Is now a bad time to get air conditioning?

Missy, the problem is getting someone out to install it at the moment.
My parents bought a split system to accomodate for us moving in and helping us cope with the heat over summer (collective awwwww ).

But we can't get anyone out to install it....we've been calling and no-one calls back or says that they'll get back to us....grrrrrrr... still waiting.... it was supposed to be installed prior to X'mas.

I think for the sake of a few hundred (if that's all it is??), do your homework and haggle as best you can to get the best price but ultimately someone who can install it BEFORE summer is over....

Try looking at some interest free deals that are around...

I have to add here, that those LUCKY members of our forum who now have their new houses with the same Brivis ICE refridgerated air cond. that we'll have when our place is built (next year).....

We'd love to come around and perform some quality control checks of your system over a few drinks perhaps....

(The members in particular would be Matt and Vanderlay!!!! )

Try advertising for someone to do an install on www.servicecentral.com.au

I have had a fantastic reponse when I posted requests for someone to do decking and then to pick up and install a cubby.....

On another note, why refrigerated aircon ? you could lower costs just by going for evaporative ?

We've got evap and boards and we haven't had a problem Ar eyou talking about condensation ? I am cold enough with evap, I would have icicles off my nose if we had refrigerated

We run both systems in our place. I’ve been using evaporative cooling in our houses for around 15years, and the units have come along way in that time. I think two things come into play with evaporative cooling; one is that they are of sufficient size for the area you are trying to cool and the second making sure you don’t open up your house too much. I vent ours out through the garage.

There are also three air conditioners installed which were sized up for each room with the piping installed during construction. The reason we had these installed is because the rooms have dedicated purposes, i.e. study so it’s only required when we’re working in there. We also have one in our bedroom, great for those hot nights… Obviously the evaporative cooling is not installed in these rooms.

You did know there's no point running it at 17 degrees? It won't make it get colder any faster - it'll just work harder and longer to try to get to 17 but most likely never will. Also, each degree you drop the temp by raises energy consumption by 10%.

22 or 23 degrees is an ideal temperature to set your aircon to, but if it's 40 outside, try setting it to 25 or 26. It's a lot cooler than it is outside, your aircon unit *might* be able to achieve that temperature, and you'll save a lot of energy.

This is a good time of the year to get airconditioning - after Xmas and you should be able to get it on sale.

We tried to purchase our gas heater recently (thinking it would be cheaper in summer) but they told us heaters don't go on sale until April as most ppl arent interested in heating in summer. They had cooling units on sale at the time (just before Xmas).

Our evap airconditioning is struggling so we went out an bought a kiddie wading pool for tonights NYE party

43 degrees in Adelaide - it probably won't go down much overnight either.

Hey, that's great! At least one of us will be comfortable. Hehe

Well, we were SO close to getting the AC. But to get the brivis add-on that suits our current heater model it's going to cost us around the 8k mark. We were only willing to pay 4-5k at the moment.

However, it's not because we're naive and think that AC is cheap it's that we were actually misinformed. Prior to the building of our house commencing we were actually already getting quotes for AC. But...and it's a big but...we were told the wrong information regarding which actual model heater we are getting installed in the house. So, there I was getting quotes for a smaller and less powerful model. Then the other day when we checked our paperwork and manuals we actually have a bigger and more powerful model. So, the add-on is going to cost more.

Then...we contemplated getting the AC but that would mean having to give up and majorly post-pone the decking. Which is probably slightly more important once the wet (if it ever rains again - hehe) weather arrives.

So, let this be a lesson learned for those in the early stages of building a house - GET AC INSTALLED BEFORE and include it in your mortgage!

Oh, and also tripple check the information you are given by your builder regarding stuff like this.

But I am not at all blaming my CSR for the wrong information.

NOT!

Really, I'm not mad. I just get cranky in the hot weather!

Oh yeah, 8k is a good price, I agree. We are fine with that price but you know, we have to be smart at the moment. Can't just spend every cent we have.

And I have been following your thread.

In hindsight, we should've included it with the builder. But the fact we were given the wrong information by certain people was the reason we decided to not include it. You see, the builder quoted us 10k. And when we got independent quotes we were getting values between 3-5k. So we thought that the buiilder was trying to rip us off bad. Now it all comes together and seems there was some slight crossing of wires because we obviously weren't all on the same page.

Anyway, we were told we were going to get the Brivis 2PW20 but we actually do have the ME30i with 9 points and 2 zones (zone 1 - bedrooms, zone 2 - all other living areas).

We were told that to get the add-on with the current set-up we have would start at around 7.5k. The consultant suggested we get a couple more points and add more zones. Each zone would cost another $250. We'll consider getting another outlet point or so but I don't think it's necessary to have 4-5 zones at the consultant was suggesting!

I can get through tomorrow as I'll be at work. Not sure how I'm going to keep cool on Saturday, though. Probably hide in the fridge!

You would be correct. We're expecting the price will rise after a proper quote. We're still waiting for the proper written quote but when we were in the shop discussing options with the consultant that was his rough starting price.

We already have three phase power as well as larger ducting in preparation of doing the add-on after handover. I'm aware of the water lines situation, not aware of the meter box upgrade (care to elaborate?) and don't know what you mean by power to the point. If you mean a powerpoint for the external unit then we also have that, too.

And I agree, I think 2 zones will suffice.



The consultant is already telling us they will need to 'inspect' the builders work to make sure they did it properly. ie. ducts are actually large enough and the way they have laid out the actual ducting is correct.



Thank you for your well wishes. And we got through the 42degree days by not moving very much, keeping at least 3 feet away from another human being and laying on the floor tiles while watching tv all day!