

A couple of winters ago, we had a period of -13 weather. I had to put on all 3 AC units and the pellet stove, so my leccy bill was through the roof.

I would suggest one of the onesies / lounge blankets and furry indoor booties, so you can stay comfy even when your heat isn't cranked up to the max.

And you need to heat both your living room and your bedroom, otherwise life gets pretty unpleasant. :-) So I reckon you probably need a small wood-burner, or a separate AC unit. Or, at the very least, an electric blanket. An electric wall heater would work too, but usually an AC costs less to run (and works for cooling in the summer) so most folks here prefer them.

I really liked the winter here, as even though very cold, it's (mostly) dry, crisp and sunny, unlike a damp British winter.

Thank you, I have a wood burner upstairs in my. bedroom and a electric heater which is as much good as having a mint.  Downstairs I have a wood burning stove which as we know is for cooking rather than heating and a wood burner in the living room which I don't really use as a room yet.  I'm having double glazed windows out in , in a couple of weeks so that should make a difference .  And as a knitter I've loads of hand knitted blankets ,  jumpers and hats.  I've been here when it's been very very cold outside in February and March but hopefully we've never had much snow wise  but there's time by. Thank you

Great question, Kath! I think the double glazing should make a big difference to keeping the heat in. I haven't wintered at our house yet, but when I was there in November and March and it was on the chilly side at night, the heat loss from the single glazed windows was massive.

Yes I really hope that the double glazing will help.  We bought our house it was done up to appeal to rich foreign buyers ( as if) and slowly slowly were having to improve what is now my home. But we'll get there eventually.

Yes, you will get there. It's a process. And better to take it slowly. The changes you make will be what works best for you and your house.

I reckon UPVC double-glazing is one of the most popular home improvement projects here, and it's definitely a big improvement over drafty old single-glazing. Almost as popular is insulation which probably makes an even bigger difference. Our massive leccy bill was despite our insulation, I dread to think what it would have been in an uninsulated house!

I think the most typical approach taken by my neighbours is to fix external insulation boards then render over. This is what we did at our village house. But you can also insulate inside under new plasterboard walls, which is perhaps an easier DIY job.

Our house has external insulation but judging by the single glazed windows I wonder what quantity it is. The house also needs re painting. But don't get me started because I could have a list as long as my arm regarding repairs and so on.

@kaththomas700  For the last few years the winters gave been very mild in our area.  Very little snow...we have one large fireplace in our living room which powers our Central heating system. We also have an aircon unit, a electric blanket on the bed and a few plug in heaters in case we need them. I'm sure you will find a way of keeping warm and toasty, your double glazing will help.... We live up on the north Eastern side and we have been snowed in, in the past. But we were prepared for it, so we were fine.

Good to hear Pat , it sounds like you'll be  toastie this winter.

I bought a new inner metal bit for the downstairs living room from the DIY shop in the village this morning 9.30lev a bit of a bargain the heater was left in by the last person that owned the house.  My neighbour now has Aircon but I'm going to rely on wood burners this year.

I'm going to go to Kableshkovo market next week to buy some Bulgarian knitting wool so that I'll be knitting squares for yet another blanket over the winter.

Meanwhile absent husband really likes the sound of air-conditioning for the future but do they have to be mounted outside because surely that would damage the external cladding.

Hi im an avid knitter and do crochet as well, in answer to your question about the air con unit on the outside wall, when the person who fits it is good at his job, then everything should be fine....ours hasnt damaged the insulation and render outside....

Make sure your chimneys are cleaned where the pipes from the log burners go, and get yourself a carbon monoxide detector if you havent already got one...better to be safe than sorry..........

@gwynj Hi the first year we came over 2007 the winter was one of the coldest we have ever had....it went down to minus 29 and we got lots of snow.

Wow I think that here in Pomorie we may be in for another hard winter sooner or later but fingers crossed not that cold.

@kaththomas700

The external unit (compressor) of a split AC is sometimes installed on the ground or on the (flat) roof, but normally it's fixed to your outside wall. The installers usually have a extra long drill bit, so if you're already insulated, they can still make holes in the wall for the fixing bolts for the supports. They often do this, so it shouldn't be a problem. If you haven't insulated yet, then it's better to do make it AC-ready with the supports and pipework in place, and then insulate and render after (this is what I did at our house).

