Bonjour all...new member now in France!

[theabsinthefairy]

Hi to new people in France

We are in dept 63 next door to 23, not far from Pontaumur.

We have a Rayburn wood burner which we bought over from the UK, no back boilers on French wood burners - they have been banned for some time, so are impossible to find new although some older systems still have them - but no grants available for buying and installing those.

We also have a 3 core system water tank for hot water, rayburn, solar and electric back up.

The heating is running from the rayburn on a gravity / heat convection basis to do away with the need for an electric pump.

Any eco type installations do attract grants however - its a catch 22, because in order to claim you must pay over the odds for a system bought and installed by artisans registered in France, the difference you save in acquiring and fitting your own system is greater than the grant you receive in most cases. We spent some time investigating this before we moved in Dec.

Anyway - welcome to France hope that you enjoy it as much as we do, and if you are in our area any time feel free to drop in and have a gander at our set up, garden, livestock etc. We are still in renovation stage so mod cons like water out of taps and not in buckets is still a luxury being celebrated here.

Visitors always welcome, a kettle can take a while to boil around here though, so afternoons are usually spent with a glass of red.

Monika and Brendan

[Womblies]

Hi
Thanks to all for your replies.

I'd started to look at the shemes for tax back on some eco installations and came to the same conclusion, as we wil be installing ourselves we can't claim back the tax other than on the purchase of stoves and the like. I didn't know about the ban on back boilers though, thanks for that info and the link MMM will definately check that out. As it's a bl**dy awful day here , rained for the past two days, we've lit both the wood fired cooker in the kitchen and woodburner in the living room today and they are working a treat This is in the rented house where there was a store of old very well seasoned oak logs for fuel we scored there!!

Absinthefairy - I'd be interested to see your setup...I'll have a look at where you are on the map and perhaps pop over for a visit?

Julie (Mrs or should that be Madame Womblie!)

[Millymollymandy]

It totally depends on how much you spend on your wood burner. Ours cost about €2000 (refund €1000!) but the installation was only €400, so even if we had been able to get the flue up 16 metres of chimney and climb up on the roof to sort it out at that end, it would have cost us a lot more money than getting an artisan in to do it!

[theabsinthefairy]

Hi Julie

We are just over the border from dept 23, heading down the N141.

Our nearest Creuse town is Auzances.

Open house here for the summer so you are welcome to drop by anytime, will pm you my telephone number.

Monika

[chadspad]

Another Bonjour from me and welcome! Im in 85 not far from the coast.

[Millymollymandy]

Just to say that our tax rebate of €1,003.00 for the wood burner has come through and is listed on the (or rather, one of many) income tax bill!