The reality of living in a CHATEAU and the cost to heat it!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- It's September which means we need to prepare for the upcoming winter. Not fun to think about, but a necessity. Lincoln shows us his new piece of equipment and as usual, I'm wandering around the walled garden.
Follow along on Instagram for exciting behind-the-scenes photos of our mundane lives and assorted animals:
/ chateaudelingourdy
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These folks deserve more subscribers.
I agree!
@@jennyschateaufarm I've just subscribed to your channel also!!
@@anne4083 Awww thank you Anne! 💕🤗💕
@@jennyschateaufarm 🤗
Absolutely
I would recommend the following:
1. Replace the two old burners with a air-water heatpump which has the advantage that you can keep your existing heating circuit and extend it to the 2nd and 3rd floor.
2. Replace your electrical hot water boiler with a so called "thermodynamic" water boiler which is a combination of a water boiler with a seperate small heatpump.
3. Get a solar panel installation with powerbanks to reduce the electical consumption of the heatpumps. You could place the panels on the cottages or even as arrays on the ground on your property.
4. As a last step you could extend the installation at 1. with an extension for air conditioning in summer, which would run cost free if combined with 3..
For all of this you can get quite some subventions from the French state or even the Regions or Departements, credit with zero interest rate, etc., etc. You should ask for this at the Mairie.
A last word - for all of this you should only work with companies certified "RGE" in France, there is actually going a lot of fraud around from not certified companies. Lot's of luck.
A well stacked wood pile is a work of art. My husband and I heated our old but not large farmhouse with wood for over 35 years. We discovered hanging a box fan high in the doorway and turning it on for brief periods of time brought heated air down from the ceiling and into the corners of the room. Believe me, a wood splitter is worth every euro you spent on it!
Does Lincoln ever lose it?? He’s so calm and quietly spoken, and methodical bless him. Lovely vlog as usual x
Yes, we all lose it sometimes 😜
@@OurFrenchChateau all that lovely fruit and veg wow I live in a four bedroom Ed house and believe me it is very cold here and wood is bought in at seventy pounds a load and it don’t last very long if our wood man puts the price up this year I am most certainly not putting on the central heating to be honest couldn’t afford the bills this year for Gas it will for for sure be beyond my means so I will make use of plenty of jumpers and socks when I was very young there was no such thing as central heating we used to wash under a cold tap and of to-school we would go
I am seventy four now we did it once and I will do it again keeping active is the answer buy the time you go to bed one is to tired to think about how cold it is
Dear Amanda, I have followed your vlog for a while now and I think it’s fantastic!
We are based in an old Manor House farm in Charente, a couple of hours south of you. My husband is especially envious of your outbuildings being so neatly grouped together 🤗 (Ours are quite a bit more spread out).
I’m sure you have considered this already, but might I gently suggest that you install wood burning insets in a couple of key rooms in your Chateau, especially on the ground floor. If the windows are reasonably sealed, they will be much more efficient than an open fire or radiators, and they can then go a great distance to produce heat for the upper floors. Of course you need hot water as well, which can be done with the system you showed us today.
This would possibly be a far more efficient use of your wood. Of course some of the hallways will be a bit chilly, but not too bad. I’ve seen this work quite well both in my husband’s native Sweden, and here in Charente (we’re near Cognac).
Best regards,
Jenny
Thank you Jenny :) Yes, we’ve been discussing wood burners. Aesthetically I don’t care for them but feeling chilly in the winter is getting tiresome!
Wood burners! Yes!!! Our Colorado cabin has a wood burner. It kept the ground floor nice and the upper floor was great! They do have some beautiful ones now!
@@OurFrenchChateau have a look around - there is tremendous variety in design
I love your vlogs! Your editing, the music, the cinematography, the animals, your sense of humour. I always look forward to new ones! Let’s hope you get heating sorted for the winter. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
Thanks for the nice words Rita!
We have a combination oil and wood boiler that works really well. We are set up so that the oil automatically kicks on when the fire gets too low in the wood boiler. Good luck with trying to figure your system out because through our cold winter months here in Maine it really works well.
When the chateau was build, the only fuel was wood. It can be more environmentally friendly than oil in the long run if trees are replanted. Solar energy could have some drawbacks, like how many days of sunny vs overcast weather for the region. Those are questions the locals have figured out. An obsolete heating system can be a nightmare, and a newer system would be more efficient. Maybe the cats can be trained to sleep under the duvets?
