Hi all, i first found this forum a few months ago when i was first looking into central heating and found some pretty useful info so i thought id add my bit.
Iv just booked in to get a Braemar THM520 central heater installed
Our House - 120m2, Standard 2.4m ceilings, 3 bedroom + Study, 2 bathroom, Brick, Concrete Slab, Colourbond Roof, Built 1990ish.
The System
- Braemar THM520 (5.2 Star non condensing, Output 20kw, Airflow 630l/sec)
- 2 Zones (both with Spectrolink Controllers)
- All installed in the roof cavity with the return air vent at ground level at the end of the living area hallway
- 8 Outlets with R1 Ducting
Why Braemar?
Our last house had a braemar space heater (SH25) which was great, recommended over others on this and a few other forums and a great local dealer.
Why the THM520?
The dealer said we would need around a 18kw system. when i first got a quote 6 months ago this unit wasn't available, i was originally going to get the TH420 (4 star) i wanted a efficient unit but was advised against the 5 star units because the only ones available were condensing, and because of this they were less reliable. so now that the THM520 is available and was only $250 more than the TH420 it was a easy choice
Zones
The first reason i looked at zoning was to reduce running costs because our heater can run for months without being turned off over winter. Our house is split down the middle, Living on one side and bedrooms and bathrooms on the other.
Master controller will be in the master bedroom and the other in the dining (middle of the living area) the only downfall of this is that to be able to heat just the living area the master(bedroom) controller must be turned on. But we can turn the temp down so it wont actually heat the bedrooms (during the day). So during the night the living area can be completely turned off, and with the 2 controller both zones can the set on different timers and different temperatures.
Air vent and Ducts
all the air vents are located near windows to create a even temperature through the house. We decided not to have vents in the bathrooms. Our original quote was with R0.6 Ducting but now its now mandatory to have R1 ducting which i don't mind, i was actually going to ask for the R1, That added $160 over the R.06
Installation and Warranty
Our local dealer has included the extended warranty so its 5 years parts and labour + 10 years heater exchange + Burner. The dealer is also the warranty agent so we wouldn't have to go through braemar if anything went wrong.
Installation includes disconnecting our old wall furnace and supply + install the central heating including gas and electricity connections
The total price is $5100 which is probably more than most would pay but i'm happy to pay a little extra to have the right system installed correctly. also note that this is a county Victoria dealer. I did get a quote 6 months ago from a large city dealer which i think was around $4300 for the TH420 but i wasn't all that happy with their service. We had to wait 2 weeks just to get a quote, then they didnt show the first time, they were also quite happy to install the return duct in the ceiling between 2 bedrooms which i believe would reduce efficiency alot.
I hope my post will help anyone looking into central heating.
Cheers, Cam