Hi Kath,

Nice that you have found a house and are getting settled. We are house hunting at the moment and were also wondering what this winter would be like.

Good luck in your New Home.

Best wishes

Kathy

Thank you Kathy I hope that you've already got your residency card a must have since Brexshit.

No Kath....i have still to apply for that as I need to have an address. Hope to buy a house soon. So pleased you are sorted.

Kathy x

Yes Pat I've got two carbon monoxide monitors one for upstairs and one for down stairs.  I'm not able to check the chimneys as I'm way too old to be able to climb on the roof. But I've cleaned out the traps in the walls beneath the chimneys and everything else is cleared. I haven't cleaned the metal pipes but they haven't been used very much.

As for you and yours Kathy I'm sure you'll find somewhere soon

Remember, carbone monoxide monitors you install say foot above floor or sit on a small table as it moves slow and low ,one especially outside bedroom you sleep in .

Smoke detectors you install high on ceiling as smoke rises .

Just a safety thought as relative was fire officer .

A lot of people install them to  high the  carbon monoxide monitors ,

We have one in lounge and one outside bedroom

@kaththomas700

Hi Kath

We are skiers as well as coastal dwellers..  very cold winter's in samokov Rila mountains  are the norm and -15 at night and -5 in the day are average temps.  If you have any family in UK or you return there from time to time get one of those stove fans.  No electric is required as it's thermo electric.. when i bought it it changed the temperature in our long front foom by circulating the heat evenly so no cold spots .. stoves are ok but you tend to get close to them to keep warm .. another item we bought was an electric fleece over blanket .  Uses very little electric for a lot of local heat 10 hours use is 1kw unit  Bauer is the best make and again is cheap to buy £35-40 ..  use can put it where ever you are in the house

have your loft checked for insulation  as it's the biggest loss of heat from the house 25% loss.

@wescoast

Good advice 👍 We will have to reposition our CO2 monitors!

Thank you for yet more good advice.  I've got a couple of those fans bought them from Lidl in the UK a few years ago and yes they work.  I cannot check the loft out the trap door is too high for me and it's only big enough to stick your head in, number two son is here for a couple of days next week so I'll get him to have a look . Thanks again

@kaththomas700

Hi Kath

Another item worth having is an LPG gas heater. Cheap to run and mobile  !

We actually use LPG in our place in the mountains each room has a heater.   Some wall and some mobile ones..   I also use dehumidifiers because we only really use the mountain home for skiing and as a stopover for our flights.   Dehumidifiers will reduce any moisture in the air which transmits cold and very good for drying washing in the winter..  again cheap to run most are 250watts so 4 hrs use per kWh

Take care

Phil

@philip Mckay

Your dehumidifier might be taking out the water from your LPG heaters. :-) They produce a LOT of water vapour!

@kaththomas700

Hopefully Kath....fingers crossed. 🙏

@gwynj

Yes they do that also .. I did buy a catalytic one last year an sent it over but far to sensitive tripping on low oxy I think .. because we have been working in the UK the Samokov house is damp to start with  and  it takes 3 days of hard gas burning  before the house is damp free and the building starts to give back it's stored heat  .. during this period the cat heater  was useless spend more time tripped.. think I'll take down to Byala  as the winter weather is warmer and I'm sure it will work well there

I apart 3 properties in Bulgaria and I live in England do I need to open a business if I moved over there could you let me know please thank you

Well I've had double glazed windows and doors installed with some external  damage to one of the window frame and wall. I've had Aircon installed upstairs which should keep most of the chill off the bedroom s and having been brought up in a two up two for , house with no bathroom or hot water I'm not into heated bedrooms. Sometimes it got so cold the frost built up inside the windows and didn't thore out all day.  I've bought and self assembled furniture  for the downstairs living room although I could do with another book case. It seems that one of my neighbours cut a couple of my overgrown trees on our shared boundary but didn't take them away , so with them and other wood that's been stored for around four years I should have enough fuel to keep me going for years. Then maybe I'll look at other means of heating the basement living acomdation.

I hope you have a lovely cosy winter there, Kath.