Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Jun 03, 2010 11:07 am Hi Guys, I need an important advice, My builder charged us $1350 upgrade charge in our contract to provide 5 star heating and 3 zones. Actually I don't know how the zoning works. Now they have come up with a plan saying that there will be one zone covering most of the living areas. This zone will have almost 6 ducts out of 10 ducts for the complete house. They are saying that this zone will be operational at all times. The rest of the two zones will have only 4 ducts which can be put off while the main zone is in operation. Out of those 4 ducts one duct is in main bed. My point is if we are at sleep in the night in the main bed then at that time 7 ducts will be in operation which is really waste of energy in the living areas. Our house is single story house. Do you guys have any idea of how zoning works for ducted heating? Thanks in advance, Regards Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 2Jun 03, 2010 11:19 am It doesn't have to work like that. I designed my house So that the two bathrooms are on all the time (ie comman). Then we have living, Bedrooms and theater all on separate zones.During the evening i just have the living areas on, and when using the bathroom it means they are heated automatically. Then just before I go to bed i dont even have to put the bedroom zone on because the small duct in the en suit provides enough heat. (bedrooms heat and cool much easier then living areas. The main reason i opted for the maximum zones is because of ducted re fridge aircond. I wanted to be able to control where i have on, to reduce the high operating costs. In your case I would be asked the builder to provide one more zone motor. Also how big is your house and how big is the heater and do you have add on cooling. Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 3Jun 03, 2010 11:26 am Our home is 55sq and we have four zones. Zone 1 is all four bedrooms, zone 2 is living / kitchen / dining - all open plan, zone 3 is Home theatre and study, zone 4 is kid's toy room. We have to have either zone 1 or 2 on whenever the air conditioning / heating is on. Which is fine as during the day we are in the living areas whilst at night it is the bedrooms. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 5Jun 03, 2010 11:44 am Hi Guys, Thanks for such a valuable information. My house is 31 sqs. My builder is saying if I have to change the plan provided by them I will have to discuss with their supplier. So probably I will have to call them and discuss. Can I share my plan with you guys? I will try to upload it, Is there any requirement that at least certain number of vents should be in operation at all times for the zoning? Thanks Regards Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 6Jun 03, 2010 11:46 am Borg - we can have all four on at once or zone 1 and whichever other or zone 2 and whichever other..... At present we have it programmed to come on each morning at 6am to heat zones 1, 2 and 4. Of a nighttime at present we have all four zones on heating for an hour or so. In the middle of January we had it on cooling for all 4 zones as the baby was just born and therefore in the bedroom a lot of the time. Sorry does that make sense? Is a Temperzone refrigerated system. Bedrooms all have one outlet as does study and home theatre. Two outlets in toy room and three in living / dining / kitchen area. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 7Jun 03, 2010 11:47 am there use to be ( a min number) with the brivis units. However the new models are variable speed and have more control on output power. What unit are you looking at? kyton my question was in relation to a comman zone. Do you have one zone that cant be turned off ever?? Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 8Jun 03, 2010 12:03 pm Hi Guys, Here is the plan my builder's supplier has drawn, http://www.myupload.org/files/nxkofekie9lb0z2go943.jpg 6 ducts are in living areas (1 in the front lounge, 4 in family and dining and 1 in rumpus) - All time operational zone 1 1 duct in the main bedroom (behind the front lounge) - Zone 2 3 ducts in three bedrooms -Zone 3 My concerns are: 1. Do you think the number of ducts are able to cover the whole house? House area is 31 sqs. 2. Is this arrangement of two zones or three zones because They said they will provide 3 zones. If we consider common zone then we can say its 3 zones otherwise effectively you can only out two zones off. 3. WIll I be able to save energy with this plan. My opinion is NO. what do you say? Thanks Regards Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 10Jun 03, 2010 12:12 pm borg there use to be ( a min number) with the brivis units. However the new models are variable speed and have more control on output power. What unit are you looking at? kyton my question was in relation to a comman zone. Do you have one zone that cant be turned off ever?? Sorry Borg. Okay we have to have either zone 1 or zone 2 on whenever the unit is on - we choose which one. For instance we cannot have zone 3 on or zone 4 on by themselves - they have to on in conjunction with either zone 1 or 2. So we can have either:- All four zones on together Zone 1 by itself Zone 2 by itself Zone 1 along with any others Zone 2 along with any others Or none at all like at present. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 14Jun 03, 2010 12:50 pm Hi, After numerous tries I was unable to upload the plan on this site. That URL works for me when I coppied it in a seperate browser, Anyways thanks a lot to both of you for sharing the information. I will give a call to my builder supplier and will get back to you with any update, Thanks Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 15Jun 03, 2010 2:44 pm Hi, I called the supplier and they told me that they will be putting Bonaire B420IXA system. He said that it is 4 star system. I had upgraded to 5 star system as per my contract, but he said this is what the builder has requested for. He advised me to go back to the builder to change their request. I asked him if builder asks for 5 star heating then what model they will be using. On that he said then it will be Bonaire B521IXA system. He said at a time 6 ducts should be operational for the system to work smoothly. I don't know whether he is write or not but I am sure in this way it will not solve my problem. Should I go back to my builder and say refund my $1350 and I'll do it after handover. In that case they will put 3 star system without zoning. What you guys think? Thanks Regards Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 16Jun 03, 2010 2:55 pm for the sake of 1350 i would let them do it. However you should be getting the 5 star like you wanted. ALso I note that the 20Kwatt unit might be a little small for you house. But then again a 30Kwatt unit might be too large. It should be faily easy to have 6 ducts open at once. If designed properly. I have a 36 square house with 28 living and i have a total of 15 ducts. Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 17Jun 03, 2010 4:29 pm VijayGaba Hi, He said at a time 6 ducts should be operational for the system to work smoothly. I don't know whether he is write or not but I am sure in this way it will not solve my problem. Yes he is right, there should be a minimum number of outlets on at any one time and 6 seems about right too. Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 18Jun 03, 2010 4:45 pm Hi, Can anybody tell me what would be cost impact if I ask them to put 2 to 3 more ducts? I am thinking if I ask them to put 2 more ducts than I can make two zones (6 ducts each), one covering the living areas and one covering all the bedrooms with a view to put living areas on during the day and evening when we are using living areas and bedroom at the night when we are not using living areas. I think in that way I'll be saving more energy than having 3 zones with only four ducts in 2 zones (1 duct in 1 zone and 3 ducts in another zone). Does this makes sense and is workable? Thanks Regards Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 19Jun 03, 2010 7:32 pm I finally seen your plan. You can easily add another outlet in the entrance and the rumpus room. PLus you can do the bathrooms if you wish. Secondly the minimum number of ducts being 6 is when you have 150mm (or 6inch) pipe. Looks like the smallest they are using is actually 8 inch. So perhaps you can less than 6 as a minimum, as there will be improved airflow from each of the ducts. You solution sounds logical to me. Just remeber the current system plan is only 2 zones with one comman, not really three. Re: Zoning in Ducted Heating 20Jun 03, 2010 9:40 pm Hi, During the discussion supplier said that they will be using 6 inch duct pipe. So that means he was correct in saying that at minimum we can have 6 ducts. Actually in bathroom and ensuite we are having three-in-one with heating as one option. I like your idea of having two additional ducts in the entrance and lounge. You mentioned that this plan is actually based on two zones not three. How the zones are counted. Do you normally include common heating area in number of zones or it is separate to zones? I also asked supplier that if I want to have cooling after handover can we reuse the heating ducts, on that he said then we will have to have 8 inch ducts. I don't have cooling at the moment and thought initially that I will arrange after handover. Is it advisable to ask them to increase the size of ducts so that after handover we can use the pipes for cooling as well. I believe the more we ask the more cost impact it will have. The size of the Systems in terms of KWH is another story. Is there any indicative formula which can be used to arrive at the heating system power in KWH? Thanks Hi all, sorting out the ducted air con for a 350sqm double story house. Does this placement sound reasonable to you? Also, I plan to have 6 zones I think. Living room… 0 0 Hi all, sorting out the ducted air con for a 350sqm double story house. I think i plan to have 6 zones I think. Living room (mainly for entertainment so not used often),… 0 0 0 6403 |