🤣
Although a creative solution, not sure "cats" and "trained" can realistically be in the same sentence.
I am not sure but since chateaus were sometimes built as summer houses, maybe heating it in the winter is a pipe dream (heh).
Perhaps you could turn one of the dépendance buildings into a cosy winter house, well isolated with double vitrage and all and move back to the chateau during spring?
That's a bit much I know.
Chateaus also employed people who's only job was to keep all the fires burning
All I can think is, "Get off my ass!" LOL Dominic is a character! On a serious note, I would definitely go with wood, until an alternative can be found. I know the Pethericks use wood pellets. But all wood has rocketed in price. Have a great week!
I feel your pain. When we first moved from Newcastle NSW to Pipers River Tasmania, it felt like we have moved to the southern artic!!! The first winter in our new house, we moved into at lockup stage, so we had only outside walls and no insulation. Saw us huddled together under a blanket thrown over our oil heater at our feet. Keeping the warmth to just us. Our faces frozen!! Our daughter was only 2 at the time, so she got an electric blanket to keep her warm of a night, whereas us adults just had to make do with good ole body warmth. When we purchased our wood heater (second-hand and still going strong after 16years) we debated where to put it. Friends of ours had a fireplace and had so much trouble getting the heat from the fireplace into the room, we decided to put the wood heater in the middle of the room, and what a bonus that turned out to be. What we lost in a bit of room, we made up for in, this wood heater that heated not only the main open living area of the house but the floor of the second story above. So no matter the weather outside, if the fire is on, we can comfortably roam the house in teeshirts!! and not dressed like Oompa Loompas which is how we made it through the first couple of years.
Oh wow! You had quite a time, but sounds like a great solution
I'm an American living in Brittany as well. My house is much smaller than yours but shares so many similarities. Fortunately, due to the size the heating issue was easier to solve. Also, I had the option to re-tile the ground floor. So when I did that I put electric radiant under the new tiles. I'm very happy with it. Additionally I have small electric radiators in each room which are individually controlled, so that I'm only heating the rooms that are occupied.
Yes, the radient heating is a must! We’re planning to install it in the whole ground floor.
Your videos have a quiet beauty quality about them ❤️ Thank you for sharing them!
Thanks 😊
Hello from PEI Canada. In our farm house we have a heat/ac unit that sits on an interior wall of a room dispensing heat or ac , depending on what you need. The machine is outside connected to the Interior part. There is a unit that can insert into a ceiling with the mechanics up in the attic vented to outside. If you have a wood stove that would be of help, also have a fan blowing the heated air. There are choices.
I enjoy watching your channel. In fact, in one evening, I binge watched all your previous episodes.
Thanks 😊
You are true problem solvers. I wish you didn't have these problems heating your home. Glad you have the wood and the splitter. Perhaps a viewer is an engineer and has some (as yet unheard of) practical solutions. Thank you for always sharing some beauty and bounty.
Thanks Bernadette :)
# 2,3,4 fireplaces are just gorgeous!!❤
I love your sense of decoration, your kindness with animals and your courage.we are lucky you are with us in france
Can I just say that I love your house from a romantic perspective? The symmetry, the size, the character... I´ve seen many chateaus but yours is just perfect. Now... I understand the costs of running an old house (I´m quite new because I've always lived in apartments) and I ask myself this... how do you deal with spiders? I am terrified of them. Now I have the courage to face them but... how do you get used to it? I´m sure you must see some everyday :/
😂 There are spiders! They don't bother me anymore. Lincoln does not like them at all...
Thank you for another great and interesting vlog. Love the donkeys at the end....so cute!!
I am impressed you were able to figure that monstrosity of a boiler system out Lincoln..Yikes...Here is to a warmer, cozier chateau winter season..
I love this channel! It will catch on I’m sure. Love all the animals and especially love Brittany were my friend also lived. It does get cold there, even in June I used the heater at night, wore jackets and cashmere during the day 🥰
She was right on the coast in San Quay, and the cold air blows in off the channel, burrrrr.
Thanks Susan :)
I love the way you all edit your vlogs. VERY ENJOYABLE ‼️❣️
Thank you :)
You need a modern wood boiler (can work with pellets too) and water heat tank as a buffer. Atmos, Attack, Herz, etc.
