Advice being issued to those living in Mani area of Greece

[Stella]

Although we still have brilliant warm sunshine here in the Peloponnese, thoughts are turning to winter warmth now and I wondered what members here thought of the advice we have been given (broken link removed to http://www.parea-sti-mani.com/newsstory.php?do=show_article&id=1&list=news&list_id=0&language=english&lp=1) particularly as I had my wood burning stove fitted in time for last winter and enjoyed every minute of it?

 

[branchburner]

Your link seems to be bringing up ads, but no news story.

 

[Stella]

Sorry, yes it does but what I intended to link to is this:

Need for awareness of the benefits and risks of different heating modes
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003 Nov
Due to the increase in the price of fuel,

many people are making greater use of fireplaces and stoves, which is causing concern. In urban areas this is increasing the risk of smog on still days. People are being asked to avoid using open fires on still nights. Also be very careful what you burn. If the wood is varnished, the varnish burning creates compounds that may be carcinogenic. And ’green’ wood with a high level of moisture produces only half the amount of heat from a similar quantity of dry wood. Also poor combustion can lead to caron monoxide poisoning.

Fine particles are an additional risk from fires.
Data published by the Environment Agency in the U.S For the same amount of heat theamount of particulates are compared
Open fire 100%
Classic wood stove 20%
Energy efficeint wood stove 5%
Pellet stove 2%
Oil stove 0.05%
Gas stove 0.03%

As emphasized Mr. Giakoumelos, "the old-style fireplace is a very bad way of heating. It has a very low energy efficiency, and uses a significant amount of fuel."
Classic open fire is only 10% efficient (ie 90% of the energy goes up the chimney)
Old wood stove about 20-40% efficient
Pellet burning stove is 75-90% efficient
Electric heaters are nearly 100% efficient
Air conditioner units are 200-300% efficient! (ie I kilowatt of electricity gives you up to 3 kilowatts of usable heat with the newer inverter type units)

Despite the high price of oil, to get the same heating benefit , burning wood in an open fire costs MORE than oil!


Extracts from an article in THARROS :-

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Note:- Rather than burn wood, it is better to burn (broken link removed to http://www.parea-sti-mani.com/activities.php?language=english&category=KLIMIS%20eco-fuel). These artificial logs are made from olive waste. Not only are they using up a waste product, they are less polluting, no more expensive than wood, and save the trees! They are available from Kalamata.

 

[Grisu]

Sounds like the same advice we are giving here:

Burn dry, non-treated wood in a modern (EPA-approved) wood stove and you will get nice heat from renewable fuels without smoking out your neighbors.

I don't know about those "Klimis logs". I find this one peculiar:"The emission of carbon dioxide is 30% less than from wood." That would mean you will also get about 30% less heat from those logs compared to wood. I hope it is just a marketing slogan to make it seem more "green" than burning wood. If you try them be careful not to overfire the stove as they may be much drier than the wood you are usually burning.

 

[jeff_t]

The Klimis log ad/article is interesting. Have you ever burned any?

 

[branchburner]

The Klimis log... is interesting. Have you ever burned any?

I hear they are the pits.

 

[Mark Richards]

I hear they are the pits.

Most excellent! haha!!

 

[jeff_t]

I hear they are the pits.

 

[Stella]

Very funny, like that! Yes, they are the pits of the olives, but because we have olive trees have so far burnt the wood from them but as we have just had a number of windows replaced with aluminum double glazing and fly screens we have the old window frames for burning but of course they are well varnished so I am having second thoughts.

 

[begreen]

Do the aluminum frames have a thermal break to prevent them from conducting heat out of the house?

 

[Stella]

Hello begreen,, pretty sure they don't as the double glazing here is like what we had in England 40 years ago! Wouldn't the double glass keep the heat in, or am I being naive? You are thinking of heat escaping from the actual frames rather than the windows?

 

[begreen]

Yes, metal frames were used in the 50s and 60s here but are not very popular now. They sweat with condensation badly when it is cold outside because they conduct the cold very well.

 

[Stella]

Great, that really is something to look forward to! But if you don't want wood in this rural backwater, that is all which is available! I suppose that the point is that the temperature does not drop below freezing here so I have not heard of anyone who has a problem with condensation on the frames. It is still teeshirt weather during the day here and as yet no need of any heat in the house - long may it continue. I liked the wooden frames but they needed frequent varnishing and as the windows open inwards, every time it rained I had to close the shutters because of the rain coming in, at least with the new aluminium frames I can still have daylight when it rains.