Central heating????

[marc73]

Hi all,

For those of you living in NZ, can you tell me if there is a move toward central heating?. From my time living in NZ in 03/04 I remember no central heating and very cold houses (8*C) in the house in the winter (apart from lounge with wood burner-toastie!!). I also remeber tons of condensation and mould.
We did veiw a self build show home and that had central heating so I was just wondering if building practices are moving that way or not.

Thanks, Marc

[Duncan74]

Welcome. Sure you'll get no responses to this thread at all

The topic of cold houses, building practices, general building life expectancy and ownership periods are oft discussed. Also there's regional issue such as the availability of mains gas.

However, I think it fair to say that central heating isn't the norm, even in new builds.

[Wooly_Cow]

Not really. Many new builds have heat pumps, sometimes several. There are government incentives to put these in, which I'm not sure extends to CH.

You can fit or retro fit CH at about $1200 per radiator for a water based one or about $1000 per vent for forced air. IMHO the forced air sytems (and heat pumps) are not very good as they have no thermal mass.

The key here is good insulation and ventilation and double glazing which will help reduce damp and condensation. It is in the building ocdes now BUT most builders did not and do not comply until they absolutley have to as they see cost but little increased value.

[ralf-nz]

You can fit or retro fit CH at about $1200 per radiator for a water based one or about $1000 per vent for forced air.

Depending on the definition you might consider under floor heating also being C/H. Nowadays they run water through pipes, in the past electric conduits were used occasionally.

[Wooly_Cow]

Depending on the definition you might consider under floor heating also being C/H. Nowadays they run water through pipes, in the past electric conduits were used occasionally.

....with electric under floor heating you may as well heat your ouse by burning wads of cash!!!

However I do agree if you can get a water based system that is excellent. had one in Germany. The only snag was it took DAYS to reach a stable temperature which just showed how great the thermal mass was.

[ralf-nz]

....with electric under floor heating you may as well heat your ouse by burning wads of cash!!!

I did neither say that I like this system nor that I approve it.

Just to show (tell) what is on the market.

[Wooly_Cow]

I did neither say that I like this system nor that I approve it.

Just to show (tell) what is on the market.

I didn't say you did Just wanted to warn all those people especially those renting (like we did) that when it says 'Underfloor heating' it normally means electric and this is so inefficient and costly that most people don't use it.

[ralf-nz]

I didn't say you did Just wanted to warn all those people especially those renting (like we did) that when it says 'Underfloor heating' it normally means electric and this is so inefficient and costly that most people don't use it.

Good!

[ralf-nz]

Around one year ago we were on Stewart Island. we were told that heat pumps are not (very) efficient there due to the specific climate. Thus they use a lot of C/H with radiators on a water filled system.

[sophiedb]

....with electric under floor heating you may as well heat your ouse by burning wads of cash!!!

Our lovely new house has electric underfloor heating. One major reason why I'm jumping on the Heat Smart funding bandwagon before winter!!