Pensioner cuts fuel bills with medieval stove
A pensioner has found a novel solution to rising gas and electricity bills - a traditional Hungarian tile stove.

Peter Breuer, 80, says the 14th-century technology has enabled him to cut his gas bill from £20 to £5 - and he has turned off his gas central heating completely.

Mr Breuer, a retired Customs and Excise lawyer from Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex is given wood for the stove by friends, or finds it in skips, and uses solar panels to heat his hot water.

He said he was inspired by frequent visits to Hungary, where his grandparents lived.

The father of three said: "It might be an old technology but it works, they are still used in Hungary by a lot of people.

"I decided I wanted to have one in this country about five years ago but it's taken some time to realise it. No one knows what a tile stove is here."

Last year Hungarian friends drove a van filled with materials to the British seaside town and took a week to build the 6ft 6in stove, which towers over its creator and dominates his sitting room.

Mr Breuer said rising gas prices and a desire to be more environmentally-friendly encouraged him to build the stove to heat his three-bedroom detached home.

"Oil prices are never going to get cheaper especially when people in India, China and South America start using it at the same rate as the west has been," he said.

"There is a lot of wood laying about, dead trees standing about which is free fuel and could be burnt instead of gas."

Mr Breuer added: "My gas bill is very, very minor now, I only use gas to boil a pan of potatoes."

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