insulation works to keep the house cool in the summer too.....
Senior Member
insulation works to keep the house cool in the summer too.....
Member
Having just had quotes for central heating and warm air heating we are considering our options at the moment so I would be interested in your experiences with ducted air heating. Is yours gas based? How would you compare it to traditional radiator based central heating. Do you get any draughts from it when it is running?Originally Posted by Kenny
Junior Member
Very interesting thread, I've been looking for these kinds of things. Richard, I would be interested in your quotes for central heating. I see that joann's thread about building her house mentioned a heat pump was ~$2,500. Does anyone in NZ know how much a sheet of drywall (gyp board, plasterboard, sheetrock, whatever you call it there) costs? Also a roll/batts of insulation? I checked Mitre 10's site, but no prices listed. Also, the site for the double glazed window company doesn't mention prices, here in the US an average sized double hung window in vinyl is around $125 US, can anyone find an NZ price? Thanks all, if I come to NZ, I will be buying one of those uninsulated houses and "gutting it to the studs" as we say here, so I'm very interested in seeing what building material prices are.
And keep your fingers crossed, I may be closing/settling on a house sale next week, which means I can fly back to NZ to have a look around again and look at job prospects/cities/houses (in need of repair)
John
Senior Member
cold
If I lived in the south, then I'd think seriously about this. I heard on the radio this morning, it was minus four in cristchurch last night, that's cold.
I remeber when I was a kid in Scotland, we had gas powered ducted central heating, my parents (and everyone else on their estate) ripped it out, becuase it was garbage and very expensive. When they had it, we also had a dehumidifer. (much to my dads disapointment it never semed to do much, after a while my sister and I started getting up in the middle of the night, and filling it with tap water to make him feel better)
I'm not sure how much of a priority this is going to be for us. It's heading towards a very nice 17 degrees in Auckland today, and only 12 days till the solstice. Although we're (finally) going to seal a deal for a house tomorrow. We've got a list of 2, and one has a wod burning fire, the other has no heating, it might just come into it.
Senior Member
Re: cold
On the radio in Chch this morning they made the comment that the coldest weather normally comes after the shortest day.
Don't plan to put your long johns away yetawhile!!
Member
Jo b
Thanks for the link to a double glazing firm, this is very useful.
As an Ipswich Town football supporter, you don't know how hard it was to thank someone from Wigan !!!
Cheers
Dave
Member
As I said, we are looking at heating options at the moment as we just have a log burner and a few oil heaters scattered around the house. We have had a few quotes for a four bedroom house and the options are:-
A - Do nothing. If we leave the doors to the living room closed and chuck a few logs on the fire before going to bed the room is still 18 degrees in the morning. Everywhere else is much colder though. The kitchen and my office were 7 degrees yesterday morning after the -3 overnight low.
B - Diesel central heating with radiators $15,500
C - LPG central heating with radiators $13,500 but LPG is more expensive than diesel.
D - LPG warm air heating $9000
E - Heat pump for downstairs with log burner as backup then oil filled heaters upstairs $3000-4000 fitted. I have heard that some heat pumps start to struggle once the outside temperature dips to 0 deg.
If I convert back to pounds then the central heating options don't seem unreasonable but when you read it in dollars it seems a lot.
Warm air heating seems like a good compromise but how well does it work? Views from people who have it would be appreciated.
Any other solutions other than set fire to the carpet?
Senior Member
Dave
no worries I won't hold that against you
Jo
Senior Member
Hmmmmmmmm don't htink I'd better let my hubby read this thread - he works outside all the time and moans that it's too hot in the house when he comes home!! he goes round turning the radiators down and (i follow him turning them back up :mrgreen: ) Perhaps I'd better spend next winter with no heating to prepare myself for our future in NZ.
:
Junior Member
Having just had quotes for central heating and warm air heating we are considering our options at the moment so I would be interested in your experiences with ducted air heating. Is yours gas based? How would you compare it to traditional radiator based central heating. Do you get any draughts from it when it is running?
Gas ducted air may not be the best option, but when you have lived in 4 'sheds' without any heating then it's luxury. The beauty of it is that its controllable. We can set the timer to take the edge off the house before getting out from under the duvet. If we find the rooms getting cold on a night, we can quickly push it up a couple of degrees. It also has a 'fan only' setting which is great for the summer.
Wood Burners are nice but a lot of work. You have to get it lit before getting heat. (Pointing out the bleeding obvious here I suppose).
Comparisons between traditional radiator systems. When the ducted air goes off, the temperature drops fairly quickly as there is nothing to keep the air warm. Whereas a radiator takes time to cool so keeps the air temp up longer.
As for draughts. Other than sitting directly under a vent, you don't feel it.
I am on 7x24 support and can be up in the early hours of the morning.
The PC is directly under one of the vents in the ceiling. As I pass the control to get to the PC, I just hit the control into temp mode and by the time I am sitting down, the warm air is coming down on top of me.
With radiators, log burners etc, it could take 30 mins before feeling any effect (unless you leave it on overnight).
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