You guys are living my dream!! Am in Brittany now! Have to return to Australia in a week … sigh…
Australia is on my list to visit :)
Also look into Geothermal
100% agree 👍 I just watched one video of this lovely couple and I subscribed to this channel 😊 love to watch their videos
Loved watching Dominic kick up his heels. Bev
Oh the heating woes, we suffer the problem of keeping cool in some parts of Australia. I am sure you will work it out. Loved the donkeys having fun.
Hi, i’’m Canadian and as any northern country, heating is a concern. As you have a large volume to heat, radiant is the most efficient and cost effective. Hidden under the floors gives a better aesthetic but you also has the option to have board on ceiling heating down the surface. The best is to have geothermal. Downside is the hight initial installation cost. A friend of mine has it installed for 92k…i guess he intend to live there for the reat of his life! 😅
I always look forward to your videos! Could you install effecient log burner inserts in your fireplaces and ditch the cellar log burner alltogether?
Your garden..... ❤️
Cheers!
I would love to watch - once the first cottage is completed - your using same as an "event" kitchen processing your pears (into a brand) and other produce.
Red kuri squash! Beautiful! One of my favorites!
Another great video. Mimi with pears! And loved the cat on the radiator like melted butter!
Oh boy the oil burner cannot be replaced ( new law) so I wonder if a heat pump will eventually make sense. Lincoln is already talking KWh so I bet he is already with a plan.
Donkey antics too. Beautiful.
Ms. Amanda, now you know I totally love hearing about all the inner workings of the chateau (ouch! on the heating bill) but let's face it - is there anything better than donkey zoomies and shenanigans? Adorbs! Merci et a bientot!
😁
Perhaps small wood burners fitted in those fireplaces would help. I know some chateau owners have sourced them second hand to use as a heat source in individual rooms that they frequently use.
Fun to see the donkeys play--great choice of music :) Thanks for sharing!
Please don’t despair. It will work out. Have one project, like heating, and forget the rest. When that’s fixed, then pick a project. This is a lifetime commitment and you can do it. Just a bit slower than planned.
I live in a hundred ten year old house, and it’s a money pit too. But love it 😍
Thanks Susan :)
The music y’all choose is perfect.
Ceiling fans turned to winter settings to bring the heat down from my tall ceilings, really works well for me. I hope you can have your boilers start working together for this winter. That is a real problem. What kind of heat do you have on the second floor? Do you use plug-in electric room heaters and electric blankets or only live on the first floor in winter? I love all your pets, they are so cute and the donkeys are the stars of the show. Your harvest was a delight to see, your thumb has turned green. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. All the best from Memphis, TN, USA
I feel for you with the heating system. I hope Lincoln can get it to work well this winter. Your vegetables look so healthy and abundant despite the drought. Love your vlogs!!! xx
I hope the heating system gets sorted out. You weren’t kidding when you said you had a lot of wood. Love seeing all your animals in the vlogs. Glad you some rain. It’s a rainy day here in New England and we needed it bad as well. Thanks for sharing 😍😘
What Dominic is doing is known as "Trot with the Tractor" at my house. While my son was deployed, I took care of his Belgian Malinois German Shepard cross. Every time I would break out the tractor to mow, she would trot beside me with a toy in her mouth until I finished the yard. I love your videos.
Thank you for filming the donkeys at play. Heartwarming scenes. Hope you can sort out your heating options sooner than later. Consider a series of seasonal fundraisers to help you along the way/ It seems a shame to spend so much money getting it to work, then switching to solar, also a costly choice in the short run. Unless you expect to be here another 50 years, seems like traditional is the way to go - just from the practical monetary standpoint. Best wishes either way.
Could you get in touch with the previous owner to work out how the boiler works,
Unfortunately not...
Seeing how many fireplaces you have and the supply of wood, I would say wood burning inserts would be your best option, for now
Love those donkeys ❤
Thought I was bad enough with 7 fireplaces in a non chateau house 😂 the year we moved in in 2000 the damson tree had a bumper harvest what yummy jam they made !
After viewing many series of Chateau renovations I have decided that there are good reasons why there are so many vacant chateaus in France. They are expensive to heat and restore, and many owners walked away from them because newer construction is more comfortable and efficient. Possibly the owners were bankrupt too. I love the majesty of the beautiful old homes, but would not take on the financial burden of repairing and living in them. Hats off to those who are doing it!
It's certainly not for everyone...
I know this was a year ago, and you may have figured something out already, but if not, you should talk to Stephanie at Chateau Lelande (The Chateau Diaries). They are located in the middle of France. One of the first things she did was install geothermal heating in her chateau, and you can use that with radiators.
