Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Dec 27, 2010 1:11 pm Hi everyone,
We need some advice from people who have opted for refrigerated cooling...is it really worth the money you pay specially in a place like Melbourne. Our builder is giving us the option of a Brivis which we have read is a low end cooling system (got to know this from my research on the net). We are being informed that we cannot opt an unit we want. Alternatively, is it a better idea to opt for a good reverse cycling split unit. Which off these units are cheaper when it comes to electricity consumption. Look forward to your responses. Cheers J & C Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 2Dec 27, 2010 1:15 pm Have gone for full re-fridgerative. Definitely worth the money. Coupled this with upgraded wall insulation. These units keep the house at a stable temp. Rather than "heat & cool". Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 3Dec 27, 2010 2:34 pm We're not in Melbourne so my 2 cents worth is probably "worthless".... We opted for ducted refrigerative air conditioning. In Summer our temps are mainly in the 40s and although it is supposed to be a 'dry climate'- at times it can be quite yucky and humid and the evaporative units just don't work properly. We have two units installed in the house to cool a house our size and each unit has separate zones. Our house isn't finished yet so I can't commment on the efficiency yet but with such an expensive price tag it had better work well! When it is finished I can pop back into this thread and let you know more- if you're interested.. Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 4Dec 27, 2010 6:33 pm I can never figure out why folks in Melbourne spend $$$ on refrigerated cooling. It's expensive to install, and VERY expensive to run (and electricity costs aren't going to go down), and unnecessary in our climate. We've had ducted evap cooling for 18 and it works really well. The modern systems are top-notch and as long as you understand how to use them properly (which many people don't seem to - perhaps they ought to read the instructions. ), will keep you comfortable and not cost a bomb. As for split systems, think about how you're going to decorate around a big ugly plastic thing stuck in the wall. You can hide controllers and return air grilles in a hallway, out of sight, but not one of those.... Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 5Dec 27, 2010 8:02 pm I think its absolutely worth the money we paid - reverse cycle ducted refridgerated here - but again, I am not in Melbourne either but in hot area of west coast of SA. I dont think split system units look ugly - they just look functional, appearance of them no big deal - and I would rather have, say, 3 rooms, with refridgerated units rather than a whole house of ducted evaporative - evaporative just doesnt hold a candle to refridgerated IMO. Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 6Dec 27, 2010 8:07 pm I'm in melb and yes it is worth it. Evap is crap, humid and yuck. The system we have is zoned so it doesn't cost us much at all. We had 3 splits in the last house so I think it's a good comparison. Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 7Dec 27, 2010 8:32 pm Evaporative A/C only requires a fan to power - no more than 1 kW for a large system. Refrigerative A/C needs to run a heat pump and generally at 0.15 kW cooling per m2 conditioned area - so a 200m2 house would need a 15 kW output system. This requires about 5 kW heat pump to run. So refrigerative is about 5 x the running cost. Refrigerative A/C consumption in summer is one of the biggest causes for peak summer loading and consequent brownouts. Evap will struggle on the odd humid day but overall will supply most of your cooling needs. Combining this with ceiling fans means that you will stay comfortable the majority of the time. If you need to you can have a small refrigerative system for the sleeping quarters that might need to be occasionally run on the really hot or humid days. If you opt for a complete refrigerative system than you can markedly reduce the load on the unit (and running costs) by protecting the walls and windows from direct sun. Foil under the roof can reduce costs by up to 20%. Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 8Dec 28, 2010 6:14 am kek I can never figure out why folks in Melbourne spend $$$ on refrigerated cooling. It's expensive to install, and VERY expensive to run (and electricity costs aren't going to go down), and unnecessary in our climate. If we got evap in our house it would only service upstairs which didn't really tickle my fancy, so we went brrr air con. I've never had any major issues with evap though. As you said, I think more people need to learn how to use it properly Land Deposit - 18/12/2009 Became a land Baron - 21/12/2010 Site Start - 27/1/2011 All moved in!! Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 9Dec 28, 2010 10:59 am Yes, we have brivis 18kw unit with me30xa heater works fantastic 24sq house in 2 zones living and bedroom. 42 deg day in melbourne will keep living only at around 23-24 deg with low humidity. I have been houses with evap on days like this and they feel terrible compared to refrig system. Running costs are on the high side side but last 2 summers in melbourne which have been extreme highest elect bill was $480 for that 3 months. You just need to cut back in other places and get a good deal from you power company.Before you meter gets installed take a look at getting it setup for peak/offpeak GH/GL tariff. depending on your living arrangements and when you will use a/c the most. My wife and i both work and mainly run it on w/ends so we are looking at this. Cost was 12K inc 3 phase power connection Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 10Dec 28, 2010 11:09 am Evaporative = $0.20 an hour to run Refrigerated = $1.80 an hour to run (average) I have evaporative in my current house and will be putting it in my new one. It gets the temp I side down to 27deg when it's 40deg outside. IMO it works fine in the southern half of Australia. Re: Has anyone on this forum opted for refrigerated cooling? 11Dec 28, 2010 5:34 pm Brivis 18 kw unit draws around 10amps per phase at full load.total current (dont quote me) is around 24 amps once combined 24x240=5760 watts 5760/1000= 5.76 KWH my current rate 16.7 c/kwh x 5.76= 96.1 c/hour not the $1.80. People seem to scared of a/c running costs although they are higher they are not as bad as you will be told by people using evap. These are calculated on full load with no Cycling if you a/c runs at around 70-80% of the time your hourly consumption will be less. 2 31344 In Victoria you cannot put a caveat on arising from a domestic building contract. 65 112360 They already have two well known ones (HIA & MBA) that many new home buyers mistakenly think are regulatory bodies that Joe Public can complain to. 6 18021 |