Hello from a newbie in Bulgaria

[twainmanbg]

Hi there everyone,
My name is Richard and I have lived in southeast Bulgaria for the last 6 1/2 years, my wife and I have about 6 acres of land and we are slowly turning it into a more productive place in order to be more self sufficient, at the moment we have 2 horses, 1 donkey, 2 goats, 10 dogs and a few cats. we will be getting 12-15 chickens in late spring and maybe 2 or 3 piglets.   I am relatively new to alternative energy systems but am very keen to find out all I can, hopefully coming over to the UK this summer as I want to buy a large 4x4 and I am thinking about the Renault Boughton RB44 and trailer, anyone know anything about them?
                               Will sign off now ,hope I can be of some help on the forum,
                                                         All the best,
                                                            Richard and Janie Feather.

[Moxi]

Hi Richard and Janie,

Welcome to the forum, not a 4x4 person myself but I'm sure there are people out there who can advise.

Regards

Moxi

[martin]

Hello and welcome - as has been said, I'm sure there are several members who will be pleased to help you!
I keep chooks, looks like you need a gentle prod into some natural beekeeping too!

[alank]

I guess you have more sunshine than the UK so PV may be worth considering.

Does Bulgaria have feed-in tariffs?

[twainmanbg]

Hi there,
thanks for the welcome, looks like a friendly forum, to answer some points,
Bulgaria does not have feed in tariffs,in fact the cost of electricity(bg =toc) is exorbitant considering what you get, last week 176 volts all day, not 230 and often the amps are so low that I cant run kettle and toaster together, incoming wire is 2.5mm2 only. Not thinking so much about PV yet, wind mm maybe, solar underfloor heating yes yes yes, our winters are short but very cold -12 to -20 at night but daytime it can hit +12-+16, love it though, summer can hit +45c but 35c is more normal. no thoughts about bees as my neighbours have them and we get very cheap honey all year round.
got to go, supper is ready.
                            all the best,
                                Richard and Janie.

[guydewdney]

2 horses, 1 donkey, 2 goats, 10 dogs and a few cats.

wow - a millionaire in Bulgaria! We have a couple of mates who bought a house near Fethi (feti?) or Dalyan...

[twainmanbg]

Hi there Guy,
MOST definately not a millionaire, horses are relatively cheap here, we paid about 140 quid for the first one when he was 6 mths old, the mare was about 220quid, but she came with a lot of tack, the donkey cost 40 quid and she is the gentlest creature I have ever met. The dogs all found us and are our children now, good for keeping the gypsies out too.
Between the Bulgarians and the English here we have lost quite a lot of money over the years,( items stolen and sob stories) but not anymore, now we are much more savvy.
      Yesterday it was a lovely springlike day and today it has snowed all day, about 6" so far, but it should be gone in a few day, said he praying, as the hay and straw situation is getting desperate now, animals have been in a lot more than usual this winter.
                    All the best,
                                     Richard and Janie.

[billi]

richard  hello

is an "Unimog " not an alternative for your

Renault Boughton RB44

Idea

In any case both are  quite monsters 

Billi

[KenB]

Richard,

It sounds like the Bulgarian electricity infrastructure is the future model of that of the UK.

Is windpower an option - or too built-up/ tall trees?

Solar water heating with a good thermal store is worth considering.

Do you run a generator set?   I'd be tempted to find a reliable water cooled genset of at least 3kW output and consider using it for combined heat and power.  Going semi-offgrid might be a useful first step to full energy independence.

Here's how I approached the possible threat of energy insecurity

www.powercubes.com/listers.html



Ken

[KenB]

Richard,

I saw your request for subscription come in for the Lister_CSOG. You are now approved.

We'll just have to find you a Lister now.


Ken

[twainmanbg]

Hi there Ken and all,
   Thanks a lot for the link to your website/blog, boy oh boy, it's like all the ideas I have had mulling around for years are now gelling int a cohesive plan. My mum died last December and when my brother sells the house I should have a fair wedge of brass to see me through retirement, we had planned to get a large shredder (PTO driven) a pellet mill and pellet stove, but the price of the stoves was the problem, they leave China at 3/400$ and arrive in European shops at 2/3000 quid. we were also looking at alternative heating systems including CHP systems coupled with solar arrays on the roof of a purpose built building (sound familiar). As to a Lister yes I will be looking for possibly 2 as I cant get spares as easily as you can in the UK, we lived in Gloucestershire many years ago at a place called Stonebench on the river Severn and the power was supplied by a Lister Generator, I told the guy who owned it that it had a very slight wobble on the flywheel one day, and he told me it always wobbled, one evening a few weeks later the shaft gave way and the flywheel took off down the lane having gone through a single brick thick wall, we found it next morning about a kilometer away 100 yards into a field, it had gone right down the centre of the lane as could be seen by the marks on the tarmac, how would you explain that one to your insurers if you had been driving down the lane at the time. By the way we just left the door open to let the heat out and kept a paraffin stove going at night to keep it warm, hey ho how times change.
                                                             All the best,
                                                                  Richard and Janie.             

[dhaslam]

You should consider a seasonal store.    Ideal for use with underfloor heating.     With the sort of summer temperatures you get you wouldn't need a very sophisticated collector.   In a farm  situation you could disguise a  simple overground store with straw bales at very low cost.  It is much better to reserve wood for  a small living room stove and  to top up water temperature for DHW.       

[twainmanbg]

Hi there,
sorry to appear slow but this is all new for me, I thought not many people thought like me, when you say seasonal store are you talking a large tank for the hot water from the solar collectors? I was thinking of a tank of about 500 litres in the shed where the Gennie's would be, but your idea is much better and I could go for 1000 or 1500 litres, you are correct about the suns heat here, my mate has a collector with tank on top and he has to cover the whole thing with shade netting as the water is boiling all day long without it.I have to say that this is not like the UK, out in the sticks you more or less can do what you want, with the OK of the local mayor. As to wood I pay about 350 leva = 160 quid for 8 cubic metres of oak from the municipality, all in 1 metre lengths, and it is all a sustainable crop as it is grown for the purpose, it is called strandja oak and it is fast growing but full of knots and twisty grain. Anyway thanks for the straw bale idea, it is a winner.
                                                           All the best,
                                                                Richard and Janie.

[KenB]

Richard,

By a seasonal store you really need several tens of cubic metres - that's a swimming pool by any other name.

1 cubic metre of water holds about 93kWh of heat when you heat it from 20C to 100C.  100C water is not very practical.  30 cubic metres would hold about a month's worth of heating, but you would need several solar thermal panels to get that up to and maintain temperature, and make best use of any available sunshine.

Someone else will advise you of the practicality of large seasonal stores. 

A smaller thermal store of 500 litres to 1500 litres would make a good addition to any solid fuel fired system.  Burn your fuel efficiently in batches during the day and release it slowly at night.

If you've been in Bulgaria for 6 years, you will have a good idea of how much firewood you get through in the colder months. If you estimate that 1kg of firewood, will put about 3kWh into the room, if burned in a good enclosed stove, then you can estimate your heating requirements in kWh.

8 cubic metres of cord wood is about 2.2 cords. That's not bad for £160 for about 7000kWh of wood energy. Does that last you a winter season?

I'm sure that if you found a manufacturer of a suitable woodchip or pellet stove in China, then you could  do a personal import to the UK (or Bulgaria) and miss out the costly retailer. If I remember, the Austrians are the experts on wood fired heating systems - they are marginally closer to Bulgaria, but at a higher price.



Ken