Another thing I've been wondering is, how do your daughters feel about all these "hardships" of no heat and no electricity. I know they don't want to be involved in the channel, but they don't even want you to mention them?
Well, I'm randomly watching the videos (out of order) from Ohio. I think you chose a lovely property and I wish I had something like that. Wish you well!
When you get a chance, look into solar. In probably 6 to 7 years it would pay you back. Then it's free electricity and you could convert the oil boiler, heating system to the electricity that we have here and you had here in the states.
I had to watch this a couple of times with the donkeys how cute❤
Lovely to see, thanks and keep well x
Hello Amanda and Lincoln. I love your channel on how you are restoring this Chateau. Lincoln, you did well by piling and putting the logs so neatly. Thank you so much for sharing this Vlog. Much Love and Blessings to you all. Doris 🇦🇺🦘
It was a team effort stacking the wood. My mother did a big majority of it :)
With so much free wood ide invest in some large efficient wood burners, honestly you could be warm. I fitted 3 in my Italian farm house and its now warm with just 2 alight if its very cold i light the bedroom one...
it's crazy, that You are still allowed to use these old stoves, for in the last years EU made a lot of restrictions for heating systems!
Wood is clean, if You get filters...and it's the best!
Make Yourself undependent from electricity!...and change into a modern wood heating system.. there are very smart 'wood croft center machines'(?) ('Holzkraftwerk' germ.) on the market!
Lincoln needs help he can't tackle this huge renovation project all on his own and some things are too much for both of you alone. Why not think of asking for volunteers like Stephanie her Chateau really took on a different look once volunteers started coming. Many would love living in France for a month or so and help Lincoln get the large lawn mowed clean the donkey barn stack all that wood and several other chores. Just a thought. Love your channel just found it and became a subscriber. ❤
They need volunteers. Other château owners do this.
Im already cold thinking of you! Love watching
😂
Your burner and so look like what i have, here in my Belgium Ardennes house. The wood burner is 19kW. 80 cm pieces fit. I collect every piece of wood (small) and pieces of paper to use them to start up the fire. Also the branches from my hegs will be burned. I askd a wood owner of he had some useless wood left. He answered: wood has no waist. "Holzabfall gibt es nicht". The people here use up all their wood. When i came here 2,5 years ago, my neighbour already told/adviced me to not throw away everything. One advice from me: put the oncovered wood stacks under a cover or inside. Here they let the wood dry for two years, the forester told me. Then they burn it. It will also burn after one year but less good. My oil burner indeed start up only, if it senses a lower boilerwatertemperature then the temperature you put on the boilers temp button/ clock/dailer. Clean the woodburner, empty the ashtray qnd let the main chimey be swept by an official sweeper so that you have prove for the insurance. Have enough water pressure in the system. Open that valve slow and look what happens on the gauge. When my oil tank (4700 liter) was empty and filled again, just push the ON button on the oil burner and after a while, it will (should) start up by itself. When you leave chopped wood outside, put metal wave sheets on them and secure them with wood, stone or special heave long bags. Look in the (nearby) village how the people there store their wood. Subscribed to see how things will go with you. And yes, keep the surroundings of the burner clean with a broom. It takes my woodburner about an hour to heat the water to about 75 °C and the oilburner is faster and makes the water hotter. When i am at home in the colder days, i start the wood from zero or just throw small pieces of wood on the brikettes from the night before, and when i go to bed, i turn the oilburner up to a higher temp. So that in the morning, i have warm water to shower and so. After that, iturn the oilburner to about 30 ° C and heat up the woodburner again. Cycle closed. So, do not throw away wood and collect and chop small pieces of wood. Sometimes i throw saw dust in the woodburner and then then it starts up the flames again.
I was wondering if you could rent your land out to a sheep farmer to keep the fields maintained … your chateau is lovely and Li cold is so talented and patient …
All the fireplaces are beautiful
We finally got a pellet stove and it was the best thing we ever purchased in France. We fill it once a day and voilà. There are systems that a friend purchased that has an enormous tank to store the pellets and it feeds the machine without any human interaction. However, they paid 45k for it and installed radiators throughout the house.
