I was wondering if you could help me out in estimating a cost difference between the two Brivis units.

I am building my house in Cranbourne East and wish to install a heating unit with add-on cooling. My house is single storey (26Sq 3 Beds 3Baths 3 Living areas). The builder has the below modeil as the standard inclusion

Series - Classic Series
Heating Unit - 20kW Classic Series 2P Wombat 20 (3.3 star rating)
Cooling Unit - 9.1kW Outdoor - 38CDA10-7 and Indoor - 28IDA10
Zone - 2 Zone system
Controller - SmartTemp

I am quite happy with capacity of the above models but I wish to install the below for better efficiency.

Series - StarPro series
Heating - Model No : HX23I (23Kw with 5.8 star rating)
AddOn cooling - Model No (outdoor) : 38CDA12-7 & indoor : 28IDA12 (10.9 kW)
Zones : 2 Zone System
Controller - The Brivis Networker Controller

Does any know / share their ideas about a very rough estimate of cost difference between the above listed two models. I just need to know how much extra it should cost before I ask my builder to price it for me.

Has anybody used any of the above models ? Any reviews ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Just for the record I dont think what the builder has suggested will work.
The four star units are the minimum what is required for add on cooling.

You choice is a much better set up. I would think the price for the whole system will be in the range of 10-12K for the whole thing. So he should be charging you around 8-10K for upgrade.

Thanks for the reply.

As per this Brivis does recommend the combination. However, my technical knowledge about these models is limited. Do you have any link which suggests that min 4 star is required for add-on cooling ?

Regarding the price, Wow !! 8-10K upgrade sounds way too much for me !! especially for same capacity but just for better energy rating/efficiency.

I was going through some online deals just to get an idea about pricing and found this. According to this the price difference should be around 1K (for the heater). But I could be completely wrong.

Any comments ?

Looks like i have made a mistake. Maybe the specs have changed.
Maybe to be able to use the networker you need to have the four star system. I note you builder has included a smart temp which is different to the network.

If you planning on staying there a while def go for at least the 4 star unit pref the 5 and the running cost would be much less. Also the better units have better airflow in l/s which is much better for add on cooling.

hi readers

This info may be helpful to someone. My builder has advised that i have an option to upgrade my brivis mid efficiency heating unit and this will cost me additional 1k which will save me $381 per year in gas bills. So which means that the initial outlay of 1k will be recovered in just 3 yrs. And on top of this, i can upgrade to the 5.8star rated heating unit and get a zoning done (about $500 per zone for upstairs or ground floor) which will save annually $876. So the total outlay for the 5.8* unit and with double zoning will be around 2k which should be recovered in 2.5 years. This sounds very very interesting on paper. Has anyone tried these units and confirm if the cost savings claims are justifiable. Unfortunately i hav to make a decision in a weeks time. So if someone has used these units or done their research on this, please advise. Thanks

I dont think your builder know hows to calculate. From memory the diff between 4 star and 5 star is about 10-15%. The zoning will actually have the biggest effect as you can half the heating area. This in mind I still think the 5 star units are great and I do have it installed with two large zones and one small one. Even during middle of winter and using it all the time and even leaving it on at night (17degrees) my highest bill was $300 which i thought was good.

But also keep in mind no two installs are the same. We often forget that the way the unit is installed has a greater effect on performance.