This is my first winter here and I was wondering if this is normal.  I turn on my radiator heat for two hours in the morning and three hours in the evening.  I have the flow outside set at halfway and the water temperature almost all the way up.  The nine radiators inside my house are open halfway, also.  I am going thru 800 liters of oil every three weeks.  Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?  Should I use the electric heat all the time?  Thanks for your help!

Nope, thats normal.

The radiators are not real efficent ways of heating the houses in town. Best thing you can do is turn them all off and try and only heat one or two rooms of your house. We use/heat only the kitchen and 1 bedroom. This is where we stay in the winter to keep warm. The whole family does their own thing in one room.

You have to realize these houses are not the same as in America and you can not expect to heat your whole house without paying the price.

Everyone in our house bundles up  with two or three layers of clothes and i have blankets stacked everywhere.

Its not fun, but it is what it is. The way the houses are built (concrete and not insulated) means you really are just fighting a losing battle trying to heat the whole house.

This will be our third winter here.

I have my radiator temp set about 2 notches above the lowest setting, and I keep it on all day and night. I find a steady low heat keeps the house warmer than trying to blast it twice per day. If you keep yours on the highest setting, then yes, you will burn thru it quickly! Also, check your radiator pressure on the gauge which should be on your boiler. If it's one or below, you need to bleed your radiators and your landlord should do this for you. 

We also turned some radiators off, or on 1/2 way, depending on their location, at night to conserve heat.

Once it warms up a bit, you'll find it's easier to keep the house warmer. Also use plastic over windows and doors you don't open in the winter. And check to see if you can caulk or weatherstrip anything.

Thank you  for your responses.  We do the same thing that you both of you are doing, but it is still cold.  The amazing thing to me is that you have to spend so much money to be so cold!! 

Happy Holidays!

I would say head to your landlord's house and see how he's keeping it warm.  He's probably using all that money you're paying him and fully insulating his house with it. 

All boilers have an internal water pump ... if you close all the radiators and two or three open, you could break it seriously causing property damage the boiler.
Is important to understand that the consumption of gas does not depend on how many radiators are open or closed ... Indeed, the consumption of gas is the same. at a glance if the boiler is on the gas it consumes.

Im sorry but i dont really understand your post. Are you saying that closing off all radiators causes property damage??

I can tell you that this is simply not true, as all of our raditors are completely turned off for two years now and we have had no damages because of it.

We only heat the kitchen by using the stove and we only heat one bedroom by using the heater/ac unit. We have had no property damages by doing this and yes the radiators use GAS to heat the water so our gas consumption for the month that we used all the radiators was very large. We went through 800 liters in one month vs 800 liters in 6 months when not using the raditatos at all. This is why we do not use the radiators as they are not effecient and cost a lot of money to heat the "full house" as we would have in America.

When we lived in Casal and had to buy gas coupons we would go through our 800 liters a month in the winter with only 2 radiators on. When we were forced to move we chose to move just off base and are now on city gas and pay only $200 every three months for gas. The gas bill is in our landlords name and he brings the bill to us. I am pretty sure there is some willing and dealing going on with the whole house gas coupon thing. BTW we still only use two radiators but the two are the floor to ceiling size so twice as big!!

This is also our third and final winter here, coming from Florida the first winter was a HUGE shock in the cold Italian marbled houses! Bundle bundle bundle!!

How big is your house?  How many bedrooms, are they big, small, average?  How many floors?  Do you have high ceilings?

I am wondering because we are moving out in town.  We are moving into a home with two large bedrooms, a kitchen and great room (good size).  I am wondering how it will do in the winter.  The total area is about 1500 square feet (a guess) at best. 

Bumbula gas.

Thanks for any info.