Very happy donkeys ❤️ They do make some beautiful wood burning inserts if your able to find a few. Good luck. Winter is coming 😘
Heating; we inherited an old gas boiler and v large gas tank. Changed the boiler - more efficient but still got through a heap of gas. Meantime put in a couple of new wood burning stoves inside- these are terrific and much better than open fires. Added solar panels and just now have switched to air source heat pump ( big fella, industrial size). Put the previous replacement of the gas boiler down to experience and wrote it off. Air source is electric, so normally replacing a gas bill with extra electric, but the sums and Hope is that the solar will offset about half of the cost. Like you, tons of wood, lots seasoned and best to keep as much covered as poss, I usually re stack after winter to replenish the under cover stuff with wood that has been outside previously for at least two years. Stating the obvious too.. . Get the best insulation in the roof space and eliminate draft windows - makes a really big difference! Net net, no easy answers but it is possible to get there!
Your fire wood stores are impressive! We heated with wood only for many years, but on a far smaller scale. I'm wondering though, since that wood boiler has such a large capacity, and the smaller the pieces of wood, the faster they burn, might there not be an advantage of longer burning if you used much bigger pieces? Far less having to load it then as well! Also, here in the states we use ceiling fans to draw the heat down during the winter. During the summer we switch the fan to spin the opposite direction to draw the heat up!
I enjoy your vlogs, thank you for sharing!
As always, another enjoyable video, especially the donkeys in the end. I sure hope you are able to get the heating problems fixed (or fixed enough) before it gets too cold. With issues getting natural gas in Europe, maybe the price of oil & electricity might hit the roof when winter hits. Maybe getting a few more wood burning fireplaces as backup is not a bad idea.
may I suggest all of the internal shutters have the foam drought stopping tape applied .... to all reading this ... the test for winter heat loss is .... close you window coverings .... and if you can see daylight coming in ANYWHERE .... you are loosing heat ..... always have heavy lined drapes with pelmets for as much as 40% heat retention .... double glazing is about 33% heat retention .... even try wall to wall . floor to ceiling drapes in one room and see the difference ....
Have not read other comments but based on the few comments you made about your boiler/water heater system here are my thoughts.
It seems like the water feed to the water heaters enters the tank that is heated by the boiler first then continues to the electric water heater. This would explain the loss of water feed to the electric tank when removing the boiler heated tank. This arrangement uses the electric as a backup to the boiler heated tank. I suggest keeping that unless you remove the radiators.
As too the plumbing of the boiler/wood burner system it should be plumbed with connection of fuel boiler to the wood burner. If used as the fast start heat the boiler should be first then flow into the wood burner. If jump start is not needed water can flow through the boiler when unlit passing into the wood burner then to the radiators. Valves could be situated to bypass either but this is a possible description.
Keep warm this winter.
Just random thoughts from the short description.
First time watcher. Excited to see the other videos. Looks like a beautiful place. You have a lot of work to do! With so many mature trees on your property, I would be inclined to keep the wood burner as a back up. Firstly because you need to mitigate and secondly, relying solely on wind and sun is not always sufficient. Thank you for sharing your beautiful home! 💝
Thanks for watching :) Yes, we will always keep the wood boiler.
My garden was a flop but for the dahlias- which are amazing. And the herbs. First time in my life tomatoes were a bust. Corn was good. There’s promise of eggplant. What were those red things ? Pomegranates ?
Those are pumpkins!
In Brittany your best bet is boreholes for thermal heating and installing underfloor heating on the ground floor and expanding into radiators upstairs...add in the wind and solar for electrical needs and back-up for one another and you can have one of the first renewable energy chateaux in France...that should be everyone's plans and ideals, sadly so many chateaux are sold without sufficient land for enough boreholes to heat the place and their water needs...
The answer is masonry wood stoves . Tulikivi from Finland are good. I have one.
I have a heat pump and solar panels. They may not be enough for everything in your area, but they could make your life a lot less expensive.
Love those donkeys 💕
A fireplace may look nice, but if there is no fire going, they are a heat siphon, siphoning whatever heat is in you chateau and feeding the outside. You should seal the fireplaces so they are decorative only.
Have you found cisterns around the property? I did hear you said you have a well, which is great. Enjoying you and your progress at the chateau... does the chateau have a name?
Château de Lingourdy
Haven’t found any cisterns…
Hmmm... Centralized gas with price of 100 euro per 1000 cubic meters to provide +23C inside with down to -30C outside. Where i live wood would be even more expensive i believe...
Overwhelmed! Can you ask the previous owner? Thank you for the video.
Favorite fireplace: #4.
