What heating system do you have, and do you recommend it?

[Kea]

We're bidding on a house today which is terrifying and exciting. It has a 1970's log burner in one half and nothing in the other half. I know that many people love their log burners but I'm not convinced this is the best system for us. Partly cos we have a very small person. Which may make lighting it difficult and there is an added safety issue or her trying to suck most things at the moment. It's not currently the focal point of the living area but off to one side. I love how cosy a fire can make a place but I don't thinks it's feasible in this place

So we need to allow some money in the budget to sort out heating.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what sort of heating they have? Do you like it? And most crucially, how much did it cost?

Thanks

[thewoodies]

Although Hrv on its own doesnt heat the house completley

- it saves the heat in the roof during the day and then pushes it out when you need it and visa versa in the summer - our house had it in already otherwise we wouldnt have known how good it is - if i need to top up he heating i just put radiator/(s) on in my living area nd it pushes the heat around the house so you dont have what we had in our rental

one room you dont want to leave!!!!

you can get airconditioning and heating that fix to it as well - so far we have not needed to - we moved in - july - we are Auckland !

Hope that helps a bit - really worth looking into as helps with damp (none so far!)

[newarrival]

I am wondering about the HRV system- we just stayed in a holiday home with HRV and there was a lot of "movement"....., but, does it actually work properly? Since it was quite warm, we could not feel too much of a change, you could see on the display what the temperature was like in the roof and in the rooms, though.
But- it was an old house with high ceilings and we were wondering how the warm air would be able to "fall" to the level where you would need it to be?

[dharder]

Gas central heating with a combination boiler for hot water as well, and radiators throughout the house. Just like in the UK

Works wonderfully, wouldn't want to be without it.

I can't remember the exact cost, but it worked out the cheapest for us as we have a lot of radiators (10, I think), and with the gas option, we could have as many as we wanted. There was a limit as to how many rooms could be dealt with by one heat pump thingy, so for us it worked out more expensive.

Can find out what we paid for it.

And can I just say how much I love having radiators? Not only do they keep the house warm, you can put stuff on them to dry!

Daniela

[Sam B]

I love my enormous woodburner (I know you don't want to hear that) and we have always heated our house this way, even in the UK and even when the kids were babies, we just had a fireguard round it, a proper one which fastens on to the wall. They belt out heat and are toasty. Mine is a Masport Grandview, it could heat a stadium I reckon.

[Super_BQ]

Our current dwelling has 6 heat pumps (pretty much every bedroom has one). The problem I don't like about this system is they're all up in the ceiling and the heating is quite "drafty" as it tries to blow hot air down to the ground. For most of the rooms upstairs, the heatpumps are rarely used which is probably why in new house constructions, heatpumps aren't commonly installed in the bedrooms. For older houses, well that's a horse of a different colour.

The problem with heating is it requires lots of energy. Something that never comes down in price. You could pay huge capital costs for underfloor hydronic heating but sellers seems to forget the home owner still pays more to run such systems. Sure it would heat the whole house but look at the cost? It's easy to say that they're more efficient than say heat pumps (on the basis if heat pumps were used to heat the WHOLE house - but who does?) Typically people heat 1 room at a time and IMO, that method consumes the least amount of energy.

If global warming brings any kind of change to the NZ climate, I hope overall the winter months would get warmer. It would be a long time until the day we see winter temperatures rise to a level where houses don't really need to have too much heating but should we be pessimistic or I hate to say, be embracing warmer temperatures?

[Flutterby]

blankets, i'll let you know when the winter rolls around

[Georgebulldog]

We have a Rinnai Energy Saver ($1000 I think I saw on the website)& it keeps the downstars living area lovely & warm, wish we had one upstairs too, we the econopanel which works well in a small double bu not at all in the master but they are only designed to take the chill off, best thing I have upstairs is my leccy blanket

[Wooly_Cow]

(on the basis if heat pumps were used to heat the WHOLE house - but who does?) Typically people heat 1 room at a time and IMO, that method consumes the least amount of energy.

Actually heating the whole house or at leats the core of the house IS the most efficient way of heating. The key is to have 'thermal mass'. Once this is warm it distributes the heat during the cooler periods and actually acts as a heat sink during hot times. The main issue with Kiwi and other wooden homes is they don't have this mass to heat up. Without it heating the room you are in is not such a silly idea.

So.....best look for a house with solid concrete floors, brick or something like that....then insulate the heck out of it, allowing radiant solar heat in but not longer wavelength reradiated heat out (otherwise know as tinted glass and double glazing!). Then use a heat recvoery ventilation system to allow fresh air in but keep the warmth.....

It amazes me with the strength of the sun here that more Kiwi homes don't use this principle. If I ever get round to building a house here...that's exactly what I'm going to do (actually I'd have concrete floors AND a large stone or conctrete central wall so the sunlight could heat it at all angles)

Oh and if you want to you can top up the heat of the thermal mass by solar powered flexible hot water pipes assisted by a gas or wood pellet burner (or maybe even a GROUND source heat pump)

[Kea]

If global warming brings any kind of change to the NZ climate, I hope overall the winter months would get warmer. It would be a long time until the day we see winter temperatures rise to a level where houses don't really need to have too much heating but should we be pessimistic or I hate to say, be embracing warmer temperatures?

The science predicts that, in most places, climate change will lead to hotter summers, colder winters and more extreme events like storms and floods. Which is why most countries have stopped using the term global warming. That and because many people in developed countries consider warming to be desirable without considering the consequences for places like Africa and South East Asia. So I doubt our changing climate will allow us to do away with heating. Unless we do hit the scary tipping point and end up with a 5C rise. Then I'll be buying a boat or a lifestyle block somewhere high and isolated and learning to grow food