You should investigate wether you're eligible to the french governement financing a bran new heat pump system that would be far more efficient than your fuel guzzler. It's now illegal to instal a fuel heating system in France, of course you still can use your old one.
Have you thought of installing modern wood burners in the rooms you use every day. A couple of years ago we replaced a metal fire box with a large wood burner. Not only did it produce more heat, such that we don't need central heating downstairs (and our sitting room is 23feet x23feet), it uses less wood, is more controllable and is safe to run through the night or if we are out. There are also inset wood burners that fit in a fire opening which have an electric fan which kicks in when it reaches temperature and pushes the heat out further into the room. It could be a good solution to complement your wood boiler.
The donkeys are so cute 🥰
Once I lived in a large farmhouse and it was very cold in winter with high ceilings. I rigged up a fan on the counter to force the hot air off the ceiling and surprisingly it would circulate the warm air thru our hall. You might try that! Good luck keeping warm!!!
Thanks for the tip :)
Hi from south Brittany ( Ste Marine). I just discover your Channel and it’s great.
Thanks! Bienvenue :)
I am not an expert but starting your fire with smaller logs and once you have a few layers of embers put in large pc of wood much like a tree trunk. We have a gigantic wood burning stove as a secondary source of heat. This is what we have to do in order to get a fire to burn all night…starting and maintaining fires in a basement is hard…you probably have more air circulation than most suburban homes.
if I can give you some advice: you have to close the chimneys which lets out all the heat in the house. and with MA PRIME RENOV you can have help to change the boiler or insulate the building. after all you live and pay taxes in France like everyone else
I’m not sure if there was a video about your move to France & what you & Lincoln did/do for a living. Can you let us know your timeline from wanting to move, change lives & how you went about it? Thanks & hello from 🇨🇦
A temporary solution on the cheaper side would be programmable electric radiators
Newbie to your channel . Total enjoy your Chateau, c ame from same area and relocated within US due to companies' relocation. Big project for heat and air. Another Chateau used a huge unit for their Chateau. Solar is an issue in the winter - Solar - Bifacial Solar Panels on an Adjustable solar panel rack for season adjustment with Micro Inverter which will be housed on a shipping container as one channel created. Solar panels for hot water heater. & wood for a backup This what I would do if a system was recreated.
Good luck on solving your heating issues. Those high ceilings make for cold rooms.❄️☃️❤️
Engineer? Hahaha... it's probably a superior system if you can ever figure it out. The revenge of the engineer!
🤣
Because of your drought, you two may want to consider learning aquaponics. It's as easy as tending a simple fish tank and it produces many times the amount of produce as the same footprint of traditional farming.
The best part is that it only uses 10% of the water for that same foot print. It also gives you a constant source of fish (income), and fresh water shrimp can also be raised.
Love you guys…best of luck with your heating worries……also your adorable donkeys need some toys…..a giant rope toy like for dogs, or an empty plastic barrel to roll, or a large ball (I’ve seen them on horse channels) 😊 hope all the fur babies are doing well …❤️
Thanks :) We’ve tried the barrel, maybe I’ll try the ball…
This is my biggest concern in buying a chateau... I don't understand the heating systems in France at all!
Wow very impressive l
Do love France the scenery
Is Beautiful; I don’t have a clue how large the place is but I would think that heating and cooling would cost a small fortune; is it possible for you to get single units and somehow use some type of decorative piece to cover a heating and cooling unit so that you can heat and cool the rooms that you spend the most time in sometimes you have to think out of the box and get something custom-made that will go with your decor; I’m not sure it’s possible but I think you have to be extremely creative to live and such a large and beautiful château..
I chuckled at your title. The fact is ALL older houses are money pits.
True...
Heating my large old house is the bane of my existance - one of them anyway
🤔delightful and interesting. Good luck with the heating issue...donkeys are adorable.
Probably something you've already considered, retrofitting fireplaces with a wood burning stove in your most lived in rooms?
Big mistake for electric floor heating to my opinion. You'll need a very big photovoltaïc farm to make it works in winter but you'll be able to provide electricity to the whole village in summer (sarcastic). It will be better water floor heating with a geotermal system + smaller photovoltaic farm (1/3 - 1/5) but now it's too late.
Central Heating is the only way to go, Open Fires are great to look at, or to make love in front of, otherwise they are totally useless, the fuel to heat ratio is so bad you might as well go to bed with a heated blanket at sundown, oil heating or underfloor heating are far better options.